Gee Scott: Giving striking workers unemployment benefits is ‘incentive to strike’
Mar 10, 2025, 4:00 PM | Updated: 4:24 pm
Should striking workers earn unemployment benefits while out on strike? Washington Democrats say yes, passing Senate Bill 5041. The bill provided unemployment benefits for up to 12 weeks during a strike. But what does the “Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio think?
Supporters and Democratic lawmakers argue striking minimum wage workers would struggle to survive without it. They also believe it would strengthen collective bargaining.
Host Gee Scott isn’t so sure.
“It’s the employer that pays for it…,” host Gee Scott said. “That’s the proposal. All this is really an incentive to strike. A worker can threaten to strike tomorrow. And boom, has the leverage and the incentive.”
KIRO Newsradio fill-in host Angel Poe Russell wondered if there’s a way to compromise and cut the unemployment eligibility to four weeks.
Listen to the full discussion below.
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Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio.
