Have you been denied unemployment insurance because you work part time or have low wages? If so, share your story here by posting a comment below (just scroll down!).

"So far this week around 40,000 job cuts have been announced by an array of companies as varied as Dow Chemical, Electronic Arts, the National Football League and Sony Corp," writes CNN this morning [1]. Times are tough. But they can be even tougher for people who have (or had) part-time positions. Did you know that two-thirds of the states don't provide unemployment compensation to part-time workers? That's right, for the 6.6 million mothers of children under 18 who work part time [2], many have zero economic security in this time of historic levels of job loss.

Which begs the question: "What are we, chopped liver?" Our paid and unpaid work isn't just gravy, it's essential to the economic survival of our families.

Tell your Senators that part-time workers aren't chopped liver! Ask them to support the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (UIMA) as part of the economic recovery package they're working on now.

www.momsrising.org/ModernizeUnemployment

Forward this message to your friends, and to anyone you know who works part-time, so they can contact their Senators too. Congress is making big decisions, right now, about what to include in the economic recovery package -- they need to hear from as many people as possible that this issue should be at the top of their list for inclusion in the recovery package.

Including the UMIA in the economic recovery package is essential because right now only 37 percent of unemployed workers are eligible for unemployment benefits. That leaves 63% of people out! This is because Unemployment Insurance was created in 1935, but the workforce has changed dramatically since then: There are far more low-wage, part-time, and women workers in the labor market whose incomes are essential to the family budget.

To be an effective safety net, Unemployment Insurance needs to be updated to meet 21st century economic demands on families [3]. Without these updates, the economic recovery package will fall short of supporting working families who will be the engine of our long-term economic success. Current Unemployment Insurance programs that do not cover part-time workers and low wage workers discriminate against mothers and threaten the economic security of families.

Click here to ask your Senators to support the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act today.

www.momsrising.org/ModernizeUnemployment

Thank you!

--Donna, Katie, and the MomsRising.org Team

1. CNN article from this morning -

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/09/news/economy/no_layoffs/index.htm?postversion=2008121105

2. In 2007, according to the Census, 6.6 million women with children under age 18 worked part-time. This represents 25.8 percent of all employed mothers.

3. The UIMA responds to this need for modernization by rewarding states that adopt innovative and successful reforms, thus providing benefits to workers who are now falling through the cracks of the unemployment program.For more info on the UIMA, see a great (and short) article at

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/dec2008/db2008127_576014_page_2.htm