Updated HEROES Act Introduced as Time Runs Out for Airline Workers

Updated HEROES Act Introduced as Time Runs Out for Airline Workers

Sep 29, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, Hawaiian, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

Texas Senator Cornyn’s Support Boosts Chances for Passage in the Senate 

On Monday evening, House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced a revised version of the HEROES Act, which includes $25 billion in funding for airline workers and another $3 billion for airline contractors. With a bipartisan majority of members of the House of Representatives on record supporting an extension of the Payroll Support Act (PSP), if the bill earns support in the Republican-controlled Senate, the eventual extension of the funding is all but assured.

If the bill fails to become law immediately, however, airlines may begin laying off tens of thousands of workers as they wait for lawmakers to seal the deal. IAMAW District 141 President Mike Klemm worries that many junior airline workers may not get called back to work – even if the aid comes within a few days of the PSP expiration. “I have seen nothing in this funding that would force airlines to bring our members back immediately upon passage. We need this bill to become the law before midnight tomorrow. Our members have no more time,” Klemm stated. 

The support from Republican lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, is vital for the passage of a clean extension of airline payroll assistance. 

In a letter to the Machinists last week, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) joined 16 members of his caucus who have voiced support for union workers facing catastrophic job cuts in the American aviation industry. Over 200,000 airline and aviation workers are expected to lose their jobs starting on Thursday.  An extension of the Payroll Support Program, a provision of the CARES Act, would prevent job cuts until March 30, 2021. 

“In recent weeks, several airlines have notified significant segments of their workforces that their jobs could be at risk on October 1,” Senator Cornyn said in the statement. “With air travel anticipated to remain low in the near future, a clean extension would maintain the goal of the CARES Act and avoid further layoffs.”

Klemm spoke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) during the IAMAW Day of Action last week while encouraging every Machinists Union member to contact their representatives to help them understand the urgency. “This revised bill has relief for many segments of our economy, which is needed, and we are happy they are being addressed, but airlines aren’t just another business, they are also a utility. Like roads and bridges and a fully functioning electric grid, air lanes must be in place before an economic recovery can happen. If we need to use taxpayer money, let’s use it to keep highly skilled airline workers on the job, and help bring back our economy, instead of having them join the millions who are unemployed.” 

“Both parties and the president support an extension of this aid,” Klemm added. “But I don’t know if lawmakers understand the deadline airline workers face. This has to happen, and it has to happen now.” Klemm urged all union members to make a call to their lawmakers and remind them that September 30 is the last day to prevent tens of thousands of job cuts.

Additional Resources /// Tell Lawmakers: Support for Airline Payrolls Cannot Wait  /// Read the joint airline union letter the IAMAW sent to the Senate last week

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IAM’s Airline Day of Action Sounds Alarm Across Country

IAM’s Airline Day of Action Sounds Alarm Across Country

Sep 18, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Hawaiian, MNPL, Page Five, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

As part of the IAM Airline Day of Action, IAM airline members have been making thousands of phone calls, sending countless emails and meeting with their elected officials all across the country today virtually, and in person, demanding that Congress act now to pass legislation that would stem hundreds of thousands of layoffs slated to begin on October 1, 2020.

The Senate has taken two vacations and still hasn’t passed a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act. Time is running out. IAM members must act now to tell your Senators to support a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act.

 

Here’s how you can take part in the IAM Airline Day of Action:

  1. Call your Senators at 866-829-3298 to urge them to pass a clean extension of the PSP through March 31, 2021, and to save hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers’ jobs.
  2. Email your Senators.
  3. Tweet at Majority Leader McConnell and your Senators.

– We need your help, @SenateMajLdr. Without a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram, hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers will be furloughed when the program expires on September 30th. Please get to the negotiating table now.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Congress needs to put politics aside and get a deal done now to save the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of airline workers. Pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram today.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] In a few short weeks, airline workers will not have healthcare during a pandemic. Congress needs to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Airline workers have worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, it’s Congress’s turn to take care of these heroes. They need to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.

