Funiciello Calls for Change to Unemployment Law and Investigation After Climax Closure

In a press release distributed to media organizations throughout New York’s 21st Congressional District, Matt Funiciello, the Green Party candidate for Congress responded to the recent closure of the Climax facility in Lowville, New York, and the Metro Paper Company in Carthage, New York.

In the press release, Funiciello said the recent plant closings at Climax Packaging in Lowville and Metro Paper in Carthage highlighted the need for a national plan to reach and maintain full employment. Funiciello suggested that a dynamic full employment plan would include both a “Green New Deal” which would create a public jobs program at living wages, and legislation giving workers the right to a lump sum payment when they pool unemployment benefits to purchase closing businesses converted into worker-run cooperatives. Finally, Funiciello also said the closing of the Climax plant in Lowville may have violated the federal WARN Act that requires employers to give workers 60 days notice before plant closings, and called for an investigation.

“We need a permanent program to put people who are willing and able to work, to work, at living wages. In the 1930s we were able to rebuild a broken economy with a massive public jobs program; we can do it again in 2016. This time we need to make sure those jobs remain, permanently, to help local economies across the US. This is part of the Green New Deal, where we can rebuild our infrastructure, shift to renewable energy sources and restart the economy of Main Street. I also believe we need to pass legislation that allows workers in closing businesses to pool their unemployment benefits to purchase the business and turn it into a worker-run co-operative. This would be based on the successful law in Italy, which would allow businesses to remain in communities, and to be owned and run by community members,” Funiciello said.

During the mid-1980s the Italian Minister of Industry and Trade, Giovanni Marcora helped pass a law that has allowed Italian workers laid off by closing factories and other businesses to recieve a lump sum payment of unemployment benefits, provided the workers agree to pool their benefits to purchase closing factories, or to start new worker-owned cooperative enterprises with those funds. The legislation known as the Marcora law, has, during its thirty years history helped Italy create 257 worker owned cooperative businesses and saved more than 9,300 Italian jobs. These businesses are democratically owned by the employees on the basis of one worker, one vote, and a share of the profits based on the percentage of hours contributed to the overall total work hours by each worker. Funiciello urged a similar change to the unemployment law which already allows workers receiving benefits to continue receiving benefits for up to the full six months of benefits while starting a business in compliance with unemployment benefit rules. Adopting rules similar to Italy’s Marcora law would likely pay for itself over time because of continued employment and new tax revenue generated by the ventures started by the worker beneficiaries.

In the case of Climax, if each of the 157 laid off employees were entitled to the full 6 months of unemployment benefits, and were entitled to the maximum statutory benefit, the employees would have just over $1.6 million to purchase and operate the factory if the United States were to adopt changes to the unemployment law similar to Italy’s Marcora law.

“I’d also like to see an investigation into the sudden closing of the Climax plant in Lowville. Losing 157 jobs is absolutely devastating to that community, and to not give the workers even the 60 days notice required by the WARN Act is not only deeply disturbing, but may be illegal,” Funiciello said.

“I am a worker, and I want to see an economy built by and for the working class here in America. I’d fight to do that in Congress against the ruling class corporate power that has transferred wealth from the 99% to the 1%. Meanwhile, Elise Stefanik has consistently voted for anti-worker legislation in Congress and supports the job-killing Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP). This November the choice for CD-21 will be between an economy for all, or for the few, and we will work to build a movement to make sure working people win,” Funiciello concluded.

Via his Facebook page, Mike Derrick, the Democratic Party candidate posted the following: “My heart goes out to the 157 individuals and their families affected by the sudden closure of Climax Packaging in Lowville. We’re all in this together.” Derrick offered no proposals to solve the problem of the continued loss of manufacturing jobs in the North Country. Meanwhile, he continues to raise money from Wall Street lawyers and Virginia based defense contracting firms.

Presently, there are no reported comments from Stefanik in regards to the closure.

You can find out more about the Funiciello campaign at: http://mattfunicielloforcongress.org