Letters: DLIR needs to expand, reopen UI offices; Inspect shipments for illegal fireworks; Open up vaccinations to some under 75

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Workers with the newly formed Coalition to Defend and Respect Hawaii’s Workers organized a rally on Wednesday. The group wants a meeting with the DLIR director to demand that an in-person office be opened to resolve unemployment insurance claims.

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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Workers with the newly formed Coalition to Defend and Respect Hawaii’s Workers organized a rally on Wednesday. The group wants a meeting with the DLIR director to demand that an in-person office be opened to resolve unemployment insurance claims.

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DLIR needs to expand, reopen UI offices

Hawaii has the highest unemployment rate in the nation and the most unfriendly unemployment insurance office in the nation.

The governor and the director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations have no intention of reopening the unemployment offices until they can get the workload under control, according to DLIR Director Anne Perreira- Eustaquio (“Rally today over ‘broken’ unemployment system to demand in-person service, timely benefits,” Star-Advertiser, Kokua Line, Feb. 24).

The conundrum: You cannot get the workload under control until you actually open up the unemployment offices. If the office is too small, open up in the convention center and get the job done, or find a governor and DLIR that actually care about ohana unemployed due to the pandemic and the tier system that is keeping them unemployed.

Andrew Kachiroubas

Moiliili

Open up vaccinations to some under 75

Why is Hawaii one of only six states where a 73-year-old person cannot receive a vaccine?

All states face the same vaccine supply shortages, but other states realize the risk facing a 75-year-old person is not significantly greater than the risk facing a 72- or 73-year-old person. Those states may stay in the same group 1B for a longer time, but the 73-year-old has the same probability of being vaccinated as the 75-year-old.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seems to agree and has urged states to be flexible in setting age limits.

Hawaii has already vaccinated more than 55% of those over 75, and I’m having difficulty seeing why more 75-year-olds must be vaccinated before a 73-year-old can get a shot.

James Forbes

Manoa

Inspect shipments for illegal fireworks

I agree with Kimo Jenkins’ letter about fireworks (“Stop criminals from importing fireworks,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 22).

I add: Stiffer fines, etc., likely would do nothing because there is not the enforcement capability.

When I drove away from the North Shore with my dogs around midnight New Year’s Eve, it was a case of going from the frying pan into the fire.

Preventing these fireworks from ever getting here is the direction we need to head. And Jenkins is spot-on: If we can inspect Christmas tree containers for bugs, we can find the fireworks.

The illegal part begins with the importing. And unlike Christmas trees, it goes on all year.

Debbie Aldrich

Haleiwa

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