Kaiser Permanente, California Endowment Team Up with Labor Groups to Help Displaced Hotel, Airport Workers

Kaiser Permanente and The California Endowment have joined labor groups in a $3 million project to help "displaced hotel and airport workers in Los Angeles" maintain health coverage and avoid evictions, the Los Angeles Times reports. Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, about 34,000 tourism and hospitality workers in Los Angeles County have lost their jobs or had their hours "severely" reduced. According to Madeline Janis-Aparicio, director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which is helping to coordinate the project, Kaiser Permanente will contribute $1 million, most of which will be used to subsidize employer-based coverage for displaced workers for at least three months. The California Endowment's $1 million contribution will be used to cover emergency medical and housing expenses and to fund "eight outreach workers to track down displaced" employees (Cleeland, Los Angeles Times, 11/20). The remaining $1 million contribution from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union employer fund will provide three months of emergency health coverage for displaced workers. Miguel Contreras, secretary treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said, "We are thrilled that Kaiser Permanente and The California Endowment are coming to the aid of workers in their time of need. This is an example of how the private sector, philanthropies and organized labor can join forces to help the most vulnerable members of our society" (Los Angeles County Federation of Labor release, 11/20).