Posts tagged Paycheck Protection Program
In Michigan, a Modicum of Justice for a COVID-Exploiting Teachers’ Union
March 21, 2023 // According to a January 2022 Freedom Foundation report, labor unions and related organizations procured some 223 loans totaling $36.1 million during the period between the passage of the CARES Act in March 2020, which created the PPP program, and the American Rescue Plan in March 2021, which modified it. Leading recipients included teachers’ unions, government employees’ unions, and AFL-CIO advocacy groups. As the Freedom Foundation asserted in its report: The ineligible loans diverted resources away from the purpose of the PPP, namely helping businesses keep employees on payroll. Further, given that union revenue derives primarily from dues deducted from members’ paychecks, direct support to unions was unnecessary; to the extent the PPP loans to businesses allowed union employees to keep working, it also allowed unions to continue collecting dues from their paychecks.
The Michigan Education Association Improperly Took COVID-19 Relief Funds
March 6, 2023 // “The Michigan Education Association applied for money intended for struggling businesses during the height of the pandemic,” said Joseph G. Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “The union and MESSA obtained some of the largest PPP loans in the country. They took these funds, for which they were clearly ineligible, while shuttered restaurants, stores, other businesses and their workers struggled to stay afloat.” Private businesses and some nonprofits were eligible for the loans, but 501(c)(5) and 501(c)(9) organizations, like the MEA and MESSA, were clearly prohibited from receiving PPP funds. The Mackinac Center was eligible as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, but did not apply for assistance. In April 2020, the MEA and MESSA both applied for PPP funding. The MEA received $6.4 million while MESSA received a $6.1 million loan. Officials of both organizations certified that they had read the eligibility requirements of the program and asserted they were eligible for the loans. Money from the program ran out within weeks. While the union and MESSA eventually returned the improper funds in December 2020, taking them in the first place denied eligible businesses from receiving them.
SBA OFFICIALS PLEAD IGNORANCE OF UNION RELATED COVID RELIEF FRAUD
October 19, 2022 // SBA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report on Sept. 26, the stated objective of which was to “determine whether PPP loans to nonprofit organizations were made in accordance with eligibility requirements.” Since unions were categorically excluded from the program as 501(c)(5) nonprofits, and since the Freedom Foundation filed a formal complaint with the SBA OIG back in February based on its findings, the report would have been an excellent opportunity to address the issue. Unfortunately, the OIG report only analyzed more traditional 501(c)(3) nonprofits that may have been too large to qualify for PPP funds, leaving unions out of the analysis
Op-ed: Small Business Administration should fight for entrepreneurs, not unions
June 24, 2022 // Nonetheless, a recent Freedom Foundation analysis of SBA’s PPP loan database identified 223 loans totaling $36.1 million made to labor unions and related organizations between March 2020 and March 2021 that, as mostly 501(c)(5) nonprofit groups, were not eligible to participate in the program. The recipient list included a dozen teachers unions and advocacy groups, such as the Michigan Education Association and the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association, ironically among the fiercest champions of lockdown policies, the effects of which PPP funds were intended to alleviate. Alabama State Employees Association, Maryland Public Employees Council, Alaska AFL-CIO, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Isabel Guzman, Small Business Committee,
Why are MAAC employees on strike?
June 9, 2022 // On May 19, union members unanimously authorized Monday’s strike, which resulted in the closure of more than a dozen of its childhood development centers. They said they took the action after 27 unsuccessful bargaining sessions over the past eight months. Organizers said unionized workers have filed five Unfair Labor Practice charges — two for worker intimidation and three related to bad faith bargaining. Union members said they want fair wages for all, a system that rewards those with seniority and offers workers room for growth. They are calling for an agency-wide minimum wage boost from $15 to $18 an hour, which MAAC has agreed to, but union members say the organization is refusing to compensate those with more experience. social services, drug and alcohol counselors, maintenance workers, family services staff, teachers, kitchen aides, bus drivers, Lily Camarena, Arnulfo Manriquez, funding in place,
How did $1.2M in PPP loans get to Pennsylvania unions? Congressional Republicans want to know
April 18, 2022 // The PPP loans were made quickly by the Small Business Administration in the early days of the pandemic to avoid mass layoffs. Yet the speed in which $800 billion of taxpayer money was doled out left the program liable to waste, fraud, and abuse. An NBC News investigation estimated the cost of fraud at $80 billion, or 10% of the overall fund. That’s in addition to a $900 billion COVID-19 relief fund that may have been defrauded of $90 billion-$400 billion.
Report: Unions Collected Millions in Federal COVID Relief They Weren’t Eligible for While Cheerleading Lockdowns
March 2, 2022 // And, to top it off, a recent Freedom Foundation report documents how as many as 226 forgivable loans totaling $36.7 million were provided to labor unions and related organizations that were apparently ineligible for the funds.
State of the unions: why US museum workers are mobilising against their employers
February 4, 2022 // TA report by the American Alliance of Museums, published in April 2021, found that museums closed to the public for an average of 28 weeks during 2020. More than 75% of those surveyed stated that their income fell by an average of 40% that year, while 56% went through rounds of layoffs and furloughs. Rehiring, in most cases, is off the table. Those who kept their positions have had to pick up the slack.
Labor Unions Took $37 Million Of Ineligible COVID Relief From Government
February 3, 2022 // Hundreds of labor unions that were ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $953 billion business loan program through the federal government launched in March 2020, raked in $36.7 million in forgivable loans, according to a new report.
Labor Unions Received $36.7M in PPP Loan Fraud
February 3, 2022 // Labor unions that were deemed ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) received $36.7 million in fraudulent loans, according to the Washington Free Beacon.