Editorial: Strike This

W.Va. shouldn’t subsidize one side of a labor dispute

Charleston Daily Mail, March 26, 2005

In 2003, administrative law judges granted unemployment compensation benefits of $358 a week to 1,700 striking Kroger employees in West Virginia .

Both Kentucky and Ohio denied unemployment benefits to Kroger workers in their jurisdictions, thus refusing to take sides in a labor dispute. West Virginia awarded benefits, thus subsidizing one side of the argument.

Is that the purpose of the unemployment benefits program?

The company appealed the ruling to the state’s highest court this week.

Certainly, somebody should clarify West Virginia law and make it plain once and for all that people who voluntarily disemploy themselves cannot collect unemployment benefits. This kind of departure from the norm has helped to give West Virginia a reputation for hostility to business.

Furthermore, the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund could go bankrupt as early as 2008, and a payroll tax has been mentioned as a possible source of bailout funds.

Other states do not take sides in these disputes. West Virginia shouldn’t either.