8.12.20 – Washington Leaders: Negotiate a Deal. Time is Running Out.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Paul Hartshorn, Jr.
[email protected]

Washington Leaders: Negotiate a Deal.
Time is Running Out.

(Euless, TX) – Time is running out. Hundreds of thousands of US aviation jobs may soon be lost. Flight Attendants, pilots, mechanics, agents- all US aviation workers are standing at the edge of a financial cliff. If our leaders in Washington act now, we can save the aviation industry from irreversible damage and stand ready to re-ignite economic regrowth throughout our communities.

We have reached a critical point. Without new stimulus relief legislation, airlines will have to go through with their plans to furlough thousands of workers.

President Trump, please keep your promise to hundreds of thousands of US aviation workers and extend the Payroll Support Program through March 31, 2021. Thousands of jobs will be lost if we do not act quickly. Without your support, the aviation industry will be crippled just when it should be leading our economic recovery.

Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, and our leaders in Congress, we need you to return to the negotiating table immediately. Overwhelmingly, the House and Senate have voiced their support for a six-month extension of the Payroll Support Program, but you must act now.

Secretary Mnuchin, we need your voice of compromise now more than ever. Many pressing issues require your attention, but this is one issue that cannot wait and cannot be fixed farther down the road. The Payroll Support Program must be extended now to save jobs in October.

The Payroll Support Program has successfully kept frontline aviation workers on the job and connected to health benefits amidst this crisis. Now we are in the final days before massive layoffs cannot be undone. The exact fate that Congress and the White House investments were meant to prevent.

Julie Hedrick, National President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants representing Flight Attendants at American Airlines, expressed concern over the lack of a stimulus package.

“We need our Congressional Representatives to return to the table and negotiate a stimulus bill that provides funding to continue the paychecks and healthcare of hundreds of thousands of aviation workers and their families,” said President Hedrick.

“Further destabilization of the airline industry and its employees will only hamper our broader economic recovery. Congress must keep frontline aviation worker employment a top priority. Aviation has always been a cornerstone of any economic recovery, and that recovery can only happen if credentialed aviation employees are ready to work as demand returns.”