As months pass and large gatherings remain prohibited, out-of-work musicians continue to rally for federal support.
The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) launched yesterday (May 4) with a demands letter seeking “an extension of CARES Act unemployment benefits, including Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, through at least the remainder of 2020.”
DIIV, Zola Jesus, Frankie Cosmos, Potty Mouth, Speedy Ortiz, Diet Cig, Charly Bliss, and Sammus are among some of the musicians who have signed the letter. Joey La Neve DeFrancesco of Providence’s Downtown Boys co-organized the statement from the union.
“We the undersigned musicians appreciate your efforts to extend certain benefits to us and other self-employed people in the third COVID relief package,” the letter begins. “However, few of us have received enough support to survive the crisis. Many states have yet to distribute PUA benefits to self-employed workers, most of us are still awaiting stimulus checks, and our overdue rent, medical debt, student debt, utility bills, food costs, medical costs, and more continue to pile up. Many of us were never even eligible for expanded benefits because of immigration status. Many of us have been out of work since early March. Even when we receive the promised benefits, it will be too little and too late to survive the catastrophe facing our industry.”
Citing that “live music will be one of the last businesses to reopen, and music workers will need support until that happens,” the letter asks Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer, and all members of the U.S. House and Senate to review six different demands, including a national rent and mortgage cancellation for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the expansion of Medicare to all Americans.
In addition, the letter demands the complete funding of the United States Post Office “with no rate increases and no privatization,” as well as “emergency supplemental funding to the NEA, NEH, and CPB, and that the new relief package authorize emergency regranting to individuals.” Finally, the letter asks that these benefits be available to everyone in the country, no matter their immigration status.
“The above include the bare minimum needed to ensure that musicians, self-employed people, and all workers are able to survive the COVID crisis and its devastating economic aftermath with dignity,” the letter concludes. “Musicians and artists perform labor that provides entertainment, comfort, and meaning, for countless Americans, particularly during quarantine. If we are to continue producing through this crisis and afterward, we must have rights, respect, and immediate economic relief.”
“Musicians and all gig workers are struggling hard right now,” DeFrancesco shares. “Rent is due, bills are due, debt is piling up, and many of us still haven’t gotten any financial support. We need more immediately if we’re going to survive.”
Read the complete letter here.