Largest Rally of Home Care Providers in State History Calls for Real Solutions to California’s Budget Crisis

Photo courtesy of Orange Co. Labor Fed

By Peter Feng, AFSCME Strategic Communications Group

May 22, 2009.

Los Angeles – Thousands of home care providers organized by affiliates of the American Federation of State & County Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) rallied last week in the largest demonstration of support for California’s home care providers in state history.

Providers from throughout the Golden State traveled to Los Angeles on May 22 to march and rally in support of critical public service programs, especially In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), one of California’s most cost effective programs for promoting independent living among seniors and the disabled.

Polls show that a majority of California voters oppose cuts to public services including transportation, child care, environmental protections, and programs for the disabled like IHSS. The same Field Poll also found that voters favor cutting prison spending and imposing higher taxes on the wealthy and on specific industries like oil, tobacco, and alcohol. These findings offer a blueprint for a progressive state budget.

“The solutions are right there in front of us,” said Laura Reyes, president of AFSCME affiliate United Domestic Workers of America (UDWA), and who also works as a home care provider. “The voters have spoken. The legislature and governor just need to listen to the will of the people.”

With the defeat of Propositions 1A through 1E on the May 19 special election ballot, California faces a $20 billion budget deficit for 2010. In a misplaced effort to help close this gap, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed reducing the state’s wage contribution to IHSS providers to minimum wage or $8.00 an hour in California.

“We want real solutions to the state’s budget problems,” said Douglas Moore Jr., executive director of San Diego-based UDWA. "What the governor and legislature have proposed is disgraceful."

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas agreed.

In a speech before thousands of rally participants, Ridley-Thomas repeatedly asked: "Mr. Governor, have you lost your mind?"

That sentiment was also echoed by Lee Saunders, executive assistant to AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee.

"Something is wrong when the dealmakers at AIG – the hotshots who nearly crushed our economy – can walk away with one-hundred, sixty-five million dollars in bonuses. For doing a terrible job! Yet the workers who protect California’s most vulnerable citizens must fight tooth and nail to hold on to nine dollars and ninety-eight cents an hour! For doing the Lord’s work!"

A progressive state budget for 2010 that protects the public services favored by voters is possible, if the legislature and governor follow the spending priorities outlined by voters in the Field Poll mentioned above.

For example, independent analysis by the California Tax Reform Association shows that the state could immediately raise $13 billion by instituting a tax on carbon dioxide pollution and restoring high income and corporate tax brackets to their levels under Republican Governors Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson. That is roughly two-thirds of the budget deficit predicted for 2010.

With IHSS providers facing cuts in state support starting July 1, UDWA, which represents 65,000 home care workers throughout California , has organized a campaign to persuade lawmakers to protect funding for home care and other public service programs supported by the people of California. UDWA will rally asgain at the state capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday May 27.

Photos Mike Norris