Just before adjourning for the Thanksgiving break, the Senate by a voice vote approved an extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for jobless workers who exhaust their benefits before finding new work.

The action came the same day that the Department of Labor reported that new claims for unemployment benefits last week jumped to a 16-year high, hitting a seasonally adjusted 542,000 from a downwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week.

More than 1 million U.S. workers have lost their jobs already this year, and more than 10 million are out of work and looking for new jobs.

Here’s another clear example of why we need the Employee Free Choice Act. For more than six years, Russ Teegardin and Bill Lawhorn have fought to get their jobs back after they were fired for supporting a union at Consolidated Biscuit Co. (CBC) in McComb, Ohio. Even though the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered the company to rehire the workers, CBC all but ignored the order.

Finally, justice will be done at CBC after a federal appeals court on Nov. 14 ordered the company to comply with the labor board’s decision and reinstate the two workers with full back pay with all wages lost, plus compounded interest. If CBC, which makes Nabisco cookies and Kraft products, does not comply with the order, it could face thousands of dollars in fines. Check out Lawhorn talking about his firing in the video above and speaking before Congress here.