NEW: Group to Picket Against DLT Layoffs
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
A group of community leader will informational picket and press conference today in front of the Department of Labor and Training to decry an impending layoff of almost 60 DLT workers.
“I’ve been utilizing the programs provided by the DLT for over six months now,” said Denise Mather Uustal, who has been trying to find work since Christmas. “They have really important services—classes, trainings, the guidance that unemployed people need to get a leg up on finding a job. But they seem to be decreasing services all the time, and that’s going to continue with these layoffs. Rhode Island’s jobless citizens need more of these services, not less.”
With over 60,000 officially unemployed Rhode Islanders and a 10.9% unemployment rate, the second highest in the country, DLT is already struggling to keep up with the flood of demand for services.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Just this week I spent two hours on hold, trying to get through to the DLT to find out the status of my unemployment claim,” said Jim Carrington. “The communication just isn’t where it needs to be right now. It’s a complicated process, there are questions that come up, and we need to be able to speak with someone to help us traverse this system. If I’m waiting this long now, how in the world do they expect folks like me to be able to get through after these DLT layoffs hit?”
The union representing 55 workers set for layoff criticized the DLT for not developing a strategy to provide adequate services when federal funding sunsets after July.
“It is disappointing that after several conversations with Director Fogarty, a transition plan to maintain adequate staffing levels during this time of high unemployment was not developed by the Department,” said Lynn Tipton, President of RIESA Local 401 SEIU and Tech Support Specialist II at DLT.
