US airline union leader urges Congress to extend payroll aid

A US aviation union leader Thursday urged Congress to extend a passenger airline payroll assistance program for a third time as demand for air travel has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Congress approved $15b in new payroll assistance in December after awarding $25b in March to the sector. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, representing workers at 17 airlines, said “Congress has to act fast for real relief. The emergency relief that came late in December was critical, but it was just ‘a down payment,’ a ‘bridge to real relief.’” Earlier this month, the US Treasury began distributing the new round of payroll assistance to airlines to allow more than 32,000 aviation workers to stay in their jobs until at least March 31. American Airlines CE Doug Parker said Thursday that “April 1 is approaching and demand hasn’t gotten much better... So we are definitely going to need to address this, unless demand starts to pick up. We are already talking to our unions about things we might be able to do.” Parker said the company’s unions “are already talking to the administration in Congress about this... We would obviously be supportive of that.”<br/>