AS HOLLYWOOD STRIKES, SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN INTRODUCES FOOD STAMPS BILL FOR WORKERS ON PICKET LINE [View all]

[BeckyDem]

The legislation would repeal a restriction on striking workers receiving SNAP benefits.


Daniel Boguslaw
July 27 2023, 9:50 a.m.

WITH MORE THAN 150,000 actors and writers on the picket line in Hollywood and other labor actions heating up across the country, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., is introducing legislation to ease the financial toll of their strikes.

The Food Secure Strikers Act of 2023 would repeal a restriction on striking workers receiving SNAP benefits, protect food stamp eligibility for public-sector workers fired for striking, and clarify that any income-eligible household can receive SNAP benefits even if a member of that household is on strike.

“The union way of life is sacred. It’s what built Pennsylvania and this nation. It is critical for us to protect workers’ right to organize, and that includes making sure they and their families have the resources to support themselves while on strike,” Fetterman wrote in a statement. “As Chair of the Nutrition Subcommittee and an advocate for the union way of life, this bill is just plain common sense. I’m proud to introduce this bill that will eliminate the need for workers to choose between fighting for fair working conditions and putting food on the table for their families.”

Excerpt:

“It’s good to see lawmakers attempting to correct the wrongs of the past by reinstating a benefit for striking workers that never should have been taken away in the first place,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said. “Congress should never pass laws that punish American workers, and hopefully this amendment is a repudiation of that practice.”
https://theintercept.com/2023/07/27/strike-food-stamps-bill-john-fetterman/