[Lead by the teachers union, a broad coalition of trade unions and
community supporters has demanded the County Board of Supervisors
institute a month long shutdown in January, a “Circuit Breaker,”
to stop the scourge of COVID 19 and save lives. ]
[[link removed]]

AS VIRUS RAGES LOS ANGELES UNIONS DEMAND “CIRCUIT BREAKER” TO
SAVE LIVES  
[[link removed]]


 

Howard Blume
December 17, 2020
Los Angeles Times
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

_ Lead by the teachers union, a broad coalition of trade unions and
community supporters has demanded the County Board of Supervisors
institute a month long shutdown in January, a “Circuit Breaker,”
to stop the scourge of COVID 19 and save lives. _

Lisa Bennett, a 2019 Teacher of the Year, has underlying health
conditions that put her at high risk for COVID-19. She backs a
month-long LA county shutdown., Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times

 

In a move that reflects the desperation of teachers, nurses,
healthcare, grocery and hotel employees, their influential unions are
calling for a strict month-long Los Angeles County shutdown in January
to control the raging 
[[link removed]]COVID-19
pandemic, save lives and ultimately allow for a quicker reopening of
schools and the economy.

Evidence of mounting frustration and anxiety has also emerged in newly
released surveys of teachers
[[link removed]] and
parents as most campuses across L.A. County remain closed
[[link removed]]to
in-person classes. 

The union coalition called for what it described as a “circuit
breaker” in a letter Wednesday night to the county Board of
Supervisors and in an online petition
[[link removed]].
The letter demands stricter health orders, stronger enforcement and an
infusion of aid from the state and federal government to keep workers
and their employers afloat. 

Federal officials appear likely to approve an aid package
[[link removed]],
but there’s deep debate about whether it would go far enough.

The proposed circuit breaker would resemble the near total shutdown in
March and “would lower cases to relieve the pressure on hospitals
[[link removed]] and
healthcare workers, allow state and local health agencies to
strengthen the testing and tracing system, and allow the system to
work better to prevent future surges in viral transmission,”
according to the letter. It was signed by United Teachers Los Angeles,
Unite Here Local 11, California Nurses Assn., United Food and
Commercial Workers Local 770 and three other unions, several community
groups and medical experts.

When the county board meets Tuesday, this push will represent a
political counter to pressure from businesses and allied groups that
want to limit commercial restrictions. They’ve sued to overturn
[[link removed]] a
ban on outdoor dining. 

A main organizer of the union initiative was the teachers union, which
also represents nurses, counselors and librarians in Los Angeles
Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system.

”Let’s be clear — we are not in a real lockdown,” said UTLA
President Cecily Myart-Cruz. “While some people are able to stay
home to work, the working-class and poor people of L.A. have to choose
between risking their lives or putting food on the table for their
families.”

A shutdown must be accompanied by “a financial survival package for
workers,” she said. “Without that, it’s clear that elected
leaders expect workers to risk their lives in order to pay rent.”

Until last week, L.A. Unified provided limited in-person services
reaching less than 1% of students. A full campus shutdown began last
week
[[link removed]].
Supt. Austin Beutner has not announced plans for January. 

Some union members quickly echoed the call by their leaders. 

Respiratory therapist Michael Rivera, who normally specializes in
neonatal pediatrics, described a harrowing situation at Providence
Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. He’d just worked with a patient
being moved into what he understood to be the hospital’s last
available intensive-care-unit bed.

“This dwarfs the L.A. riots,” said Rivera, a member of the
National Union of Healthcare Workers, who used to work in South Los
Angeles. “It doesn’t even move the needle compared to the carnage
we’re seeing now.”

Rivera was taking a 30-minute break in a shift he expected to last at
least 12 hours. Within the last week, he worked a 24-hour shift.

Less than 1% of ICU beds remain available across Southern California,
according to state figures W
[[link removed][%E2%80%A6]A%2F%2Fwww.cdph.ca.gov%2FPrograms%2FOPA%2FPages%2FNR20-337.aspx]ednesday.
More than 60,000 healthcare workers have contracted the virus and 230
have died, according to state figures provided by the California
Nurses Assn., which has 100,000 members in California and 50,000
outside the state.

The letter from the union coalition, in essence, restates what the
nurses association has long called for, said Stephanie A. Roberson,
the union’s director of government relations. 

Hotel and restaurant workers have been hit hard both by the virus and
job losses, said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11.
About 90% of the union’s 30,000 members have lost their jobs in
California and Arizona. And in October — when infection rates were
lower — 20% of union members were testing positive for the virus,
according to the union’s healthcare provider. Petersen said he hears
of a member dying every week.

Housekeeper Liliana Hernandez has managed to stay healthy so far, but
she lost her job at a Santa Monica hotel in March. So did her husband,
who buses tables at a restaurant. He returned to work in July, only to
be laid off again the week before Thanksgiving. Previous government
aid has allowed them to survive up till now. She sees the call for a
circuit breaker — and the possibility of new aid — as a
lifeline. 

“I’m very worried because colleagues from other places, worked one
or two weeks got sick and passed away,” she said. “It’s going to
be better if people stay home.”

She’s also worried about her son, a senior at Bernstein High School
in Hollywood, who is mired in distance learning. He struggles to stay
focused and has trouble getting the help he needs. Their family’s
experiences are mirrored in a just-released parent survey
[[link removed]] by the
advocacy group Speak Up.

In the survey, 70% of families reported problems keeping their
children focused. Three in 10 families have difficulty paying for
internet and close to half have inadequate service. More than half of
parents reported that their children are grappling with mental health
issues; nearly half reported students receiving lower grades.

Speak Up asserts that schools should be open to the extent possible
under county health rules
[[link removed]] and
that distance learning needs to be improved for those families who
don’t wish to return to campus.

Teachers painted a similar picture of distance learning in a survey
[[link removed]] commissioned
by Educators for Excellence-Los Angeles and USC Rossier School of
Education.

More than half of over 500 Los Angeles public school teachers said
that the lack of access to high-speed internet presented a “very
serious” challenge, increasing to two-thirds for those with students
primarily from low-income households. And 94% of teachers reported low
student engagement as a serious obstacle. 

Teachers also reported that their schools have failed to meet the
needs of the most vulnerable students: 10% reported that their schools
regularly met the needs of homeless students; 34% reported that their
schools “often” support students from low-income households.

Lisa Bennett, a 2019 teacher of the year honoree in L.A. Unified, is
doing what she can as she works online with her class of students with
disabilities, who would normally attend Van Gogh Elementary in Granada
Hills. 

“I know that effective teaching happens best in a brick-and-mortar
classroom,” said Bennett, who has underlying health conditions that
would put her at high risk for COVID-19.

One student was going to grandma’s to do schoolwork because her
mother had to work, Bennett said. Then both the mother and grandmother
were sick with COVID. She supports the circuit breaker and an aid
package.

“It’s a pandemic,” she said. “This has never been seen in our
lifetime.”

[_Howard Blume covers education for the Los Angeles Times. He’s won
the top investigative reporting prize from the L.A. Press Club and
print Journalist of the Year from the L.A. Society of Professional
Journalists chapter. He co-hosts “Deadline L.A.” on KPFK, which
the press club named best radio public affairs show in 2010._]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web [[link removed]]
Submit via email
Frequently asked questions [[link removed]]
Manage subscription [[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org [[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]