A rescue agreement project
PANDEMIC ASSISTANCE MUST CONTINUE UNTIL THE PANDEMIC IS OVER
#ExtendPUA | @ExtendPUA
It's about more than the $600 (IG Carousel)
-
Extended PUA
-
PUA is a provision of the CARES Act that expands UI to cover gig workers and self employed individuals during the pandemic. It expires at the end of December.
-
Some entire industries will still be closed in December: Broadway is shuttered until 2021, concert touring until likely 2022. The arts account for 3.1 million unemployed.
-
Even with industries reopening the job market will not bounce back by December. COVID cases are still on the rise. Many businesses are working with reduced hours and staff. Other businesses, restaurants, and venues have closed permanently.
-
Currently there are 13 million fewer jobs than pre-pandemic and four unemployed Americans for every one available job.
-
-
Expanded PUA
-
PUA still excludes millions of workers, such as immigrants (including those here on valid visas), job seekers, people recently released from incarceration, and many with complicated income. Rules added by the DOL also make it difficult for those who are choosing to quarantine for safety rather than These people are receiving no help at all.
- 90% of surveyed immigrant Black and Brown New Yorkers reported job or income loss in their household. Only 5% of them are receiving UI.
-
Foreign-born and undocumented workers held 49% of all private jobs and account for 54% of all lost jobs in New York City.
- People who have mixed source income are receiving very little help because the system isn’t built for complications.
-
-
Retroactive hazard pay and protections for essential workers
-
Hazard pay is additional pay for performing hazardous duty or work. In a global pandemic this should apply to all “essential workers”.
-
Essential employees earn an average of 18.2% less than employees in other industries
-
In the District of Columbia, the area with the biggest gap, essential workers earn nearly 48% less than the average
-
In the first 100 days of the pandemic, there were 238 deaths and 29,000 infections/exposures among members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
-
Service workers at hospitals, care facilities, and others have often spent their own money on the required PPE to do their essential work safely.
-
The $800 billion grocery industry employs more than 3 million people in what are typically low-paying positions with little job security
-
Many of the largest grocery chains in America have cut the hazard pay wage they provided to frontline workers at the beginning of the pandemic.
-
Many employers are keeping information about sick workers “confidential” instead of informing the co-workers they’ve come into contact with.
-
Public Transportation Employees have been particularly hard hit, with over 130 COVID-19 deaths and 7,000 cases in New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority Workforce and the Amalgamated Transit Union has had 50 COVID-related deaths. While some cities and states have provided additional pay for these frontline workers, most have not, and over 20,000 transit employees have been laid off during the pandemic.​
-
While some areas initially provided hazard pay for nurses; that pay has or will soon run out. The HEROES act authorized additional funding for this hazard pay. Meanwhile, over 900 healthcare employees have lost their lives due to the pandemic, and studies have shown that BIPOC health care workers are twice as likely to get COVID-19.
-
In NYC 54% of essential workers are immigrants. (fundexcludedworkers.com)
-
BIPOC comprise a majority of essential front-line workers risking their lives and health on the job.
-
Amazon facilities had high case rates and fired employees for speaking out about unsafe working conditions.
-
-
Money for state agencies to immediately pay out backlogged and new claims
-
As of August 5, there were over 1.1 million unresolved unemployment claims in the state of California alone.
-
(https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/lawmakers-call-for-action-on-califs-unemployment-benefits-backlog/2380429/)90,000 in PA
-
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/07/21/pennsylvania-unresolved-unemployment-claims-drop-to-8-perc​​​Claim delays can have devastating consequences for individuals and families
-
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/11/how-delayed-unemployment-benefits-made-this-ny-man-homeless.html)
-
More than 1 million Americans have filed jobless claims every week for 20 straight weeks.
-
More than 32.1 million Americans are currently receiving some form of unemployment benefits.
-
-
-
Healthcare Relief
-
More than 5.4 million American workers lost their health insurance due to job loss between February and May. This increase in uninsured workers is nearly 40% higher than the previous highest increase (during the 2008-2009 recession).
-
An estimated total of 27 million American workers are at risk of losing coverage during the coronavirus pandemic.
-
28 million people are uninsured in the US
-
COBRA continuing coverage only applies to companies with more than 20 workers. In 2019, the average yearly cost was $7,012 for individuals and $20,599 for families.
-
People who have lost jobs due to Coronavirus and live in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are at a disadvantage in accessing affordable health insurance coverage.
-
-
Rent Relief
-
The federal eviction moratorium implemented by the CARES Act, which only applied to buildings that receive federal funding, expired on July 24.
-
Federal housing aid during the pandemic has favored homeowners over renters; due to historically racist housing policies white households are more likely to own homes, and therefore have more access to aid.
-
Of the 110 million Americans living in rental households, 20% are at risk of eviction by September 30. African-American and Hispanic renters are expected to be hit hardest.
-
If conditions do not change, up to 43% of renter households could be at risk of eviction by the end of the year.
-
-
Food assistance
-
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 47% of all American families are living with hunger, with worse numbers among Black families (53%) and Latino families (56%).
-
American children are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of food insecurity. In the wake of the pandemic, the number could rise to 18 million, or 1 in 4 children overall.
-
Due to the COVID crisis, food pantries across the country have experienced unprecedented demand increases, including an 849% increase in Massachusetts in March/April.
-
About 1 in 3 people who sought groceries at non-profit pantries in March had never previously needed emergency food aid.
-
Fourty-four percent of Americans are afraid they won’t be able to afford food, and the numbers are even worse for those who are in the gig economy and/or collecting unemployment. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) enrollments have increased 100% in some areas since the pandemic began.
-
-
Combat racism in UI: (BIPOC are particularly affecteD)
-
Pandemic relief under CARES significantly lowered poverty rates for BIPOC populations; FPUC expiration is pushing them back below the poverty line.
-
Black workers disproportionately live in states with the lowest benefit levels and the highest barriers to receiving them.
-
BIPOC comprise a majority of essential front-line workers risking their lives and health on the job.
-
Female and minority workers hold a majority of jobs in sectors that saw the greatest percent of job loss due to the pandemic.
-
Data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse survey in July showed that 42.2 percent of Black renters had “no” or only “slight” confidence in their ability to pay the next month’s rent, compared to 21.7 percent of white (not Hispanic or Latino) and 32.5 percent of all renters.​
-