Mike Hawkins

“I’m a union drywall taper and painter out of the Belleville hall.

“Back about the beginning of March, I called to find out what was going on with my unemployment. They told me they weren’t sure they knew how to help me but to keep on certifying. I kept certifying and then finally called back again after it took me about four weeks to get through to them on the phone, because every time you’d call through it’d hang up on you. I finally got through on the 29th of April when they informed me I needed to file in Missouri. I had some time in Missouri working. I haven’t had a check for two months now.

“Missouri just denied my claim for insufficient wages. So now I’ve been trying for the last two hours to get through on the phone to Illinois unemployment to get hung up on non-stop.

“I did finally get through after three hours of calling and sitting on hold for 45 minutes. I was informed there was an I.T. issue with my account and that they would try to get a supervisor to get ahold of I.T. to straighten it out, but to just keep certifying. As of this week, the Illinois Department of Employment Services owes me approximately $7,704 in back pay.

“I’m against [the progressive tax] completely. We already get taxed enough.

“We get our license plates raised, they want progressive taxes. We get taxed harder and harder every year.

“[Gov. J.B. Pritzker] isn’t doing his job at all. He’s more worried about how he’s looking in the media than he is about the citizens of Illinois. It’s pretty bad when you lock us all down but then you fly your wife to Florida.

“We struggle at times. Luckily our house and everything is paid for. A lot of people don’t have that luxury.

“I’m in construction, so if we don’t work we don’t have insurance because it’s paid in as our benefits. My wife has a rare cardiac condition, so I’m fighting right now to keep my insurance because they want me to pay this $1,200 COBRA when I haven’t got a check from the state in two months. And she’s high risk for COVID-19, so she can’t even go to work. She’s working from home, but without me working we lose our insurance.

“I’ve got a 15-year-old daughter who hasn’t left home since they shut schools down. My wife’s high risk, so the daughter can’t go anywhere. She’s got to stay home.

“Today’s the first time I’ve been out in two months. I’ve got to fill out my paperwork, and I go back to work on the 11th. … Thank God.”

Mike Hawkins
Centralia, Illinois