DAY OF ACTION: Call to Congress and Green Room Meeting

Call (813) 213-3989 and we’ll guide you through contacting your lawmakers.

Here’s a sample script: 

Hi my name is X, I’m calling with the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers to ask that you ensure the final COVID 19 relief bill provides urgently needed support to music workers and other self-employed people. We are asking for you to extend all CARES Act unemployment benefits until at least the end of 2020, and to enact the list of demands we have posted at UnionOfMusicians.org. Thank you. (Feel free to include your personal story of how COVID has impacted your livelihood as a music worker.)

[Press pound when you’re done, and then follow the prompts to return to our hotline - usually press “1” to send, and then “1” to be disconnected from lawmakers’ offices/reconnected with our hotline for the next call.]

When you’re done, if you have a minute please upload a quick 15 second video saying you made the call, and explaining why you did so as a musician struggling through COVID. Then send us the video, or upload yourself and tag @umaw_ (Twitter) or @weareumaw (IG). We share the videos and send them to Pelosi, Schumer, and other lawmakers. Here’s an example (LINK). 

If you want to find out more about UMAW and our demands, please join us tonight for an informational meeting and Q/A at 7pm ET on our Instagram at instagram.com/WeAreUMAW

DEMANDS:

We add our voices to workers across the country on the following.

1. We demand 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. Live music will be one of the last businesses to reopen, and music workers will need support until that happens. 

2. We demand the extension of benefits to all Americans in need, regardless of their immigration status.

3. We demand a national rent and mortgage cancellation for all for the duration of the crisis, in order to ensure housing security, and to save our music venues, small businesses, and non-profits. 

4. We demand emergency supplemental funding to the NEA, NEH, and CPB, and that the new relief package authorize emergency regranting to individuals.

5. We demand that Medicare be expanded immediately to cover everyone in the country.

6. We demand that the US Post Office be given all necessary funding, with no rate increases and no privatization. The Post Office is a necessity for musicians and other artists who ship recorded music and other merchandise.