Be the Star of Your Own ‘Jerry Brown for Governor’ Commercial

Share Your Vision to Help Rebuild California

There is no doubt that we need to Rebuild California.

And we want to hear how you would do it.

Send us a story telling us what kind of California you want to build for yourself and the next generation. We’ll then post all entries online and allow the public to vote on them.

The three individuals who receive the most votes will get to appear in their own ‘Jerry Brown for Governor’ commercial — which will be professionally shot and featured online. Click here for the contest rules.

SEIU Long-Term Care Workers Head to Arizona

Workers Will Protest Anti-Immigrant Law

Long-term care workers from SEIU-ULTCW headed to Arizona to protest the anti-immigrant SB 1070 with hundreds of other workers from Los Angeles County. Watch the video of their departure.

Hundreds of Students, Workers, and Allies Send Message to Big Oil

"The Free Ride Ends in 2010"

Nearly a thousand students, workers, and community allies gathered in the Westwood area of Los Angeles to march on the headquarters of Occidental Oil, one of the four largest oil producers in the state of California. California is the only major oil-producing state in the nation that does not tax oil drilling, and this loophole allows the oil companies to take $1.2 billion a year from taxpayers, school children, seniors, and college students. Read more.

Over 1,000 Caregivers and Allies Lobby to Save Home Care

Over 1,000 in-home caregivers and allies gathered in Sacramento to share with legislators how much home care matters to nearly half a million frail seniors and people with serious disabilities, as many as half of whom could lose the care they rely on to live safely in their own homes. Visit our Healthy at Home web site to learn more about the campaign to save home care and keep California "Healthy at Home."

In-Home Caregivers and Recipients Speak Out Against Cuts

As Budget Deadline Passes, Allies Fight Last Year's Cuts in Court

Over 100 in-home caregivers, in-home care recipients and allies rallied on June 15 outside of a federal courthouse, where the state was seeking to overturn a lower court injunction barring last year's cuts to the program. The advocates used the opportunity to spotlight the latest proposed cuts to the program, which would be even deeper and more devastating -- up to half of the program under the May Revise budget proposal. Visit the Healthy at Home campaign web site for more stories and news about the campaign to stop the home care cuts.

Brown's & Whitman's Values a Stark Contrast

Meg Whitman's values and Jerry Brown's values present a sharp contrast: on the one hand, Whitman's Wall Street, insider deals and attacks on public employees; on the other, Brown's career of serving the people of California and fighting to improve our state. Spread the word by sharing our VALUES flyer in your workplace. Download VALUES in English or Spanish.

California Speaker Unveils a Jobs Budget

New UC Berkeley Report Bolsters Speaker's Approach

Speaker John Perez unveiled a budget to invest in job growth and protect our communities. The budget funds schools, in-home care for frail seniors and people with serious disabilities, and child care to help keep struggling parents in the workforce. President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg also released a budget that provides for increased revenue and less drastic cuts than the Governor's plan.  Both provide strong alternatives to the Governor's all cuts approach, which would increase unemployment dramatically and deepen and prolong California's recession. Read SEIU's statement on the the Democratic plans.

A new report released by UC Berkeley's Labor Center found that the Governor's approach to the budget would cost California's fragile economy 331,000 jobs and increase our unemployment rate by 1.8%, more than the entire projected job growth for California in 2011. Download the UC Berkeley report.

Foster Youth Educate Legislators

Share How Recent Cuts Hurt Children and Families

As foster youth shadowed legislators to share the impact of last year's $133 million cut to Child Welfare Services, SEIU social workers and other advocates for children's safety and welfare lobbied intensively to push the legislature to restore the funds, which were cut in a line-item veto. Read more in our press release or at our coalition website.

Foster Youth Spend Day With Legislators

Dozens of foster youth from across California will spend Wednesday, April 28, 2010, with legislators as part of an effort to educate legislators about the lives of foster children. After last year's deep cuts to Child Welfare Services, foster youth, social workers, and their allies are urging the state to step up to its responsibilities and invest in protecting children and in foster youths' future. For more information, go to www.protectourchildrenca.org.

