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Laid-off workers set up soup kitchens in front of senators who oppose extending $600 checks - L.A. Focus Newspaper

A day earlier, the 51-year-old single dad who was furloughed in March wrote a letter to his apartment building's owners explaining his predicament and hoping for some mercy. He explained that his last $600 weekly unemployment check, a lifeline for millions under the CARES Act, had been delayed and he wasn't sure if or when he'd receive another.

Davis is just one of millions of laid-off or furloughed Americans who will be homeless this fall unless the federal eviction moratorium, a key provision of the CARES Act, is extended.

This week, he and other hospitality workers are staging food giveaways for fellow workers in need — right in front of the offices of key US senators who have opposed extending unemployment benefits.

The events were planned and paid for by several labor unions in support of members of UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union that represents about 300,000 airport, restaurant, hotel and casino employees in the United States and Canada. Organizers are targeting Republican senators including Kelly Loeffler, John Cornyn and Martha McSally who have opposed the so-called HEROES Act.

It would would extend the CARES Act's stimulus measures that were introduced in the spring, including the moratorium on evictions. Each of those senators is up for re-election in November.

In Atlanta, Davis will join dozens of airport workers on Tuesday in setting up a soup kitchen outside the office of Kelly Loeffler, the junior Republican senator from Georgia. Similar demonstrations are scheduled in Denver, Phoenix, Houston, Charlotte and Austin.

Reality check on rent

Davis says he received a letter back from his building's owners, Braden Fellman Group LTD, who informed him that he had one day to pay his rent in full, along with a late fee, before the company moved forward with evicting him.

"I'm still arguing with them about a payment arrangement," Davis told CNN Business on Sunday. "They really are going to have to come around and do a reality check with what's going on in our society."

On Monday, Braden Fellman co-owner Andrew Braden told CNN Business the letter Davis received was just an automated warning sent to renters who haven't paid rent within a four-day grace period. Braden agreed to speak with Davis over the phone to clear up the matter.

Loeffler, recently told Fox Business Network that she believes the supplemental unemployment payments from the federal government discourage out-of-work employees from returning to their jobs, where they risk catching coronavirus.

Under the CARES Act, more than two-thirds of laid-off employees were being paid more per week to stay home and collect unemployment than they would earn by returning to work, according to a University of Chicago analysis.

"I've talked to many employers across Georgia that are having a hard time bringing back folks to work," Loeffler told Fox Business last month. "We need to remove that incentive not to be at work. ... I'm not seeing a big need to extend the federal unemployment insurance."

Loeffler's office on Monday said she needed more time to

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