Our union’s legislative staff in Washington are working with the International Officers to help ILWU families cope with the COVID-19 pandemic that’s causing so much death, job loss and economic hardship for working families.
It didn’t have to be this way. Since Trump took office over three years ago, he repeatedly cut funds for public health, pandemic response and the Center for Disease Control. These cutbacks weakened our nation’s pandemic response team and ended a program that tracked disease outbreaks in China. He also ignored multiple congressional directives to increase our national stockpile of emergency medical supplies – along with calls to protect transportation workers in the supply chain from a pandemic.
His reckless spending cuts made the COVID-19 outbreak much worse when it arrived early this year, leaving us with two painful conclusions:
Pubic health programs are wise investments that our country needs to save lives and protect our economy – including 40 million good jobs for working families that have vanished. The President’s refusal to follow public health guidelines made the pandemic much worse, confirmed in a new study showing that over 30,000 lives would have been saved if Trump had listened to experts and acted just one week earlier to encourage “shelter-in-place” guidelines. Over 50,000 would be alive today if he’d acted just two weeks earlier.
Second, we’re reminded that health care for every American should be a basic human right – because losing it causes both personal pain and damage to our economy, especially during a pandemic.
Before COVID-19 hit, Trump took away health coverage from seven million Americans. Now with 40 million Americans unemployed, 27 million of them have lost their health insurance. This means millions of Americans are much less likely to be tested or see a doctor and much more likely to spread the virus and/or be harmed by it.
The President wants us to believe that the COVID-19 problem can be solved by “opening the economy” – just in time for his re-election campaign – but scientists say the facts tell a different story:
- The number of COVID-19 deaths will grow 50% by August to 150,000.
- Those numbers will continue to increase if Trump “opens” the economy without protecting workers and the public.
- The number of COVID-19 cases is already rising in a dozen states, including some where virus controls are being eased.
Trump’s unwillingness to rely on health experts and admit mistakes – while spreading rumors and false claims about cures and treatments – has also made the pandemic worse:
- In late January, top Trump advisor Peter Navarro warned the President that COVID-19 could cost trillions in economic damage and kill many Americans.
- On February 25, Trump told a news conference that the coronavirus is “well under control” and there are “very few people with it.”
- The same day, his top economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC that the U.S. had “contained” the coronavirus and it was unlikely to become a “tragedy.”
- Trump later tweeted, “Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.… Stock Market starting to look verygood to me!”
- A follow-up Tweet from the President said: “the risk to the American people remains very low. … When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
Since then, Trump has bragged that “anyone who wanted a test could get one,” and claimed the U.S. was doing a better testing job than any country in the world.
While the President was making those claims, frontline health and supply chain workers, including ILWU members – weren’t always getting the personal protective equipment they needed.
In the face of these two disasters –the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump presidency – ILWU International officers and the Washington, DC legislative staff have been fighting to secure emergency relief for the unemployed and vulnerable, with better protection for essential workers.
ILWU leaders have gone into overdrive, holding calls almost daily to direct the union’s lobbying operation – reaching out to senior elected leaders and federal agency heads, and leading coordinating campaigns with other maritime labor organizations and port industry stakeholders. Like everywhere else, COVID-19 physical distancing rules have complicated advocacy in Washington DC, because congressional staff are now working from their homes and Congress members have been reluctant to gather after a number tested positive and were sickened by the virus. Most federal agencies have also sent workers home until the COVID- 19 rates drop. These obstacles have not stopped the ILWU leadership from working 24-7 through emails, texts and calls to reach key congressional staffers and agency officials.
The House and Senate have already sent four separate emergency relief packages to Trump’s desk to address the coronavirus emergency. The first relief bill provided emergency funding to federal agencies that were responding to the pandemic. The second provided money to hospitals, state and local governments and small business loans. This second bill also required some midsized companies to provide workers with paid sick leave during the crisis.
It quickly became apparent that the first three relief packages fell short of helping all the workers and companies who needed assistance. The need became clear when tens of millions started losing their jobs as businesses closed. This led to the $2.2 trillion package, called CARES, which extended unemployment benefits, covered many independent contractors and added $600 per week to unemployment benefits through July 31.
Congress also created the Paycheck Protection Program that offered forgivable loans to help businesses with under 500 employees continue their payrolls during the COVID 19 crisis. The CARES Act also included a stimulus check of $1200 per adult and $500 per child in a household. Local transit agencies, including ferry operators on the West Coast and Alaska, received over $26 billion – money that is helping many members of the Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU) remain on the job.
An “interim” relief bill costing over $480 billion was passed shortly after the CARES Act to cover more employees working at small businesses, provide help to hospitals, and pay for widespread testing. The $25 billion testing program will finally establish a national workplace COVID-19 testing system and provide additional money for protective equipment. This last allocation should help ILWU members who return or remain on the job.
Along with these programs intended to help workers and small business was a demand from the Trump Administration for a $500 billion corporate bailout fund. Without a labor-friendly majority in Congress, it was impossible to stop Trump from giving these public dollars to corporations that have been earning record profits and rewarding top executives – while skimping on worker pay and benefits. The ILWU supported labor-friendly legislators who were able to add a few safeguards, including an Inspector-General to protect funds from being abused – a measure Trump immediately dismissed and tried to weaken. The ILWU and worker advocates also succeeded in passing a measure barring executives from collecting corporate bonuses if they took any bailout money.
As the economic damage from COVID-19 continued to mount during the month of May, a worker-friendly-majority in the House of Representatives passed a bill on May 15, which included many ILWU priorities. Work is now underway to make progress in the Senate, where worker-friendly members are in the minority and face opposition from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who says he will oppose any further aid for working families. Despite his opposition, the ILWU will continue working with labor-friendly representatives to advance these provisions in the bill
passed by the House
- A bonus of up to $10,000 for longshore workers, maritime workers and other essential workers who are risking their lives to keep the supply-chain open.
- Automatic enrollment in the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation program for longshore workers who are diagnosed with COVID-19.
- An additional $16 million to the Federal Transit Administration that would help ferry systems survive the crisis.
- Assistance to ILWU members who have difficulty paying rent during the crisis.
- A temporary ban on credit agencies from reporting negative information about worker finances during the crisis.
- Short term relief for ILWU pension plans during the downturn. Despite facing the most anti-union President in many decades, ILWU leaders will continue advocating to help workers survive the COVID-crisis with support for families as we try to rebuild our country.
“The ILWU has faced opposition from anti-union forces in the past and we didn’t back down. We won’t back down,” said International President Adams. “We will keep pushing to make more progress in Washington – despite opposition from the White House and Senate.”
This report was compiled by ILWU Legislative Director Lindsay McLaughlin and Legislative Consultant Kyle Mulhall