Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the Coalition to March on the RNC.

Countdown to end of extra unemployment insurance continues

San José, CA – For the second week in a row, new applications for state unemployment insurance or UI did not drop by much, despite economists’ expectations. New claims for the week ending June 20 were 1.48 million, down only 28,000 from last week’s initial estimate. New applications for the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, fell by 42,000 to 728,000 last week. Together the PUA and state unemployment insurance applications topped 2.2 million, only slightly lower than the 2.27 million total for the week before.

Grand Rapids, MI – Union stagehands and gig workers are rallying to extend unemployment at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing on June 24 at 10 a.m.

Unemployment insurance claims stop falling

San José, CA – In six weeks, tens of millions of unemployed people face the end of the additional $600 a week in unemployment insurance benefits. This additional benefit that helps low income workers the most is set to expire due to its being opposed by the Republican-controlled Senate. These same workers were hardest hit by the pandemic recession, and many face the prospect of their jobs not coming back. This is just another example of how the economic relief has helped large corporations, which can aided by the Federal Reserve, while low-income workers are subject to punishment by republicans who see the aid as discouraging people from returning to work.

Fight Back! interviewed Andy Brooks, General Secretary of the New Communist Party of Britain, on the impact of the pandemic in Britain. Fight Back!: How are the working people of Britain being impacted by the pandemic?

San José, CA – On Thursday, June 11, reality finally caught up with Wall Street. For weeks there was a huge gap between the economy, where millions upon millions of people had lost their jobs and livelihood, and the soaring stock market which had turned positive for the year. But today reality seems to have sunk in, sending the headline Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 1800 points, or almost 7%. The broad S&P 500 index fell almost 6%, and the technology-heavy NASDAQ fell more than 5%. Stock market from Asia to Europe also fell.

San José, CA – Corporate-owned media is blaring that the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in May to 13.3%, from 14.7% in April. This was far better than even the most optimistic economist expected and even led to at least one to declare that “the recession is over.” Well, when something is too good to be true, it usually isn’t true.

Nearly three times as high as the pre-pandemic record

San José, CA – On Thursday, June 4 the federal Department of Labor reported that 1.9 million new claims for state unemployment insurance or UI benefits were filed in the week ending May 30. This was down by 250,000 claims from the previous week, continuing the slow decline in new applications. However, this was still more than two and a half times higher than the previous pre-pandemic record of almost 700,000 claims made during the deep 1981-82 recession.

Initial wave of layoffs ebbs even as new job cuts grow

San José, CA – On Thursday, May 28, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that there were 2.1 million new claims for state unemployment insurance in the previous week ending May 23. This was down from 2.4 million new claims the week before, showing that the wave of layoffs from the pandemic and efforts to control it is going down. At the same time this is still more than ten times the pre-recession level and brings the total number of new applications to 40 million in the last ten weeks.

Workers and Communist Parties Against Blockades and Imperialist Wars

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following appeal that was initiated by the German Communist Party (DKP), Communist Party Of Peoples Of Spain (CPPS), and the Communist Party Of Venezuela (CPV). Freedom Road Socialist Organization is among the signers.