When you read about the #joblessclaims, here's something you should know about. More than 2 million people know their paychecks and healthcare are protected at least through September thanks to the the payroll grants @FlyingWithSara put toward and fought for #coronavirus 1/9
Aviation has seen an 87% drop in revenue. The financial cost to the industry is already greater than the hit from 9/11 and the Great Recession COMBINED. Of those two million aviation workers, at least one million would have been laid off in the next month or so without this 2/9
This wasn't a bailout for the airlines. In total, about $30 billion is going straight to paychecks and benefits for everyone from flight attendants and pilots to the folks who clean planes and push wheelchairs through the airport. It includes catering and other contractors 3/9
This is what countries like Denmark are doing: guaranteeing employment for workers. What @afa_cwa achieved is a model we can and should fight for across industry. It's an unprecedented win, and one that means more than 2 million people have job security in the coming months 4/9
.@FlyingWithSara didn't wait for anyone's permission to push this. We hatched the plan and hit the gas, trusting we could build a coalition behind a big idea once it was moving, and knowing we didn't have any time to waste 5/9
Sara has been working until 2am and back at it at 5a or 6a every day for weeks. She brought in a labor coalition, won support of airline CEOs, wrangled the House and Senate Democrats, held it together through force of will and tirelessly made the case everywhere, every day 6/9
If there's a lesson I wish people would learn, it's don't wait. I wish the House hadn't ceded the field to McConnell. I wish we had jammed a massive, progressive bill and made the Senate GOP and the White House defend their opposition 7/9
If Sara had waited for consensus or let the process play out or otherwise observed the decorum of Washington, two million people would be wondering if they were about to get a pink slip. And since all of them are hourly workers, they'd already be losing nearly all their pay 8/9
Instead, they're getting a full paycheck through September at least, and the airlines will be subject to stricter financial oversight than they've ever seen too. If you're in position to make change, put your foot to the floor. Good people will follow if you lead them. 9/9