Judicary Committee Passes Judicial System Audit Bill

The Assembly Judiciary Committee passed AB 2521 (Torrico), a bill that requires strong, annual, independent audits of the Administrative Office of the Courts and local courts, with a bipartisan 9-0 vote. If such a requirement had been in place last year, it might have been possible to identify alternatives to the closures, lay-offs, backlogs, and lines that have compromised justice in California. Read more.

Putting the Candidates to Work

Watch California Candidates Wash Dishes, Serve Food, Scrub Floors, Teach, and Give Personal Care

Across California in the last several weeks, over 50 candidates for political office in California have provided home care, served food to students in school cafeterias, cleaned locker rooms, taught university classes, and more, as they learned about the work SEIU members do, the services we provide, and the people whose lives we touch. Watch the videos of statewide candidates who spent a day alongside workers represented by SEIU.

Thousands Gather for SEIU CA's Rebuild California Town Hall

Workers Seek Partners in Rebuilding California

Thousands of workers represented by SEIU and their family members gathered in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, Fresno, and five other cities across the state to listen to and interview candidates for statewide office and to debate who would be our best partners in rebuilding California.
Read more.

SEIU members and their families who were unable to attend the statewide Rebuild California town hall are invited to view it online. Password necessary for viewing; contact your  local's political or communications staff.

Pushing Back on Retirement Security

Retirement security has come under attack, and this recession has provided an excuse for those who want to take away pensions, even though millions have seen their risky individual accounts crash. As these attacks step up, SEIU members are speaking out to defend our retirement security. Read this opinion piece recently published in the San Jose Mercury News by SEIU Local 521 President Kristy Sermersheim.

Caregivers March for California's Future

Over 500 in-home caregivers and allies gathered in Los Angeles today to "March for California's Future" and to launch their campaign to protect frail seniors and people with disabilities from having the services they rely on cut. Laphonza Butler, President-Elect of SEIU ULTCW, said,  “Eliminating the IHSS program would result in more than 426,000 low-income seniors and disabled citizens losing the only services they receive to live safely at home, and over 328,000 in-home caregivers losing their jobs – placing California’s unemployment rate at nearly 14%.  How is that good for California?  It’s not!  That's why these cuts must be stopped.” Read more at SEIU ULTCW's web site.

Home Care Victory!

Court tells Governor "no dice" on wage cut

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shut down the state's effort to overturn a lower court's ruling that put a stop to planned cuts to home caregivers' wages. The court found that the cuts would affect consumers' access to care, that they would do irreparable harm to workers, and that the state itself would likely end up spending more money in the long-run. SEIU member and home caregiver Mary Harms said that wage cuts may force her to look for other work to support her granddaughter and laid out the result for her home care client, Sherry: "Home care means Sherry, my client, can continue to live independently and safely in the home she knows, near the people who care about her.  The alternative would, unfortunately, be institutionalization." Read the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision. Read SEIU's press release.

SEIU CA Endorses Speaker Karen Bass for Congress

Unprecedented Early Endorsement Acknowledges Bass's Extraordinary Support for Working Families

SEIU California announced an unprecedented early endorsement of Speaker Karen Bass in her run to replace Congresswoman Diane Watson in the 33rd Congressional District. SEIU member and home care worker Shaneisha Robinson explained that Bass "has given us the hope to keep fighting to protect the vital services we provide and the people who rely on us each and every day." Read more.

SEIU Members Ask Candidates to "Walk A Day In My Shoes"

Senator Gloria Romero recently helped Gloria Lua make lunch at South Gate Middle School.

Dozens of SEIU members across California will be teaching candidates for elected office about their work in the coming month. Cafeteria workers, home care workers, and others will show candidates for statewide office how challenging and meaningful their work is. The candidates will join workers in their homes for a meal and on the job. Read more.

The Faces of the Home Care Cuts

Yet again, home care is under attack and is being used as a hostage in California's budget politics. Here's what the political game players forget: we're talking about taking away care from:

• A 90-year old former waitress who can no longer read her pill bottles or see well enough to cook
• A 70-year old former cook with Parkinson's who can no longer use a knife or shave
• An 88-year old woman with arthritis who has difficulty standing, much less cooking and cleaning

UCLA Report Confirms Home Care Cuts' Devastation

The UCLA Center for Health Policy released a new report, "Budget Proposals Turn Back Clock 30 Years in
Long‐Term Care Services for California Seniors," that decisively shows the Governor's proposed cuts would devastate people who need home care in order to survive in safety at home. The report questions the LAO's and the Governor's assumptions about the capacity of nursing homes to absorb many IHSS recipients, and it points out that California's decades-long shift toward home and community-based care would be reversed by the Governor's proposal. Read SEIU's statement.

