Dear NY State, Save Working Families by Extending Unemployment Benefits!

We are the hardworking members of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council. We have worked diligently, day in and day out during New York’s most trying times – after 9/11, during black-outs, hurricanes, and snow storms – to keep visitors to our City and State safe and make New York one of the top travel destinations in the world.

Today, we are asking New York to have our backs. The COVID-19 crisis has, by far, been the most devastating chapter in our Union’s 80-year history and has left thousands of us out of work for longer than ever before. During this time, we have relied on the power of our Union and on critical state and federal benefits to support our families, keep food on our tables, and pay our rents and mortgages.

On September 5th, extended unemployment benefits will expire. Because of the continued restrictions on international and business travel, New York’s hospitality industry is facing a delayed recovery and as we write to you, tens of thousands of us are still out of work. We depend on these benefits to survive.

Losing unemployment aid at this moment, before our economy has returned to pre-pandemic levels, would devastate our families and would hamper New York’s economic recovery at a critical moment. New York City's economy alone stands to lose $2 billion each month if these benefits are allowed to lapse.

We urge New York State officials to take action to extend these benefits, so we can make it through the rest of this pandemic.

Signed,

The hardworking members of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council