Thanks to hundreds of calls and numerous visits to Sacramento by SEIU members, the state legislature has voted in favor of a bill that would protect consumers and patients from bad hospital owners. The bill now goes to Governor Brown for final passage—and SEIU members are urging the governor to protect safe, quality healthcare by signing the bill into law.
Assembly Passes AB 101 to Mend Broken Child Care System
Sacramento, CA – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California released the following statement from Bill A. Lloyd, President of SEIU California, on the State Assembly’s passageof AB 101 (J. Perez and Steinberg):
“California’s Assembly members, under the leadership of Speaker John Perez, today took action to address our state’s jobs crisis by strengthening California’s child care system, an $11 billion industry. Speaker Perez deserves thanks, as do Assemblymembers Bonnie Lowenthal and Sandre Swanson.
“Child care providers are an often hidden but absolutely essential part of a strong economy. Without someone they can trust to look after their kids, moms and dads can’t go back to work or keep the jobs they have.
“But just when families need reliable child care more than ever, thousands of providers are having to close their small businesses. They live month to month, not knowing if or when they’ll get paid, or if they’ll be able to cover their costs, much less their mortgages. When one provider has to shut their doors, up to fourteen families risk losing the jobs that sustain their families.
“Our child care system is broken. And in this economy—with hundreds of thousands of California families relying on us to care for their kids so they can keep their jobs—we can’t afford a broken child care system. We urge Gov. Brown to sign AB 101 because child care keeps California working.”
Over 700,000 Californians make up SEIU in California; we work throughout the state, in all 58 counties, and we represent California in all of its diversity. We are social workers, nurses, classroom aides, state workers, security officers, college professors, home care workers, janitors, and more.
SACRAMENTO, CA – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California today announced the 700,000 member organization’s endorsement of Janice Hahn in the 36th Congressional District special election.
Robin Wilson, a security officer at the airport and one of 40,000 janitors, security officers, airport workers and other service workers of SEIU United Service Workers West, said, “Janice knows how hard working families struggle to create opportunities and a good life for our families. She’s on our side. She also knows that airport service workers are the eyes and ears of our nation’s transportation security system and she’ll be a champion to make sure all our families stay safe.”
Timothy Butcher, a Heavy-Duty Truck Operator for the City of Los Angeles and a member of SEIU Local 721 said, “Janice Hahn will stand up to those who want to scapegoat public servants, because she knows that the vital public services we provide help create strong communities and a society with real opportunities. She has also courageously defended good jobs for working families even in tough times.”
As a Los Angeles City Councilwoman, Hahn has stood with hotel janitors and other workers in their fight for living wages and fair treatment at work. Hahn is committed to protecting and investing in the good jobs needed to build a sustainable economy.
(Sacramento, CA ) – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California released the following statement from President Bill A. Lloyd on the Field Poll findings made public today:
“Despite the barrage of misinformation leveled at public servants by anti-worker special interests, the majority of Californians share our support for collective bargaining that is essential to middle-class opportunity for our state’s families, and our view that by working together, we can improve – not erode – the retirement security every Californian deserves.
“But Californians deserve a debate about retirement security based on facts, not scare tactics.
“The truth is that workers are already partnering with state and local governments to make sure our retirement security system is sustainable. A bipartisan agreement achieved through collective bargaining last year saved taxpayers $400 million, with public employees contributing more to funding their pensions and new employees working longer. More than 130 local governments have realized pension savings through collective bargaining.
“Another overlooked fact is that 80% of public employees such as nurses, school employees, college professors, and child protection workers who retire receive less than $2,500 a month in retirement benefits, and many public workers will receive no Social Security. Nearly 80 cents of every dollar in benefits comes from workers’ contributions and investment earnings. We build our retirements through a lifetime of hard work and paycheck contributions, so we will continue to lead the way on reforms that make pensions strong and sustainable.
“We agree with voters that abuses found at the top of the pension scale must be curbed, and we’ve championed solutions to halt double-dipping, spiking and to cap over-the-top pensions. These reforms – not a move to more costly, less secure 401k style plans – are the way to restore voter confidence in a pension system that for 70 years has been the path to dignified retirement for those who devote their lives to public service.”
SEIU California backs Michael Bilbrey in his run for a seat on the CalPERS Board of Administration. Bilbrey has worked on behalf of public employees for more than 18 years, serving as the statewide leader for classified school employees and has promised to protect your defined benefit pensions, preserve and improve healthcare, and increase openness and transparency at CalPERS. Ballots will be mailed on April 21.
(SACRAMENTO, CA) – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California, representing 700,000 workers throughout California released the following statement from Executive Director David Kieffer following the Governor Brown’s State of the State address:
“Tonight we saw what leadership means. Governor Brown offered the serious tone and the straightforward, balanced approach that will be required to guide California through these difficult times.
“After seven years of Schwarzenegger’s failure to deal with our budget problems honestly, Governor Brown outlined the challenges before us clearly. California is in a deep recession and our budget is a mess.
“The only choices before us are painful ones, and Governor Brown is right: the only way to fix this mess is through a balanced approach – making more painful cuts and maintaining existing revenues in the June special election.
“If we don’t seize the opportunity now to come together and get California’s fiscal house in order, the cuts will be twice as large, jeopardizing our recovery and our ability to restore investments in schools, colleges and services that made California a beacon of opportunity for our parents and grandparents.
“We agree with the Governor that our retirement security must be sustainable; we support reforms to end abuses such as spiking, double-dipping, and wildly inflated managerial pensions.
“Working together with our Governor and the Legislature, the hard-working men and women of SEIU are ready to forge a path forward through these difficult times. We are looking to our leaders to come together across party lines and rise to the challenge to help us build the kind of state our children and grandchildren deserve.”
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SEIU California is a union of over 700,000 janitors, social workers, security officers, home care workers, school and university employees, healthcare workers, and city, county and state employees represented by SEIU local unions throughout California. We come together to build a better California by fighting to pass policies and elect candidates that benefit working families and advance the issues we care about: affordable healthcare, good wages, retirement security for all, a healthy environment, good schools and universities, and stronger communities. We believe that by working together we can build a California where working families can thrive again.
Contributing more than 90,000 hours of phone calling and precinct walking to the effort to elect Jerry Brown and other allies of working families, SEIU members in Caligfornia won big on Tuesday, electing a full slate of statewide candidates we endorsed — and holding strong majorities in the California legislature, despite national trends that swept anti-working family candidates to power throughout the rest of the nation.
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