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Tell Congressional Leaders to Keep Extended Unemployment Benefits in the Appropriations Bill!
Airline workers have an unemployment rate of approximately 15 percent--nearly three times the national average. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have recognized the special need to assist airline workers who have lost their jobs due to terrorism and the war in Iraq. The Senate appropriations bill includes assistance for furloughed airline workers and the House overwhelmingly passed a motion to instruct conferees to include the Senate''s unemployment benefits in the final legislation.
However, the Bush Administration is fighting against any assistance for laid-off airline workers. The Administration has called Congress'' funding levels for airlines excessive and has asked the conferees to drop any provisions that provide extended unemployment benefits. The Administration has also said, The industry is undergoing a period of fundamental restructuring to align costs and capacity to the demands of the marketplace, and excessive, generalized assistance would only delay and disrupt these inevitable changes. The Administration strongly opposes the provision in the Senate bill that provides extended unemployment insurance benefits to workers who are displaced from the airlines and related industries...To provide benefits to a specific industry would be unusual, unfair and potentially harmful to our national unemployment system.
Congress must stand up for the nearly 200,000 airline workers who have lost their jobs since September 2001 and reject the Administration''s attempt to rob workers of the assistance they desperately need.
Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Representative C.W. Bill Young
Representative Dennis Hastert
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Keep Extended Unemployment Benefits in the Appropriations Bill
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
As an airline worker and concerned United States citizen, I am writing to urge you to support the Senate''s Murray-Hollings jobless benefits provisions in the supplemental appropriations bill.
Workers in the airline industry have an unemployment rate of approximately 15 percent-nearly three times the national average.
Over 200,000 of our colleagues have already lost their jobs, and many of those who remain have been forced to take significant pay and benefit cuts to keep their companies afloat. Additionally, we have lost 10,000 colleagues due to the war in Iraq.
If Congress does not act immediately to support emergency relief, the airlines are predicting a total of 70,000 job losses and even deeper cuts because of the war. Many will no longer have the ability to pay basic living expenses. If our government does nothing, workers will be forced to bear the expense of the war.
You must support the Senate''s legislation to supply emergency relief to airline workers.
The Senate legislation will assist those aviation workers who will lose their jobs by providing extended unemployment benefits, help for laid-off families to cover health care costs and job re-training assistance. Immediately following the terrorist attacks, Congress provided initial relief to airlines, while turning its back on relief for the workers themselves. Now Congress has the opportunity and moral responsibility to assist aviation workers who will likely be disproportionately affected by a war.
The livelihoods of millions of Americans depend on your assistance and support. Congress must recognize the important role this industry has in every local economy.
Once again, I urge you to support the Murray-Hollings jobless benefits provisions contained in the Senate''s supplemental appropriations bill to provide essential emergency relief for a most critical sector of our great nation''s economy, and the citizens it supports and serves.
Sincerely,
Airline workers have an unemployment rate of approximately 15 percent--nearly three times the national average. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have recognized the special need to assist airline workers who have lost their jobs due to terrorism and the war in Iraq. The Senate appropriations bill includes assistance for furloughed airline workers and the House overwhelmingly passed a motion to instruct conferees to include the Senate''s unemployment benefits in the final legislation.
However, the Bush Administration is fighting against any assistance for laid-off airline workers. The Administration has called Congress'' funding levels for airlines excessive and has asked the conferees to drop any provisions that provide extended unemployment benefits. The Administration has also said, The industry is undergoing a period of fundamental restructuring to align costs and capacity to the demands of the marketplace, and excessive, generalized assistance would only delay and disrupt these inevitable changes. The Administration strongly opposes the provision in the Senate bill that provides extended unemployment insurance benefits to workers who are displaced from the airlines and related industries...To provide benefits to a specific industry would be unusual, unfair and potentially harmful to our national unemployment system.
Congress must stand up for the nearly 200,000 airline workers who have lost their jobs since September 2001 and reject the Administration''s attempt to rob workers of the assistance they desperately need.
Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Representative C.W. Bill Young
Representative Dennis Hastert
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Keep Extended Unemployment Benefits in the Appropriations Bill
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
As an airline worker and concerned United States citizen, I am writing to urge you to support the Senate''s Murray-Hollings jobless benefits provisions in the supplemental appropriations bill.
Workers in the airline industry have an unemployment rate of approximately 15 percent-nearly three times the national average.
Over 200,000 of our colleagues have already lost their jobs, and many of those who remain have been forced to take significant pay and benefit cuts to keep their companies afloat. Additionally, we have lost 10,000 colleagues due to the war in Iraq.
If Congress does not act immediately to support emergency relief, the airlines are predicting a total of 70,000 job losses and even deeper cuts because of the war. Many will no longer have the ability to pay basic living expenses. If our government does nothing, workers will be forced to bear the expense of the war.
You must support the Senate''s legislation to supply emergency relief to airline workers.
The Senate legislation will assist those aviation workers who will lose their jobs by providing extended unemployment benefits, help for laid-off families to cover health care costs and job re-training assistance. Immediately following the terrorist attacks, Congress provided initial relief to airlines, while turning its back on relief for the workers themselves. Now Congress has the opportunity and moral responsibility to assist aviation workers who will likely be disproportionately affected by a war.
The livelihoods of millions of Americans depend on your assistance and support. Congress must recognize the important role this industry has in every local economy.
Once again, I urge you to support the Murray-Hollings jobless benefits provisions contained in the Senate''s supplemental appropriations bill to provide essential emergency relief for a most critical sector of our great nation''s economy, and the citizens it supports and serves.
Sincerely,