Cafeteria Worker Puts Candidate Through the Paces

State Superintendent candidate Aceves "Walks A Day" in the shoes of Eladia Vazquez

Eladia Vazquez, a school cafeteria worker in Los Angeles for the last 25 years, put candidate Larry Aceves through his paces at her cafeteria: cooking, supplying the serving lines, washing dishes, sweeping, and mopping. She also grilled the candidate, who is running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, about his support for school funding and school employees. Read more.

Oregon Voters Defy Conventional Wisdom, Support New Taxes

SEIU Leader Sees Message for CA

Oregon voters signaled that they want government to protect services and communities and help rebuild the economy. Voters passed two new tax measures in a January 26 special election, one to increase the corporate income tax and one to increase taxes on the state's highest earners. SEIU California's President Bill A. Lloyd noted that voters defied conventional wisdom and showed their willingness to support some taxes in order to save vital services and help rebuild the economy. Read more.

Judicial Council Votes to Keep Courts Closed to the Public

State Body’s Vote Allows Spending on Pet Projects, Raises

Despite testimony from court workers across California about the devastating effects of closures on children, families, public safety, domestic violence victims, and businesses, as well as a study documenting the economic damage of court closures and cuts, the Judicial Council voted to continue the once-a-month closures. Read more.

Governor Proposes Catastrophic Budget

Governor Schwarzenegger proposed a budget that will imperil California's recovery and do untold damage to California's seniors, people with disabilities, children, and families. Instead of investing in our future and stabilizing our state, the Governor's budget relies on deep cuts, fund shifts, and hopes for federal funds. The Governor's attack on home care would drive California's unemployment rate over 14% and eliminate services for more than 400,000 seniors and people with disabilities. Read SEIU's statement.

SEIU congratulates Speaker-elect John A. Perez

SEIU members congratulated Speaker-elect of the California Assembly, John A. Perez, calling him "a leader who has stood with working Californians for decades," and promising to work with him to rebuild California. Read more.

SEIU Responds to Governor's State of State Address

Governor Schwarzenegger delivered a 2010 State of the State address that focused on jobs, education, pensions, federal revenue, and tax reform. SEIU California Executive Director Bill A. Lloyd responded to the Governor's address. Read more.

Governor Makes More Home Care Threats

As part of an appeal to the federal government for additional funding, the Governor threatened to eliminate home care for the 450,000 Californians who rely on it in order to live at home instead of in more expensive institutions. The move would put 350,000 people out of work in a state already tied for third highest unemployment rate in the nation. The SEIU locals in California representing home care workers issued a joint statement calling the threat "deplorable." Read more.

Prison Rehab & Education Cuts Cost More

Time and again, California is seeing that the rash budget cuts made in the last few years not only hurt Californians, but result in increased costs and social problems. Nowhere is this more true than in prison education and rehabilitation, where every dollar cut results in two dollars of additional costs down the road as a result of higher crime and recidivism -- not to mention the lives and communities affected by the 140,000 prisoners who will be released every year without receiving any education or rehabilitation while incarcerated. Read SEIU 1000's "CA Bottom Line" report  Prison Education Cuts Cost More.

Home care workers and consumers hold vigil

Home care workers and consumers recently came together in Santa Cruz in a candlelight vigil to protect home care. Advocates for home care, including SEIU, have filed two separate lawsuits to keep the state budget cuts at bay -- temporarily. While the lawsuits challenging cuts to consumers' hours of service and workers' wages proceed, the federal judge in the case has ordered the state not to implement the cuts. Read more.
 

State In Contempt Again

Federal Judge Claudia Wilken found the state of California in contempt of court again, this time in the case of V.L. v Wagner, the lawsuit SEIU and allies filed to stop the cuts to home care consumers' hours of service. Despite her earlier order to halt the cuts, the state did nothing to prevent 6,000 care givers from receiving time sheets saying their hours were slashed. Now, Judge Wilken has ordered the state to fix the problem. Read SEIU's release.

