This is what we union thugs do for the jobless

Some thug.

(UPDATE: Changes 2nd paragraph to clarify only employees of contractors with educational institutions lost benefits recently, Adds 700 members of Local 728)

We buy food and distribute it to workers whose earned benefits were arbitrarily cut off by the state of Georgia.

This spring, the Department of Labor suddenly cut off the unemployment benefits earned by 64,000 Georgians (including 700 members of Local 728) who had no work during the summer. They were employed by companies that contracted with educational institutions.

Lots of food for lots of hunger.

Velmar Hightower, a food service technician for Aramark at Spellman College, had depended on her unemployment benefits for 20 summers. She was shocked when the Georgia Department of Labor told her at the end of May that she no longer qualified. Like tens of thousands of others, she'd had no time to plan for a summer without income.

The workers are facing eviction, repossession and hunger. There is no work for them in Georgia. There is no pay.

Teamsters from Local 728 in Atlanta bought $3,000 worth of food and set up a food distribution center. Several hundred union members whose unemployment benefits were cut picked up groceries at the IBEW Hall in Savannah on Saturday and Wednesday. Local 728 will also deliver bags of groceries to the homes of 50 unemployed school bus drivers at Fort Stewart later this week.

Remember "Thug" stands for "those helpful union guys (and gals)."