The worst of the pandemic is hopefully behind us.  Still, for too many at this time of year, job insecurity remains.

TAUP is offering free unemployment workshops to help our bargaining unit members.  As a worker, you pay into unemployment  in every paycheck. It’s insurance that is there to cover you when you need it.

It is important to understand your eligibility and how to apply to secure your benefits.  The process is unfortunately complicated for school workers, and the pandemic has increased the time people have to wait before receiving a decision about their eligibility and their benefits.  But even with that lag, if you are eligible you will be able to collect back pay, but only from the day you first  applied, so it’s important that you do so as soon as possible. You are allowed to apply on the first day that you are no longer a Temple employee, based on the end date of your appointment letter.

Even if you are working, if you have experienced a drop of 10% or more in pay that’s due to a decision from your employer, you may be able to collect partial benefits. 

Workshops are scheduled for the following dates and times:

To sign up for a workshop, click here. 

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If you applied at the end of Spring 2020 and were eligible

The recent American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package)  has extended your benefits.  Even if your benefit year will end in May of this year, you should be automatically enrolled by the state in the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program where you will continue to receive benefits until the first week of September.

If you have questions about the status of your eligibility, contact Jennie at jennie.taup@gmail.com

 

TAUP is glad to hear that Temple will be vaccinating employees who are city residents starting next week. Kudos to the administration and the City for working together effectively on this crucial issue. We encourage our members to read the message and fill out the Vaccine Interest Form.

But we are also being pro-active in getting our members working on campus vaccinated.

Last week, when we heard that the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, in concert with the NAACP and Workers United (Philadelphia Joint Board), was going to distribute vaccine, we immediately contacted the AFL-CIO to reserve as many slots as we could (they were going fast!) and then we contacted everybody we knew who was working on campus so that we could forward their info. We are very grateful to our union colleagues and the NAACP for organizing this and for setting aside slots for our members.

If you are working on campus and you would like to be notified about available vaccines, please provide your information here.

This is not a substitute for other programs linking Americans to vaccines. But, TAUP will let you know if we learn of available vaccines for members who may be working in person.

At the same time, get yourself on every list, including Temple University’s planned program of vaccination.

We join the administration in urging our members NOT to rely on this on-campus program since doses will be limited; get on every list you can so that when you’re eligible you increase your chances of getting vaccinated!

But we also know many of our members are frustrated; the system for distributing vaccines is confusing, unwieldy, and inequitable; and colleagues working on campus have cause to be particularly concerned since they are putting their health in jeopardy by simply doing their jobs.  Unfortunately, both the state and the city have defined higher education workers in a less-exigent category than those currently being vaccinated (1B in the state and 1C in the city).

TAUP has also been working hard to move the city and state to: a) revise this classification, and b) to prioritize on-campus workers whenever higher ed workers become eligible.  We have reached out to Temple’s administration, to the city’s Departments of Labor and Public Health, to elected allies in city and state government and AFTPA, our state federation.  We will continue to do so, and there have been some productive conversations of late that we hope will yield results.

We also know that you have many questions about the university’s plan for the summer and fall.  We have requested a meeting on health and safety, and the administration is working to arrange a date and time.  As soon as we have news there, we will let you know.  Of course, if you have particular questions or concerns about what’s going on right now or about the summer and fall, please let us know at taupaft@gmail.com 

Steve