AFGE Activist,
Today we are joining thousands of workers across the country in a national day of action to call on the Senate to pass the HEROES Act. Coronavirus cases and unemployment numbers are climbing, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent the Senate home without debating the HEROES Act, the next coronavirus economic relief package.
The House passed the HEROES Act on May 15. Yet for two months, the Senate has not brought this critical legislation to the floor, nor has it proposed an alternative solution.
Tell the Senate to pass the HEROES Act today.
Mobilizing support for this legislation will generate needed pressure on congressional leaders to enact the priorities that mean the most to front-line workers.
AFGE priorities included in the legislation are:
1. Prevent USCIS Furloughs
More than 13,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employees are facing furloughs. We need Congress to act now and approve $1.2 billion for the agency in order to keep our bargaining unit members on the job. Being furloughed during a global health crisis would be detrimental to workers and their ability to care for their families.
2. Premium Pay
The bill would provide premium pay for employees whose duties, work setting and interaction with the public place them in danger of contracting COVID-19, and make the pay retroactive to January 27, 2020 when the national emergency went into effect.
3. Presumption of Worksite Illness
Employees who must interact with the public, who have been quarantined, or who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 during the performance of their duties will be given a presumption that they contracted the virus at work. This will help expedite approval of workers’ compensation claims.
4. Telework
Requires agency leaders to allow telework for all eligible federal employees during the coronavirus pandemic. Agencies would be required to expand telework by creating incentives to increase its use and disincentives to reducing it.
5. Universal Testing
The bill allocates $75 billion for coronavirus testing, contact tracing, and isolation measures, which will ensure that every American can access free coronavirus treatment.
6. Additional Personal Protective Equipment
The bill amplifies production and distribution of personal protective equipment and other supplies and requires the administration to see input from labor organizations and other stakeholders.
7. Paid Leave Clarifications
The bill ensures that federal employees will not be excluded from the paid leave provisions previously passed by Congress and clarifies that Transportation Security Officers and health-care workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs are entitled to the additional two weeks of paid sick leave.
8. OSHA Emergency Standard
The bill requires the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a temporary standard to protect front-line employees from exposure to COVID-19.
9. Funding for the District of Columbia
The bill treats DC as a state for the purposes of funding for prevention, treatment and recovery, and makes retroactive payments under that status for funds provided in the Coronavirus Relief Fund in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
Tell the Senate to get back to work and pass the HEROES Act now, and do what is right for our health, our economy and our country.
Thank you for all you do!
In Solidarity,
AFGE
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