LA County and City of LA Frontline Workers Demand Trump Administration Bail Out Working People Not Just Big Corporations; Workers Who Are Daily Risking Their Health and Lives on the Frontlines of COVID-19 Will Take a Break from Coronavirus Response to Deliver Message Directly on President Trump’s Palos Verdes Doorstep
LOS ANGELES, CA – As the novel Coronavirus endangers the health and well-being of our nation, America’s frontline workers – who have done their duty and kept our country’s vital emergency public services operational while millions stay at home – are in danger of being bankrupted and abandoned given Washington, DC’s refusal to bail out working men and women at anywhere near the historic trillion-dollar levels that the richest corporations enjoyed.
“Today’s heroes cannot become tomorrow’s unemployed! We are on the frontlines, even without enough protective equipment, because COVID-19 is still attacking our communities and the American people still need us. But we are about to be totally betrayed, bankrupted and abandoned by leaders in Washington,” said Simboa Wright, a Wastewater Collection Worker II with the City of Los Angeles and an SEIU 721 Executive Board Member.
Indeed, the Trump Administration and key allies of the president have threatened to allow millions more Americans to suffer unemployment should mass lay-offs in the public sector take place. COVID-19’s ravaging of the economy already means the City of Los Angeles faces a projected revenue loss of $117 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020 and another $178 million for FY 2020-21. Los Angeles County anticipates a $1.3 billion loss for FY 2019-20 and an additional $2.3 billion for FY 2020-21. Trump and his allies – many who serve in the U.S. Senate and are finally returning to work this week – also have signaled complete willingness to allow scores of American cities and counties to file for bankruptcy rather than contribute any federal taxpayer dollars towards helping shore up funding of vital public services. Without action from Washington, our frontlines will be abandoned at the very moment when we need to strengthen the public services that local communities will continue to depend on through the duration of this crisis – and in the aftermath – as communities, cities and counties struggle to recover.
“They have the audacity to call us ‘heroes’ while giving away generations of our tax dollars to the richest corporations. We do not accept this insult. We demand more. Working people are the ones sacrificing, many have already given their lives – and if President Trump and his allies do not use all of their power to save America’s frontline workforce the way they saved their richest friends, then they can expect working people to remove them from office in November. Working people will not forget who stood with the frontline workforce and who abandoned us,” Wright concluded.
WHO: LA County and City of LA frontline workers including:
- Dr. Erica Barrios, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (CIR)
- Tony Coleman, Custody Assistant (PPOA)
- Dr. Monica Deshmuck, Chief Radiologist in ER at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center (UAPD)
- Theresa Monroe, Registered Nurse, LAC+USC Medical Center (SEIU 721)
- Miguel Segura, Eligibility Worker II, LA County Department of Public Social Services/El Monte Office (SEIU 721)
- James Wheeler, 31-Year Patrol Deputy, Vice President of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS)
- Simboa Wright, Wastewater Collection Worker II, City of Los Angeles (SEIU 721)
WHAT: Press Conference by COVID-19 Essential Workers Telling Trump Administration: “Don’t Bankrupt and Abandon America’s Frontline Workforce”
WHEN: Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 10:30 AM
WHERE: Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles, 1 Trump National Drive, Palos Verdes, CA 90275
VISUALS: Workers in uniforms (Doctors, Sanitation, Sheriff, Nurses, etc.). “Don’t Bankrupt the Front Lines” posters. Opulent Trump golf course as backdrop.
The press conference will take place on the corner of Palos Verdes Drive and Trump National Drive. Parking for media and TV trucks is available across the street on Forrestal Drive. Please note that the drive from downtown Los Angeles to the Trump National Gold Club Los Angeles is approximately one hour. Social distancing mandates and face coverings will be enforced at the press conference. Media are encouraged to utilize boom microphone for 1:1 interviews, otherwise questions will be answered from the podium. Spanish speakers are available.
CONTACT: Coral Itzcalli, (213) 321-7332, coral.itzcalli@seiu721.org or Roxane Marquez, (213) 705-1078, roxane.marquez@seiu721.org
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