May 29, 2020
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Charles Schumer
Minority Leader Schumer
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Charles Schumer
Minority Leader Schumer
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader Schumer, and Minority Leader McCarthy:
As sponsors of health plans covering nearly 50,000 participants plus dependents employed in live entertainment, the undersigned jointly offer our support of the COBRA subsidy provisions contained in the section titled “Worker Health Coverage Protection Act “ of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act’’ or (the ‘‘HEROES Act’). This legislation would provide a desperately needed COBRA subsidy to workers affected by the COVID-19 health pandemic.
Our Industry’s multiemployer health plans and the employees who obtain health benefits through those plans face a severe crisis as a result of the pandemic. The live entertainment industry has been effectively shuttered since mid-March, with no expectation of a return to normal operations for many months, if not next year.
The thousands of employees who work to provide world class live entertainment on Broadway and throughout the United States – actors, stagehands, musicians, and many others – receive their health benefit coverage via jointly sponsored multiemployer plans. However, with no employer contributions flowing into those plans, these workers will lose their health benefits at a moment when access to healthcare is an urgent necessity. The option to pay for COBRA coverage is simply financially impossible for families who currently have no income and who face little
prospect of returning to work in the foreseeable future.
Further, the complete cessation of employer contributions to our Industry’s health plans, combined with the expected increase in claims costs for those participants who will continue to receive coverage in the short-term, will likely result in the bankruptcy of those plans, some as soon as early 2021. The failure of our multiemployer plans would result in the long-term loss of health coverage for thousands of employees and their dependents, thrusting many into the ranks of the uninsured and affecting their health and well being long after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.
Similar to relief provided in 2009 during the Financial Crisis, the Worker HealthCoverage Protection Act would provide a 100% COBRA subsidy to workers who have been laid off or furloughed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. This subsidy would provide critical assistance to entertainment industry employees, focused on a most essential area of need during a global health crisis.
On behalf of our employers, union members, and their families throughout the United States, we urge you to take action in support of the Worker Health Coverage Protection Act.
Sincerely,
Charlotte St. Martin, President
The Broadway League
Matthew Loeb, International President
I.A.T.S.E.
Mary McColl, Executive Director
Actors’ Equity Association
James J. Claffey, Jr., President
Local One, I.A.T.S.E.
Laura Penn, Executive Director
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
Adam Krauthamer, President
Associated Musicians of Greater New York – Local 802
Carol Bokun, Business Agent
Local 306, I.A.T.S.E.
cc:
Senator Lamar Alexander, Chair, Senate Finance Committee
Senator Chuck Grassley, Chair, Senate HELP Committee
Congressman Richard Neal, Chair, House Ways and Means Committee
Congressman Bobby Scott, Chair, Education and Labor Committee
SIGNATORIES
THE BROADWAY LEAGUE
The Broadway League (the League) is the trade association for the national
commercial theatre industry. We represent more than 700 members in 39 states, including employers who contribute to 6 Multiemployer Health Plans covering 45,000 workers and their families throughout the United States.
ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION
Actors’ Equity Association, founded in 1913, is a national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers working in live theatre.
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture
Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE)
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture
Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE) is a labor organization representing over 150,000 members working in all forms of live theater, motion picture and television production, trade shows and exhibitions, television broadcasting, and concerts as well as the equipment and construction shops that support all these areas of the entertainment industry. We represent virtually all the behind-the-scenes workers in crafts ranging from motion picture animator to theater usher.
LOCAL ONE, I.A.T.S.E.
Local One is the premier stagecraft Local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) The 3,500 members of the oldest entertainment Union in the United States of America ; fabricate, install, operate, maintain and service all theatrical elements for all live theater and concert productions, live television broadcasts, corporate events, industrials and theatrical shops throughout Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx, Westchester, Putnam Counties, Nassau and Suffolk Counties of Long Island.
AFM LOCAL 802
AFM Local 802 represents thousands of highly-skilled musicians who drive New York City’s thriving cultural and tourism economy. Its members – who perform on Broadway, at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Radio City, on late-night TV shows and in other televised bands, as well as in hotels, clubs, festivals and venues across NYC – are protected by collective bargaining agreements ensuring proper classification, fair treatment and a living wage.
SOCIETY OF STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS
SDC is the theatrical union that represents 4,300 professional stage Directors and Choreographers throughout the United States, protecting the rights, health, and livelihood of all its Members working in jurisdictions including: Broadway and National tours, Off-Broadway, Association of Non-Profit Theatre Companies, New York City (ANTC), League of Resident Theatres (LORT), Council of Resident Stock Theatres (CORST), Traditional Summer Stock (TSS), New England Area Theatres (NEAT), Dinner Theatre (DTA), Regional Musical Theatre (RMT), and Outdoor Musical Stock (OMS). SDCweb.org
LOCAL 306 I.A.T.S.E.
Local 306, I.A.T.S.E. represents ushers and backstage doormen in live theatrical venues across New York City.