More than 6.6 million people filed for #unemployment in the past week. 10 million in two weeks. Now, @StevenMnuchin1 and @realDonaldTrump are on the brink of personally signing pink slips for a million or more aviation workers. Tell them NO #COVID19 1/12 actionnetwork.org/letters/no-war…
Aviation workers gave our government a simple solution to save 2 million jobs and a vital industry: direct grants that kept aviation workers on payroll, connected to our benefits, and able to assist in fighting the virus now then lift our economy once it's contained 2/12
We fought for and won exactly that in the #CARESAct, a bipartisan agreement to keep people in their jobs, getting their regular paychecks, connected to their healthcare. A truly #WorkersFirst plan, created by workers for workers 3/12
The payroll grants came with strict conditions: employers who take them can only use the money to pay people and keep them in their jobs with healthcare. AND, it comes with a ban on stock buybacks, executive raises and bonuses, and stockholder dividends 4/12
The public gets a huge return on investment in this deal. It keeps 2 million hourly workers employed, paying taxes, and able to spend, and it ensures that aviation is ready to fly again and restart our economy the moment we have the virus under control 5/12
Now, Mnuchin is threatening to screw this up by making this impossible for the airlines to get the payroll grants. He didn't like #WorkersFirst provisions of the CARES Act and now he wants to kill it by complicating implementation and adding onerous conditions 6/12
If Mnuchin goes through with this, it means a million or more workers added to the unemployment lines. If @realDonaldTrump lets him do this, POTUS might as well be signing a million pink slips himself, and proving once and for all he doesn’t care one bit about working people 7/12
We gave people rare certainty in uncertain times - and a template that can be extended to every other industry. Mnuchin and the White House want to take that away. This is heartless. It is immoral. And it’s against our national interest in every way 8/12
To those of you who think Mnuchin’s moves will move us toward nationalizing aviation, stop and think. @afa_cwa has supported re-regulating the airlines since 1979. This isn’t how we get there, and nationalization is not what Mnuchin wants. He wants power, period 9/12
If the airlines take the grants under his terms, he will effectively control aviation. Do you think he’ll use that power to help YOU? No. He’ll use it for profit and politics, the same way they’re using PPE and supplies to reward political allies right now 10/12
The truth is Mnuchin is making the process to get the payroll grants hard & chaotic when it was supposed to be fast & simple. This will lead to bankruptcies - mass job loss, breaking union contracts, more hurt for the public, & massive payouts for the vulture capitalists 11/12
Mnuchin's move is about power. Millions will be hurt, more people will die, and our entire economy will suffer. Don’t let them win. Let him know we’re watching, and demand that implement the bipartisan agreement as intended. actionnetwork.org/letters/no-war… 11/12
