Call For Family Healthcare For Airport Staffers

Over one hundred airport workers and supporters held a march and rally at LAX, Wednesday, as their "anger" over the lack of quality health care has come to a head over concerns about swine flu. Coalition members and service workers donned surgical masks emblazoned with the slogan "I Need Healthcare" and marched through the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Workers say that their contact with thousands of travelers every day puts them at risk for exposure to contagious illnesses. Yet they claims they claim that the vast majority of workers do not have health care coverage for themselves or their family members -- and that such coverage should be made mandatory.

Not discussed however, was the rationale requiring mandatory healthcare for airport workers, specifically, while other workers in close contact with the public were apparently not represented... or how an airline industry reeling under th weight of economic issues was supposed to not only pay for their workers, but for their families, as well.

"Masks and hand sanitizers are not enough," said Julio Topete, a service worker at the airport. "Too many of us airline service workers have no health care coverage. If I get sick I have no good way to know what I have and to do anything about it."

Workers signed a petition calling on the City of Los Angeles to set standards for airport employers to ensure family healthcare for all airport workers. A forthcoming Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) study show that an estimated 5,100 LAX workers and their family members lack employer-provided healthcare. Roughly 2,000 receive taxpayer-funded care; fully 3,100 people have no healthcare at all.

"I'm really worried," said Claudia Deleon, an LAX service worker. "We work around thousands of people who come through the airport every day. But, what do I do if I get sick or my family members get sick? With my pay, I can't afford the healthcare plan offered by my employer."

"Swine flu is just one example of the dangers these workers face on the job," said Carolina Briones. "The airlines have not made sure that their contracted employees have healthcare benefits, so we are calling on the City of Los Angeles to raise standards to make sure airport workers have family healthcare."

FMI: www.lawa.org