PASS Joins Call to Congress on Behalf of Transportation Workers
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- Published: September 15, 2020
This week, PASS and the other affiliate unions of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD), AFL-CIO, sent a letter to top congressional leaders calling on lawmakers to pass an economic relief package this month to aid essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic, especially those in the transportation sector. “Transportation workers have been at the center of these efforts, making sure that the goods and people that keep our country healthy get where they need to be. Now these workers, and the broader economy, need your help.”
Earlier this summer, PASS and the aviation unions of TTD urged lawmakers to extend the Payroll Support Program (PSP) for airline employees in the next COVID-19 response legislation. That legislation has stalled. By providing millions of dollars to airlines under the CARES Act, the PSP has kept hundreds of thousands of airlines workers employed by preventing the airlines from any layoffs or furloughs, but it expires in just two weeks.
In the new letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Shumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, PASS and TTD again asked for Congress to take action to extend the PSP as well as other programs needed to support the broader transportation industry.
“We know that the economic needs are not limited to transportation, and that workers in every other sector are depending on Congress to help them through this crisis,” wrote the unions of TTD. “Lack of immediate Congressional action to meet these needs will ripple throughout our membership, and the effects will be felt across the entire economy.”
“The employees PASS represents at the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense are fortunate to still be working,” said PASS National President Mike Perrone. “But our brothers and sisters across the transportation sector who are working equally hard for the American people during this national emergency are in dire need of assistance and PASS is proud to join the call for action from Congress.”