Working Families United: “Congress Must Protect All Workers Regardless of Immigration Status in the 3rd Coronavirus Package to Safeguard our Health and the Future of Our Economy”

Contact: Rosa Lozano, 443-561-4493, [email protected]

WASHINGTON, DC – As congressional leaders negotiate the third package to provide essential relief amidst the global pandemic, they must protect all workers without exception.  Excluding Dreamers, TPS-holders and undocumented populations from testing, medical treatment, and economic relief is unjust, and elevates the risks for all our communities and industries.

Hardworking people who continue to serve, feed and build our country must not be left behind as Congress negotiates which industries and corporations will get bailouts.  We call on our elected officials to ensure that vital testing, treatment and benefits are made available to all, regardless of immigration status, and that work permits are automatically extended for all those whose labor will be needed to help our nation weather this crisis and recover. 

We applaud the commonsense, inclusive provisions of the House 3.0 Stimulus package released yesterday and urge the Senate to follow suit. The priority now needs to be combating the spread of the coronavirus and stabilizing our economy and our workforce.  Barring anyone from access to medical services and economic stimulus would have a catastrophic impact on our country, as would stripping status from essential workers with TPS and DACA.

“This pandemic has already been devastating for working families. From the food, transportation and culinary workers on the frontlines ensuring our most basic needs are met to the construction workers who support essential infrastructure, our message is clear: Congress needs to put politics aside and pass a stimulus that leaves no one behind. Our economy is only as strong as the most vulnerable worker and we all need and deserve relief now.” –Kenneth Rigmaiden, General President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades

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Working Families United is a coalition of labor unions, including the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, UNITE HERE, the Ironworkers, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers,  the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Teamsters, and Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) seeking immigrant worker justice. Together, we represent 4 million U.S. workers.