Back to Home Print This Page Email This Page

1000 SEIU Members Rally at State Capitol

Workers Fighting Against Possible Cuts, Delays in Public Programs

SEIU state budget rally 1-091000 SEIU MEMBERS RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL

On January 23 nearly 1,000 SEIU members braved the elements and called on Governor Schwarzenegger to wake up and treat our budget crisis with the urgency Californians deserve. SEIU members spoke out against payment delays in many crucial programs scheduled to begin February 1st. The delays will hurt hundreds of thousands of California students, seniors, people with disabilities, and families in crisis in the coming months.

After a rally and press conference that drew most of the Sacramento television stations and a strong contingent of the Capitol press corps, members lobbied the offices of 70 Democrats in a targeted effort to communicate the urgency of solving the budget problem and insisted that real, new revenue be secured to pay for the programs California needs. SEIU lobbyists reported that legislative staff were abuzz about the energy and size of the SEIU lobby day, an event unprecedented at this time of year. 

In addition to delayed payments, another troubling element of Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposals is his call for more devastating budget cuts on top of $10 billion in reductions already made to schools, health care, social services and other vital programs this year. Public healthcare professionals would be especially impacted by his proposal for a rigid budget cap that would force more cuts to health care services year after year.

The Governor’s budget cap formula would:

  • Force deep budget cuts each and every year to education, healthcare, and other services
  • Set this year of crisis as our budget baseline, guaranteeing that public services would never be able to recover
  • Result in dramatic long-term reduction of public services funding, because cuts made in bad years could never be restored in good years
  • Shred California’s safety net at a time when unemployment is the highest it’s been in a generation

SEIU members participating at the January 23rd rally were from across the state, and included public health workers, homecare workers, and childcare providers.