IATSE President Matt Loeb Calls on Senate to Scrap HEALS Act and Adopt HEROES Act

Labor News, Industry News

Reprinted from Deadline Hollywood by David Robb on July 28, 2020.

IATSE international president Matt Loeb on Tuesday called on the Senate to scrap the Republican-backed HEALS Act and instead pass the House Democrats’ HEROES Act.

The Dems’ bill would extend the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit through the end of the year for those left out of work by the pandemic, while the GOP bill would slash those payments to just $200 a week.

The union, which has said that 90%-95% of its 150,000 members were left jobless by the pandemic, called the HEALS Act a “brazen political stunt” that is “risking the livelihoods of thousands of displaced entertainment workers who are relying on the $600 weekly federal supplement to state unemployment benefits to sustain them until a safe return to work is possible.” …

Deadline Hollywood 7/28

About Jeffrey Burman 861 Articles
Jeff Burman served on the Guild’s Board of Directors from 1992 to 2019. He is now retired. He can be reached at jeffrey.s.burman.57@gmail.com.