IATSE President Matt Loeb Calls On Senate To Scrap HEALS Act And Adopt HEROES Act
David Robb Labor EditorIATSE international president Matt Loeb today 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