People travel to file claims, find jobs

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW January 07, 2009 03:32 pm

— Glasgow is not the only community affected by layoffs.
Jenny White, of Willow Shade, has worked at Sumitomo in Edmonton for 15 years. The company manufactures parts for the automotive industry.
She was laid off she said due to production being slow, but unlike some, her layoff is only temporary.
“I’m on a GM line and they said production was slow. I go back Feb. 2,” she said.
Jim Bunnell, of Tompkinsville, works for Froedge Machine and Supply Company Inc. in Tompkinsville. He, too, was recently laid off.
“I was in the shop, the welding fabrication shop,” he said.
He began working for the company last August and anticipated the layoff.
“I just didn’t expect it so soon,” he said.
Bunnell hasn’t been given a date to return to work.
He stopped by the Kentucky Employment Service on Tuesday morning after attempting to file for unemployment benefits online unsuccessfully.
“I filed it on the computer, but then it gave me the red number and said you have to contact the office. I tried forever to contact the office. You can’t spend the $10 it costs to drive out here and back,” he said.
Statewide there were so many people filing claims for unemployment insurance Sunday and Monday that state phone lines and the Web site were overwhelmed, the Courier-Journal reported Tuesday.
Bunnell explained that Tompkinsville does have an employment office, but there is no one in the office to process unemployment benefits claims.
Bunnell doesn’t intend to wait to see if he will be called back to work. If a job becomes available in the meantime, he said he will take it.
“We’re looking for a job every day,” he said. “There’s other people who might not have the opportunity we have to find a job, so if we find one, we’ll take it.”
Bunnell is willing to commute to work and said he will drive as far as he has to if he gets a job regardless of where it is.