“The Trump Administration and strong bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate all agree that airline workers and the industry as a whole need further aid to prevent hundreds of thousands of layoffs and great harm to the U.S. economy,” said IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “The IAM calls on Senate Majority Leader McConnell to support the U.S. airline industry. This industry drives over a million jobs and pumps trillions of dollars into our economy. We cannot turn our backs on this most vital sector of our economy.”

“The airline Payroll Support Program has been one of the most successful jobs programs in U.S. history,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Congress must stop the partisanship and extend relief for hundreds of thousands of airline workers. These men and women will make their voices heard in November and they will remember who stood with them and who stood against them to save the airline industry and their livelihoods.”

 

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Help Save Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs on Thursday’s IAM Airline Day of Action

Help Save Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs on Thursday’s IAM Airline Day of Action

Sep 16, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Hawaiian, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Perusals, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

IAM airline members are mobilizing this Thursday, Sept. 17 in 32 cities in over 20 states, either in person or virtually with Senators and Senate staff, to demand that Congress act now to pass legislation that would stem hundreds of thousands of layoffs slated to begin on October 1, 2020.

The Senate has taken two vacations and still hasn’t passed a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act. Time is running out. IAM members must act now to tell your Senators to support a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act.

Here’s how you can take part in the IAM Airline Day of Action:

  1. Call your Senators at 866-829-3298 to urge them to pass a clean extension of the PSP through March 31, 2021, and to save hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers’ jobs.
  2. Email your Senators.
  3. Tweet at Majority Leader McConnell and your Senators.

– We need your help, @SenateMajLdr. Without a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram, hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers will be furloughed when the program expires on September 30th. Please get to the negotiating table now.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Congress needs to put politics aside and get a deal done now to save the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of airline workers. Pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram today.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] In a few short weeks, airline workers will not have healthcare during a pandemic. Congress needs to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Airline workers have worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, it’s Congress’s turn to take care of these heroes. They need to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.

“The Trump Administration and strong bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate all agree that airline workers and the industry as a whole need further aid to prevent hundreds of thousands of layoffs and great harm to the U.S. economy,” said IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “The IAM calls on Senate Majority Leader McConnell to support the U.S. airline industry. This industry drives over a million jobs and pumps trillions of dollars into our economy. We cannot turn our backs on this most vital sector of our economy.”

“The airline Payroll Support Program has been one of the most successful jobs programs in U.S. history,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Congress must stop the partisanship and extend relief for hundreds of thousands of airline workers. These men and women will make their voices heard in November and they will remember who stood with them and who stood against them to save the airline industry and their livelihoods.”

Additional Resources  /// Ask Lawmakers to Support Clean Extension of PSP///  Support the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League

Help Save Thousands of Airline Jobs This Fall

Support a clean extension of the Payroll Support Program for airlines, and help save thousands of airline worker jobs this fall.

Send Lawmakers a Message Now

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IAM Airline Workers Need Action: 23 Days Until Relief Expires

IAM Airline Workers Need Action: 23 Days Until Relief Expires

Sep 9, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Hawaiian, MNPL, Perusals, Philippine, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

The airline Paycheck Support Program contained in the CARES Act is set to expire on October 1, 2020. Carriers are making plans on how to deal with its loss, and the outlook doesn’t look good for many IAM members and other airline workers.

American Airlines has announced it will lay off 19,000 workers on October 1. Southwest Airlines is eliminating 35,000 flights from its October schedule, and Air Wisconsin, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, ExpressJet, Hawaiian Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, and United Ground Express have issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN). 