SEIU Home Care Workers Stand Up for Quality Home Care

Workers Lead the Fight for Program Integrity

As Sacramento County officials announced that they are working to improve their oversight of home care, a home care worker in Sacramento County, John Campbell, reminded officials that workers have been leading the fight for program integrity and consumer safety by fighting for training standards, background checks, more oversight from county social workers, and increased funding for Adult Protective Services. Read John Campbell's statement.

SEIU Members Vote for Unprecedented, Early Endorsements

In a signal that SEIU members believe that things in Sacramento need to change, members voted to move early on endorsing two SEIU members in their run for office. Two candidates, Reggie Jones Sawyer and Nick Karno, received the unprecedented early endorsements. Jones Sawyer is running for Assembly in the 47th District; Karno is running in the 53rd. Read SEIU's release.

Enough. Next State Budget Must Prioritize People

The Legislative Analyst's Office issued a report on California's fiscal state. California faces a $21 billion budget shortfall, including more than $6 billion in this fiscal year. Read the statement by SEIU CA President Bill A. Lloyd, urging leaders to prioritize the needs of California's children, seniors, and families and secure new revenues.

Working Families Propel Garamendi to Congressional Victory

Working families fought hard to help John Garamendi win the Congressional seat in District 10 in the Special Election to replace Ellen Tauscher. Garamendi has long been a champion of working Californians. Read SEIU's statement.

Healthcare Reform: Negotiating a New Agreement for California

The devil is in the details, and healthcare reform is no exception. In order to implement reform, California will need a new Medi-Cal agreement with the federal government. A new agreement will have far-reaching effects on all Californians, especially Californians who are elderly or disabled and rely on Medi-Cal. Read SEIU's  MediCal 1115 Waiver Principles.

SEIU & Allies Call for Courts Accountability

SEIU court workers were joined by judges, children's advocates, and law enforcement officials in calling for greater public oversight over the state bureaucracy that administers courts, the Administrative Office of the Courts, or AOC. The AOC, even in the face of budget-related court closures, is in the process of spending nearly $2 billion on a problem-plagued and tardy computer software system, as well as billions on court construction and renovation. Read SEIU's press release and the  Four Point Accountability Plan AOC.

Home Care Providers & Allies Win a Huge Early Victory

Federal Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction to Stop Home Care Cuts

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction stopping the state from following through -- for now -- on deep cuts to home care. The injunction means that the budget cuts to home care will not be carried out until their legality is settled in court. They were scheduled to take place on November 1, and over 130,000 home care consumers would have had their services cut or eliminated. Hundreds of SEIU home care providers joined seniors and people with disabilities to rally outside of the federal court in Oakland in advance of the hearing. Read more.

SEIU & Allies Win Order to Stop Notices of Home Care Cuts

On the eve of the state's plan to send 130,000 Californians notices that their home care services will be cut or eliminated, SEIU appealed to a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order. Just hours before the notices were to be sent, the court issued an order to stop them until SEIU's case to overturn the cuts is heard. Read more.

Crucial Hospital Funding and Safety Bills Signed

But Governor Vetoes Government Accountability Bills

Two of SEIU's top priority healthcare bills were signed into law at the end of the session. AB 1383 (Jones) will secure billions of desperately needed additional federal funding for California hospitals at no cost to the state, and AB 1083 (J. Perez) will increase hospitals' safety planning and preparation, making hospitals safer for staff, patients, and visitors. Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed two measures to increase accountability and oversight in government contracts and state higher education. Read more.

Foster Youth & Advocates Call Schwarzenegger a "Deadbeat Dad"

Dozens of foster youth, parents, and advocates gathered at the Capitol to urge the legislature to undo the Governor's dangerous cuts to Child Welfare Services. The $124 million in cuts will endanger children's lives by scaling back over 50 different programs designed to help children who are abused and neglected or are in foster care. Advocates pointed that children in foster care are the state's responsibility, and that taking money away from needed programs is like being an irresponsible, "deadbeat" parent. Read more.