With no aid in rescue package, transportation unions still see hope

Airline pilots and flight attendants are seeking negotiations with Senate Republicans on renewing the $25 billion payroll support program

Roll Call

By Jessica Wehrman

September 9, 2020

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s most recent take on pandemic relief may have given zero attention to the struggling transportation industry, but on Wednesday, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International President Sara Nelson said she took his bill as a promising development all the same.

“This was McConnell’s entrance into the negotiations,” said Nelson, just after she and hundreds of flight attendants marched around the U.S. Capitol urging Congress to renew the $25 billion payroll support program passed as part of the roughly $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package in March. “And we have been saying we need McConnell to come to the table.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, offered a similar assessment, saying he would back airline aid and characterizing McConnell’s bill as an “icebreaker” aimed at getting the negotiations started.

View the full article: Rollcall.com