Tell Sec. Mnuchin: Stop holding our paychecks hostage
April 13, 2020 — Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told airlines he is going to take $7 Billion from the $25 Billion allocated in the CARES Act to our wages and benefits. This is putting the payroll grants in jeopardy and even if our airlines take them, it's not enough to cover our wages and benefits.
The payroll grants constitute the first time in U.S. history that a bailout is made for the people, not the corporations. The payroll grants can only be used for wages and benefits of Flight Attendants and other aviation workers - two million in total. Corporations cannot involuntarily furlough or layoff before September 30 and they cannot issue stock buybacks or dividends and there are caps on executive compensation.
The deadline to cut the checks for the payroll grants was Monday, April 6, but Sec. Mnuchin is hasn't sent the money and now he's saying he's going to cut it to the point that will cause job loss and potentially push airlines to bankruptcy. This is a crisis that we didn't create and he's making it worse.
Write a letter and tell Sec. Mnuchin to stop holding aviation workers' paychecks hostage and immediately release the payroll grants as intended by the bipartisan agreement in Congress.