TAKE ACTION: Tell your Senators and Representative to support a clean extension of the airline Payroll Support Program

The only hope of staving off mass furloughs is Congress taking action to extend CARES Act protections for airline workers. What we need to save jobs is:

  • Increase PSP funding levels by an additional $32 billion (covering six months);
  • Extend requirements relating to involuntary furloughs, share repurchases, dividend payments, and collective bargaining agreements to March 31, 2021;
  • Require Treasury to immediately disburse funds to every air carrier and contractor that executed a Payroll Support Program Agreement, an amount equal to their current payroll support.

“These are not controversial goals,” said IAM Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “We already have bipartisan support for a clean extension of the program, and President Trump has also signaled his support. What we need is for Congress to actually start doing its job and take action to save the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of airline and aviation families.”

“The airline industry is in dire need of immediate assistance from Congress,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Their inaction is jeopardizing the futures of all airline workers. The Machinists have been leading this fight from the beginning, and we must continue to keep the pressure on Congress. Do not stop contacting your Representative and Senators until this extension is enacted.”

U.S. Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA) recently led a bipartisan letter to American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, asking the carrier to continue its advocacy for the PSP extension and to keep communities and working families in mind when considering layoffs. Keller also led a separate letter to congressional leadership, highlighting the dire situation of the aviation industry and the need to include an extension of the PSP in future COVID-19 relief legislation.

TAKE ACTION: Tell your Senators and Representative to support a clean extension of the airline Payroll Support Program

 

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Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb Supports Extension of PSP: “Air Travel is Going to Come Back”

Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb Supports Extension of PSP: “Air Travel is Going to Come Back”

Sep 2, 2020 | Airlines, American, Front Page, Hawaiian, MNPL, Perusals, Philippine, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb Supports Extension of PSP: “Air Travel is Going to Come Back”

Members of District 141 took part in a Zoom call with Representative Conor Lamb (D-PA) this week, where he shared his views about the possibility of an extension of the Payroll Support Program (PSP) to save airline jobs. He presented a grim view of current negotiations.

“I hope that I’m wrong, but I’m very pessimistic at the moment based on what I’m hearing within our caucus about negotiations,” he said, responding to a question from District 141 Legislative Director Dave Roderick. The negotiations led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are deadlocked, and Rep. Lamb explained that despite offers to modify parts of the HEROES Act which the House passed in May, “there’s a group of Republican Senators, somewhere around 20 or so, who won’t go for a single thing. They don’t even have terms, they don’t have suggestions or areas for compromise,” he added.

Rep. Lamb expressed confidence, however, in the House of Representatives voting to “give a lifeline” to airline workers, but did not see “glimmers of hope” in the Senate. He said he hoped that as the end of the current PSP approaches, the “pain becomes a little bit more clear to some of these senators who maybe are spending too much time in DC and not realizing it.”

Answering a question from Rich Howell, Vice President of the Pennsylvania State Council of Machinists and a member of Local 1776 in Philadelphia, Rep. Lamb said that six months into the pandemic, there are lessons learned about how different businesses will survive and the importance of sustaining “assets” such as airports. “Air travel is going to come back. We are in a global and interconnected world, people are going to want to get on airplanes again, and that will happen when they believe it is safe.”

He stressed that before large segments of the public return to the skies, it is important to “suppress and ultimately defeat this virus.” In the meantime, the congressman supports new federal financial help for airlines with restrictions identical to those of the PSP, ensuring that public money goes directly into the pockets of workers and it is not a “blank check.”

A former Marine, Representative Conor Lamb was elected in 2018 to represent the 17th Congressional District of Pennsylvania with broad support from labor unions. At the end of the call, the congressman praised the work of Obie O’Brien, President of the Pennsylvania State Council of Machinists, and his commitment to working families, calling him “the soul of what we’re trying to do here.”

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Without PSP, AA Cuts 40,000

Without PSP, AA Cuts 40,000

Aug 26, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, Hawaiian, MNPL, Organizing, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

American Airlines announced plans to eliminate the jobs of “at least” 40,000 employees if lawmakers do not quickly renew funding for payroll support programs.

