LA County puts black and brown workers on the front lines of the pandemic at risk, working at county healthcare facilities without employer-paid health care

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, June 17, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Los Angeles - There are nearly 2,000 subcontracted workers at Los Angeles County who provide food service, security and environmental services to patients and medical staff. The bulk of this workforce serves our county hospitals - cleaning patient’s rooms, preparing and serving patient meals and enforcing social distancing in county facilities. They are constantly dealing with sick patients including patients with Coronavirus. The vast majority of contracted County workers are immigrants, Black, and/or Latinx.

A May 22nd report from LA County showed that Coronavirus has hit the Black and Latinx communities at a much higher rate than other populations. Black and Latino men are almost twice as likely to die from Coronavirus as white men. The virus has also had a profound effect on people living in poverty. People living in high poverty areas are more than twice as likely to get the virus.

The Atlantic COVID Racial Data Tracker project is one of the most comprehensive and respected sources for information on COVID 19 race statistics. Ibram Kendi, a columnist at The Atlantic, in a May 28 interview states: “Studies have shown that what’s more predictive of Black death rates are access to medical care, access to high quality healthcare...access to health insurance…more so than underlying conditions.”

At a time when the LA County Board of Supervisors is rethinking their budget, with a call to divest in law enforcement and invest in our communities, providing healthcare to the most vulnerable frontline workers is an important place to start. We are calling on LA County to show that Black Lives truly do matter by providing essential frontline workers, that are risking their live to serve our community through this pandemic, with proper health care.

What: Black and Brown janitors, security officers and airport workers protesting in front of LA County with signs and large banners. Speaking program with janitors and security from LA County who will discuss the fear of facing the pandemic without health insurance.

When: Wednesday, June 17th at 12pm

Where: LA County 500 West Temple St., Los Angeles

SEIU United Service Workers West represents more than 45,000 janitors, security officers, airport service workers, and other property service workers across California.

Stephen Boardman
SEIU United Service Workers West
+ +1 6178233305
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