Senate: Pass the HEROES Act!
UPDATE (7/29): Today, after two months of inaction on the HEROES Act, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others unveiled highlights of the Republican proposal for the latest COVID-19 economic relief package, the HEALS Act. This bill falls shameful short of what’s necessary to help regular people during this crisis by cutting benefits to unemployed workers and granting long-term legal immunity to irresponsible employers who fail to protect the health and safety of workers in essential and in-person-reopening jobs. It provides no additional money to combat hunger, no response to the looming eviction crisis, and it fails to mandate that OSHA issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect all workers.
We deserve better. We demand the HEROES Act.
The COVID-19 relief bills passed by Congress so far give too much to the wealthy and big corporations and not enough to the people that need it most. Low-wage frontline workers in our community and other communities of color are still working in high-risk conditions without appropriate equipment, safety standards, or job protections. Many immigrant communities have been left without meaningful access to critical benefits like testing, treatment, and financial relief and are in danger of losing work authorization and status while immigration appointments are on hold.
APALA members and our allies have taken action to ensure the House passed a new bill -- the HEROES Act -- that includes an Essential Workers Bill of Rights, provisions that extend status and relief to immigrant families, and safety standards for all workers that corporations are legally required to follow. Now, we must pressure the Senate to move quickly to pass the HEROES Act as families, public schools, community owned businesses, the U.S. Postal Service, and state and local governments run short on resources. Join us again to demand stimulus relief and worker protections inclusive of all working people, regardless of immigration or contractor status!