The furloughs would begin within hours of the expiration of the Payroll Support Program (PSP), the section of the CARES Act scheduled to end on October 1, just over a month before Election Day. The IAM has responded by calling on members to make a last stand on Capitol Hill and redouble efforts to convince lawmakers to renew funding for the PSP, which has stalled in the Senate. Airline executives agree that legislative action, if taken soon, would prevent the job cuts. 

In a notice sent to workers, the airline said it planned to involuntarily furlough about 19,000 employees beginning on October 1. The cuts are in addition to 12,500 American Airlines workers who have already left the company through early out separation packages and retirements. Another 11,000 employees have accepted voluntary and company-offered leaves of absence. 

Despite the thousands of voluntary separations, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker says more cuts are needed. “Even with those sacrifices, approximately 19,000 of our team members will be involuntarily furloughed or separated from the company on Oct.1, unless there is an extension of the PSP,” Parker said in the statement co-signed by airline President Robert Isom. 

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, air traffic has dropped below 60% of 2019 levels. The loss of revenue, combined with fixed overhead costs and mandated quarantine and travel restrictions in many countries, drives the airline’s “cash burn” to over $40 million in daily losses. In March, Congress voted to approve a program to cover payroll costs for commercial airlines, as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The Payroll Support Program is a job security program at its core, allowing airlines to keep their highly specialized and trained staff. Airline workers such as pilots, load planners, flight attendants, dispatchers, and other airport agents have specialized skills and security clearances, making them difficult to replace. The PSP funded payroll costs for six months, but airlines were required to retain workers, so they would be available quickly once the industry showed signs of recovery. 

Moreover, since the US civil aviation infrastructure is a necessary part of a fully functioning economy, and provides services that are vital to the operation of many businesses, Congress also required airlines to maintain air service in several markets despite deep reductions in passenger demand. These conditions prevented cities and regions of the country from being cut off from the rest of the economy, safeguarding the flow of products, including medical equipment, and transporting health workers and first responders where they were needed. By any measure, the Payroll Support Program is a success, but its future is tied to deadlocked negotiations in Congress for a new round of coronavirus relief legislation.

Help Prevent Furloughs This Fall

Contact your lawmakers and ask them to support the Payroll Support Program, and prevent airline furloughs this fall.

Contact Your Lawmakers Now

Sito Pantoja, General Vice President of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, who, in an alliance with the Transit Workers Union, make up one of the largest organized workgroups at American, responded to the announcement by calling for immediate, emergency action in the Senate. 

“The only hope of staving off mass furloughs is Congress taking action to extend CARES Act protections for airline workers,” Pantoja told members in a statement issued before the American Airlines announcement. 

Pantoja laid out a plan that he said would avert airline job cuts in the near term, and would buy the industry time to recover. He called for lawmakers to approve $32 billion in payroll support funding to cover the labor costs of the industry for six additional months. Also, airlines would be required to preserve their workforces and labor contracts, so that these assets could be quickly available in the event of a faster than expected recovery. 

District 141 President and Directing General Chair Mike Klemm called on union activists to keep the pressure on Senators and demand a vote on a “clean” version of the PSP. “This is the responsibility of every union member, and we must do it this week. Call or write your Senator and demand they put partisan differences aside, return to Washington and take a clean vote to extend the PSP,” he said. 

“Remind everyone you interact with to please send a message to their lawmakers, especially if they have received RIF notices. Of course, our IAM contracts are in full force, with all the protections we have earned, but without an extension of the PSP, thousands of union members will soon be out of a job. In this economy, that spells disaster,” Klemm said, stressing how furloughed workers would lose their work-based health coverage, putting the health and security of their families at risk in the pandemic.

“This is our lifeline,” he added. 

Additional Resources

///  Contact Your Senator and Ask Them to Extend the Payroll Support Program

/// Click HERE to call a Senator who has not decided to support the extension of the PSP.

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