USW International President Tom Conway appeared on the Leslie Marshall Show last week to discuss the urgent need for Congress to pass a pandemic relief bill that includes safety standards for workers.
Conway and Marshall discussed the many protections set to expire at the end of the year, including rent moratoriums, pauses on student loan payments and certain unemployment benefits for the more than 10 million people laid off due to the pandemic.
Conway said that while the House passed the HEROES Act, which would provide a number of relief measures to Americans, months ago, the Senate chose to ignore the bill and has yet to indicate they will compromise on a solution.
“If restaurants and bars are going to close again, and we’re still struggling with how schools are going to operate, and people continue to lose jobs on top of the continuing claims that are out there, the government’s got to fill that hole,” said Conway.
Unions, including the USW, have pushed for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to establish temporary emergency safety standards, which would require employers to provide necessary PPE and adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Health care workers in particular should be protected with relief funds, Conway said, as they prepare for and begin distributing vaccines to millions of Americans.
“We are going to be relying on our health care workers for a long time to come on a very crucial daily basis, day in and day out,” said Conway.
“Getting a healthy health care sector and keeping that workforce healthy and willing to keep doing what they’re doing is our only way out of this.”
To listen to the entire interview about the urgent need to pass a COVID-19 relief bill, click below: