IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. issued the following statement regarding the current state of COVID-19 relief negotiations:
“Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans must pass long-overdue, comprehensive COVID-19 relief legislation before Congress takes yet another vacation. Millions of working people are out of jobs, going hungry, being evicted from their homes and losing hope. The failure to pass desperately needed relief is squarely on the shoulders of Senate Republicans, who are more interested in playing games with people’s lives and going on vacation than fulfilling their obligations to the American people. It is outrageous.
“As the largest airline, defense and aerospace union in North America, we have seen Machinists Union members act heroically during this pandemic to keep our nation and our economy moving. It has been a slap in face to them and their families to allow critical lifelines, like the airline Payroll Support Program, to expire and put hundreds of thousands of hardworking men and women out of a job. These are the working people who will continue to be critical front-line workers as we undertake the massive task of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to hundreds of millions of Americans. We need relief now for them and every working family struggling through no fault of their own.
“My message to Mitch McConnell is this—it is time for you to make the needs of our people a priority and put aside petty politics. We need passage of comprehensive economic relief now.”
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