UAW President Rory L. Gamble Statement on the HEALS Act

“Outside the bubble of Washington, D.C. our families continue to struggle with an economy devastated by this pandemic. This impacts UAW members, their families, their communities and their jobs, all of which depend on a resilient economy. This issue needs to be solved.

In the short term, families need a temporary extension of current benefits, including the $600 a week supplemental unemployment until a final bill is resolved.

In the long term, families need a continuation of these enhanced $600 unemployment benefits, access to affordable health care coverage and adequate funding for local and state governments to support their needs. For those of us lucky enough to be working, we need to keep the economy moving so the goods and services we produce can be sold. To do this, we need adequate health and safety funding and government support for testing in the workplace.

Unemployment, health pandemics and sudden poverty are not partisan issues. It’s time to solve this — extend what we have and address our families and our nation’s economic needs while we battle this pandemic.”