Op-Ed: Daisy

I stand in line at my local United States Post Office in Iowa City, IA the way most people stand in line: head down, fingers dexterously moving between the apps on my phone, eyes hungry to find an interesting post so that I don’t get too bored. This time, I am sandwiched between two white women—an older, friendly-looking woman buying stamps standing in front of me and a middle-aged woman wearing sunglasses lined up behind me. They strike up a conversation based on their mutual disdain for the recent long lines at USPS. The older woman remarks, “They are so short-staffed, but no one is willing to work nowadays.” The woman behind me agrees. She knows people who have been on unemployment benefits for eight months; people who have been collecting disability checks and working “under the table”; people who wouldn’t take a job at USPS..

Outside of USPS queues, and all the way to the state government, there are people who think unemployment benefits are deterring workers from finding jobs. If you happened to watch Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Condition of the State on January 11, 2022, you may have caught her promise to address the “lack of people willing to work.” Well, it seems that Governor Reynolds takes her promises seriously, because just 30 days after her address House Bill 631 was introduced; it has since then been renamed House File 2279, but the purpose remains the same.

HF 2279 seeks to cut down the maximum amount of time most workers can claim unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks. Workers would also have to wait a week before they could start receiving unemployment benefits. The bill does not state the reason for implementing this one-week waiting period. Keep in mind that, during this week, workers would not receive the benefits they qualify for and would still be unemployed. The bill would also require workers to accept a job that pays only 70% of their previous wages if that job is offered during the 6-8th week of unemployment. Currently, the timeline to accept such a job is during the 13-18th week of unemployment. Workers would be expected to accept jobs that offer as low as 60% of their previous wages after their eighth week of unemployment.

This bill effectively seeks to get workers off unemployment benefits and back to the workforce. The focus is not on how the state of Iowa can intervene in the economy to address the issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the closing of many businesses and the loss of jobs. No, the focus is on how the state can “encourage” people to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the economy. These are the key components of what cultural theorist Stuart Hall calls the ”neoliberal gospel.” Neoliberal governments see the economy as too fast and too big, which renders it essentially out of the control of politicians. According to Governor Kim Reynolds and the state of Iowa, the government cannot mitigate the economic changes brought on by the pandemic through measures such as increased unemployment benefits.

Rather, Governor Kim Reynolds’ bill is asking too much of citizens who have lost their jobs. It is selfishly asking workers to meet the demands of an economy getting back to “normal” even if this means workers taking on jobs that underpay them. This bill does not consider that workers may be rethinking their careers and need more time to figure out what they want to do now. Instead, this bill is letting off the hook governments who have the means to help unemployed workers but choose to make their access to resources full of obstacles.

Do not be fooled by HF 2279. The goal of this bill is not to help “Iowans succeed.” Take action. Find your appointed legislators and urge them to vote against HF 2279 and other bills that undermine the rights of workers.