Crowded Spring Break Presents Pandemic Risk—Hospitality Workers Union Launches National Effort to Register Laid-Off Workers for Health Care Coverage through the American Rescue Plan

MEDIA ADVISORY for Thursday, March 25

MJ Leira [email protected] (917) 565-7697

WHO: UNITE HERE Local 355 laid-off hospitality workers alongside community allies.

WHAT: National launch to register workers for 100% COBRA coverage under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

WHERE: Diplomat Beach Resort, 3555 S Ocean Dr, Hollywood, FL 33019.

WHEN: Thursday, March 25 at 10:30 am. RSVP Here.

 WHY:

Spring break has put Floridians at greater risk across the State. Hollywood Beach’s laid-off hotel workers are eager to receive health care coverage to stay protected during this pandemic.

South Florida’s hospitality workers Union, UNITE HERE Local 355, will launch a COBRA health care registration program included in President Biden’s Relief Plan. The 100% COBRA subsidy in the American Rescue Plan means that laid off Americans will have the option to extend their workplace healthcare insurance for free for six months. As the Diplomat Beach Resort makes its plans to reopen, its nearly 650 union employees have been cut from their employer-paid health insurance.

Hotel housekeepers, servers, cooks, and bartenders at the Diplomat Beach Resort faced layoffs at the peak of the shutdowns and as a result hundreds of families were cut from their health care coverage, disproportionately affecting Black and Latinx workers. Now these workers are demanding guarantees that they will be brought back to work as the business comes back.

During the presidential election, 300 UNITE HERE Florida laid-off hospitality workers knocked on over 450,000 doors statewide to elect President Biden. They then went on to Georgia to join Stacey Abrams and others to take back the Senate, knocking on over 1.5 million doors to win transformative relief for workers and their families.