The government’s failure to strike a new stimulus deal is spreading not only to struggling Americans waiting for another round of stimulus checks, but also entire industries that employ tens of thousands
The pandemic has hit the travel industry harder than most, as travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders have resulted in a significant decrease in air traffic According to TSA data, at 13 October, the number of travelers was down more than 109% year-on-year
« We feel completely and totally boosted, » said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, of the relaunch talks that have been going on for months (video above) « Because we’ve been at the center of this And airline workers are currently being used as a pawn in negotiations We’re the thing everyone seems to agree on, but no one seems to be able to close the deal «
The CARES Act, the pandemic stimulus deal passed in March, allocated $ 25 billion to passenger air carriers, $ 4 billion to freight air carriers and $ 3 billion to contractors to provided the funds are used to pay employee salaries, wages, and benefits Air carriers and contractors were also prohibited from taking involuntary time off or reducing pay / benefits rates until September 30, 2020
Combat agents (among many other airline workers) are now starting to be laid off At the start of 2020, there were around 750,000 airline workers in the US
“Real people are feeling this boost exacerbated by the fact that this government cannot make it happen,” said Nelson “I talk to people who have been here for decades, who said he didn’t there had never been such a crazy time in Washington »
President Trump had previously indicated he would be willing to provide airlines with an additional $ 25 billion in stimulus talks, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has stated that a stand-alone bill would not pass unless it was be part of a bigger package
“We’ve heard from the White House, Democrats, Republicans, everyone in between, both houses, that they are supporting us all,” Nelson said “But no one seems to be doing our lockdown. jobs and critical infrastructure in the airline industry a law So I want to remind everyone that this is a jobs and infrastructure program «
About 32,000 employees have been laid off since CARES law protections expired in October 1, and that number is expected to continue to increase until an agreement is reached
“It means they earn less,” Nelson said. “This means that, more likely, they’ve lived paycheck to paycheck, haven’t had much time to save money, don’t have not had much time to have an individual cushion These are real people who are really scared, who lose their homes, who lose their health care, who lose any sort of future security, who burn their savings just to try to get by now and don’t. know that they will be able to recover and take care of their children in the long term «
Nelson pointed out that when it comes to the airline industry and the effects on regular Americans, this is not a political issue
« This is not a political assessment, » said Nelson « These are real people And we’re Americans and we’re in the middle of a crisis In all other times of crisis in America we’ve come together And we had a leadership that brought us together We absolutely lack that leadership right now So someone has to step in and lead «
Adriana Belmonte is a journalist and editor covering health policy and politics for Yahoo Finance You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells
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White House, Stimulus, Donald Trump, Democratic Party
World News – GB – Flight Attendant Union boss blames White House, Democrats and GOP for not having concluded a new stimulus agreement
