Video Transcript

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

As Republicans pass the unemployment insurance bills one by one, Democrats assailed their passage. Among them, Representative Katrina Shankland of Stevens Point. Thanks for being here.

KATRINA SHANKLAND:

Thanks for having me.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

So what about the results of the statewide referendum that showed that voters overwhelmingly agreed that able-bodied adults should have to look for work to receive taxpayer funded welfare benefits and how Republicans say that this slate of bills comports with the will of the people.

KATRINA SHANKLAND:

So first and foremost, every single bill that we took up related to unemployment insurance has nothing to do with welfare benefits. Unemployment insurance is an insurance program, just like social security. In fact, Wisconsin was the first state in the nation to create an unemployment insurance program, and when the Social Security Act passed on the federal level, unemployment insurance was included in it and it was modeled after Wisconsin. So this is an insurance program that you earn because you’ve worked and it is designed specifically to ensure that when you lose a job through no fault of your own, that there is a safety net in place to help you put food on the table and fill your tank to get to the next job interview so you can find work.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

So unemployment insurance is paid for by employers and majority Republicans say these bills are needed to weed out people hanging out on unemployment insurance and not showing up for interviews because this costs employers time and money when these folks could be working, which would then ease our worker shortage. Your response to that?

KATRINA SHANKLAND:

Sure. So I pointed out in committee and on the Assembly floor during this debate that ghosting is a real situation and there’s already a reporting form on the Department of Workforce Development’s website for employers to report, but what my colleagues across the aisle intended to do with this legislation is one missed interview, one car breaking down, one losing your childcare slot for the day or week and you would lose unemployment for that week as well and unemployment insurance, we have one of the lowest rates in the nation. It’s up to $370 compared to states around us. That is not meant to supplement or I should say supplant or replace an income. It is an income supplement designed to help you put food on the table and gas in the tank, but really not much more than that, to be frank. So I think their argument not only is incorrect, but it also fails to understand what unemployment insurance is used for, and to be frank, the majority of claims that are filed are filed in the winter when construction workers, landscapers, vertical construction workers are all unable to do the work that is needed because, in February, March, January, December, those harsh Wisconsin winters, you cannot lay asphalt or concrete below 40º and obviously you’re not landscaping out there. Those are when the majority of claims are filed. So my Republican colleagues really need to look into the data. I pointed out on the floor that many workers are unable to work between I would say the months of November and March when it comes to construction and vertical construction, and they use unemployment insurance during that time because they’ve put in 2,000 hours of work in six or seven months and I find the attack on blue-collar workers very difficult to stomach when many of my colleagues across the aisle rarely if ever put in 83 hours a week on average like these construction workers do. So I found it interesting to discover that they failed to take up a vote on one of the bills that would have taken up to three months of unemployment insurance away from these hard-working men and women across the state and I think it’s because they were afraid of the debate and afraid to talk about how these bills could really harm blue-collar workers.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

What do you think the overall message is from the Republican passage of these bills this week? What is their message?

KATRINA SHANKLAND:

Their message is that people in Wisconsin aren’t working and the opposite is true. The opposite is true. We have a 2.5% or 2.7% unemployment rate, depending on the last two months that you look of data, and it’s a historic record. We know that as people are aging out of the workforce, there are not enough new workers to replace them, and so what we need to do for those who are unable to work the number of hours they’d like to work or unable to enter the workforce, is help them access childcare, because that is the number one barrier to entry right now. There are childcare wait lists across the state. Many rural areas are in childcare deserts. So we need to work together to tackle childcare. We need to make sure that people who don’t have their own car have access to transit to work. We need to make sure that people who can’t afford to live where they work have access to affordable housing so that they don’t have to rely on somebody else to help them get to work if their car breaks down and they can get to work in the city that they live. And so those three things: affordable housing, public transit and transportation for work as well as childcare access and affordability are really what we as Democrats have been focusing on. It was our core message on the Assembly floor. We mean it when we say we are extending a hand. There are plenty of incredible proposals in Governor Tony Evers’ budget that would invest in workhouse funding, affordable housing, affordable childcare and transit, and we stand ready and willing to work with our partners across the aisle to enact Governor Evers’ budget and reduce workforce barriers. We know the workforce shortage is real. Let’s help people stay working, keep working, and get into the workforce if they’re not.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

Meanwhile, these bills are expected to be vetoed by Governor Evers, but Representative Katrina Shankland, thanks very much.

KATRINA SHANKLAND:

Thank you.