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.