The state legislator behind a proposal to give unemployment benefits to striking workers believes "California can't not afford this."
"If they're hard workers who reluctantly go on strike because the business model that's before them hasn't changed with the times or isn’t respecting their craft or their work or isn't respecting of the pandemic, we certainly should provide a modicum of insurance for them to be able to subsist during a strike," Portantino, a Democrat, told Fox News.
Under a new version of Senate Bill 799 released Tuesday, workers would receive benefits from California’s unemployment insurance program after striking for two weeks.
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The move came amid the screenwriters and actors strike and in the same year public school workers, Los Angeles city workers and hotel staff went on strike in the Golden State.
"Everywhere you turn around, you see that unrest manifesting itself in strikes," Portantino said. "It seems like this is the perfect opportunity to have a conversation between the workforce, management, the business community to figure out what we want the economy to look like 20 years from now and how the workers fit into that conversation."
"To give workers a modicum of stability during this time of labor unrest seems like a prudent thing to do," he added.
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Portantino, who represents a district in Southern California, said he believes the end of the pandemic and structural changes in the marketplace are among the reasons for the strikes. He also said worrying about the state's unemployment insurance program being $18 billion in debt should come after his bill is passed.
"That's phase two," Portantino said. "Obviously it's important to make sure that we're on sound fiscal grounds, and I think this conversation leads into that conversation."
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"I think concerns about the fund should not prevent us from doing the right thing for the workers in the short term, but I think we have to have both conversations at the same time," Portantino added.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, who opposes the proposal, previously told Fox News the "last thing California needs is more ways of paying for people not to work."
"Our state currently has the second-highest unemployment in the nation and is last in the country in wage growth," the California Republican added.
Portantino proposed the legislation along with Sen. María Elena Durazo and Assemblymember Chris Holden. Several other Democrats from both chambers coauthored it.
Similar state legislation failed in 2019 by a few votes.
"I think the times are different, and I'm optimistic we're going to get those three votes," Portantino said, adding that he’s hopeful he will get the support of Gov. Gavin Newsom as well.
Portantino said California would not be the first state to make this law, pointing out that New Jersey and New York have similar measures for certain workers.
A policy expert with the California Chamber of Commerce, Rob Moutrie, criticized Portantino's proposal, arguing that people seeking employment are not in the same of vulnerable position as those on strike.
"Striking people are not the same as people who truly have been let go and have no idea where their next paycheck will come from," Moutrie previously told Fox News.
But Porantino disagreed, saying people on strike also don't know what the future holds.
"Do they know where their next paycheck is coming from?" Portantino asked. "People go on strike when there's uncertainty, when they don't know what the future is going to have."
