Lawmakers are urging the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, to block U.S. airlines from laying off workers or cutting pay out soon after they received help to protect payroll beneath the CARES Act.

Under the laws, intended to minimize economic trauma brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, airlines received grants and financial loans from a $25 billion aid package with the ailment that they not make cuts to their workforce or minimize the level of pay out or gains of workers through September thirty.

Delta, JetBlue, and United Airlines have all either begun cutting employee schedules or announced strategies to do so. On Wednesday, United asked workers to volunteer to minimize their schedules soon after the Worldwide Association of Machinists and Aerospace Employees, which signifies some 27,000 United workforce, sued United in federal courtroom in New York.

“In light of Congress’ obvious intent, we are troubled by quite a few air carriers’ modern announcements that tens of 1000’s of workforce will have their hours decreased,” Senators Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell, and Charles Schumer wrote. The lawmakers also urged Mnuchin to difficulty direction clarifying that unilateral choices to minimize workers’ hours have been prohibited beneath the CARES Act.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri also expressed issue. “It was not the intention of Congress that recipients of this taxpayer dollars would then flip all around and disguise pay out reductions by cutting hours,” Hawley informed United CEO Oscar Munoz in a letter. “You must continue to keep your claims to your workers or give the dollars back again.”

United had reported it strategies to cut the hours of 15,000 airport workers to element-time as of May possibly 24. It reported involuntary routine cuts would choose location if ample volunteers weren’t found to accept decreased hours. The firm received $5 billion in money aid.

Airline executives have reported they hope it will choose a long time for the sector to get better soon after desire plummeted thanks to the world wide well being unexpected emergency.

On Monday, Warren Buffett announced he had bought all of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock in United, American Airlines, Delta Air Traces, and Southwest Airlines, really worth about $six.5 billion in total, in April, stating he had created a blunder in valuing the firms.

The Treasury Office declined to comment.

John Moore/Getty Pictures

airlines, CARES Act, Workforce