Business

NBC News

With just hours to go before mass layoffs decimate the airline industry slammed by coronavirus travel cutbacks, workers are pleading with Congress to pass a last-minute deal to save as many as 50,000 people from losing their paycheck. Last month the airline told her that she would "absolutely" be losing her job Oct. 1 if there was no extension passed to the payroll support program, she said. In May, Congress passed HEROES Act legislation that bailed out nearly 75 percent of the airline's payroll expenses with $25 billion in grants and $25 billion in loans, with another $10 billion for cargo airlines, with the stipulation that airlines not let any workers go until Oct. 1.