"What does it take to get the mayor's attention in this town?" was the question on their purple lips Thursday night (it was cold) after several dozen SEIU 1021 members and staff occupied Mayor Gavin Newsom's office, while hundreds more cheered them on inside and outside City Hall. It was a two-pronged tactic of escalating the San Francisco campaign through civil disobedience on top of public rallies. The action was to highlight the solutions 1021 has been proposing over the mayor's latest attempt to decimate public services.

What's at stake: The $7 million to prevent more than 500 layoffs, pay-cutting reclassifications and job displacements that could be covered from the city's $25 million reserve. Mayor Newsom has said he won't spend the money even if the Board of Supervisors approves it. In addition, San Francisco stands to receive $34 million over two years through AB 1383, a bill that would increase MediCal reimbursements, drawing federal matching funds with it.

Through SEIU 1021's work with the Board, they've mustered seven of the eight votes needed to get the money and save schools, vital public health and social services. A recent Bay Guardian analysis shows that SEIU 1021 members have taken the biggest hits from Newsom's budget cuts. Over the past three years, 82 percent of all city layoffs have hit SEIU 1021 members while few management positions have been cut.

Watch a clip here, with more details about the action after the break.

Purple hats and gold thunder sticks carrying the message, "Enough is Enough", filled Albany's West Capitol Park on Thursday as some 5,000 1199SEIU caregivers rallied to protest another round of healthcare budget cuts proposed by New York's Governor David Paterson.

The Governor's proposed $278 million in Medicaid cuts would cause the state to lose a total of $746 million, when federal matching funds are figured in. For every dollar cut in state Medicaid funding, New York loses $2.60 from Washington.

In the past two years, healthcare funding has already been cut six times by the legislature, with a combined loss of over $2.2 billion, resulting in the loss of several hospitals and nursing homes in distressed areas.

Ros Hampton, an LPN and longtime 1199SEIU Delegate in Buffalo, rally inspired the crowd when she asked, "Governor Paterson, is this any way to treat the most vulnerable members of our society that have paid their dues? Our elderly need to be treated like the kings and queens they are, but how can we do that with these outrageous budget cuts?"

Paulette Abrams, an 1199SEIU homecare worker with the Social Concern Homecare Agency, told the rally, "I've been a homecare worker for 19 years and I'm here to tell Governor Paterson that our patients and all of our families cannot survive any more cuts to homecare. Our clients won't be able to get the care they need and we won't be able to pay our bills."

1199SEIU caregivers came to Albany from as far away as the tip of Long Island and up to the Canadian borders of Western and Northern New York. They were joined by hospital and nursing home executives, who understand the devastating impact of these cuts.

In case you missed it...news highlights from yesterday and this morning on banks, union heroes, health insurance reform, voter turnout and fighting budget cuts [and the swine flu].

Wall Street Bonuses Rise Up, Up, Up and Away: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, the three biggest banks to receive bailouts, are set to pay record bonuses this year. They'll hand out $29.7 billion in bonuses--an increase of 60 percent from last year.

It's Time to Write Some Thank You Notes: Let's not forget to thank the members of Congress who worked with us along the way to get the "The Affordable Health Care for America Act" passed--Celebrate the passage of the House bill by thanking (or admonishing) your Representative for their vote on health insurance reform.

What exactly did we win? Take a look at some of the highlights in the historic health insurance reform legislation, which include coverage expansion, more choices, encouraging small businesses to cover employees and ending abuse by insurers.

Send your best wishes to Fort Hood Hero: Sgt. Kimberly Munley risked her life to stop the alleged gunman who killed 13 people and injured 30 at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5. Munley fired four shots at the alleged assailant, Maj. Nidal Hasan, despite being shot herself. She's currently in stable condition. As Officer Munley recovers from her injuries, her union AFGE has set up a site where you can send her your best wishes.

"Protect our patients, NY healthcare from draconian cuts!" New York's frontline caregivers from 1199SEIU are mobilizing by the thousands to go to Albany on Thursday, November 12, to tell the Legislature and Governor that enough is enough: the state's healthcare industry has already been hit by six rounds of budget cuts, totaling $2.2 billion in the past two years. Now Gov. David Paterson is calling for another $746 million in cuts for the current fiscal year, ending next April.

A Win for Maine, Washington, and Lovers of Good Government: Read Monday's Washington Post column by E.J. Dionne about how Maine and Washington voters stood up against cuts to services like home health care for seniors by rejecting the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). "Why aren't we hearing more of this?" asks Dionne.

Latino Voter Turnout remains high in 2009: While Election 2009 had its ups and downs, initial results show the dire predictions about a drop off in Latino voter turnout proved to be false - and that candidates from all parties rejected campaigning with an anti-immigrant wedge based strategy. Key highlights compiled by America's Voice here.

Puerto Rican unemployment tops 16 percent: About one in six people are now out of work on the U.S. island territory of 4 million people, and another 2,000+ public employees lost their jobs on Friday. More on SEIU.org.

Hand-washing and sneeze-covering precautions can only take you so far: In the mad scramble for flu shots across the country (which are in short supply), the U.S. House is considering a proposal: Mandate that employers pay five sick days if they send a worker home or advise him to stay home.

Pennsylvania SEIU Members win three-year contract: The Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) and the SEIU Local 668 have reached agreement on a three-year contract that calls for a wage increase retroactive to September 1, 2006. The local represents about 350 secretarial, library, accounting, clerical, housekeeping and maintenance personnel at the college.

Following a federal court order by Judge Claudia Wilken halting the implementation of severe cuts to home care for 130,000 Californians, new information presented during a Capitol hearing yesterday demonstrates that the Schwarzenegger Administration is unprepared to meet its own Nov. 1 deadline to implement new restrictions on In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program providers.

At least seven California counties have said that the Administration has provided confusing orders and failed to provide funds and materials promised to counties and at yesterday's legislative hearing, counties and stakeholders described how home care providers, and the seniors and people with disabilities who rely on home care have been thrown into a state of confusion due to the lack of preparedness. "It is troubling that with just four days until new job requirements go into effect, the State still has not given us clear information on what these changes mean for our jobs and for the people we serve," said Raul Rivera, a home care worker represented by SEIU 521 in Santa Clara County.

Who's going to be the most affected by Gov. Schwarzenegger's failure to provide adequate time to implement changes and consistent, clear guidelines: the state's approximately 450,000 elderly and disabled care recipients, as well as close to 380,000 providers statewide. What is the Schwarzenegger Administrations' reaction to CA counties' warnings of the chaos and panic likely to ensue, should these cuts go forward on Nov. 1 as planned? Tough luck! (and that's phrasing it nicely). Officials said today that they intend to go forward with the scheduled November 1st implementation date.

More about the specific concerns and obstacles preventing county governments from implementing the changes the Schwarzenegger administration ordered at the SEIU California State Council website and California Progress.

SEIU members, disability, senior-citizen rights groups filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court Friday to stop 130,000 people from either being dropped or cut from California's In-Home Supportive Services program as of Nov. 1.

Nearly one hundred thousand people would be part of the group only having 'some' of their services cut--which sounds almost positive compared to those that will lose all of their in-home care, right? Except when you consider the actual breakdown of these services to be lost: food shopping, meal preparation, cleaning, and assistance and accompaniment to medical appointments. These may be defined by IHSS standards as "basic services," but being able to receive help with daily living tasks like these is the difference for frail seniors and people with disabilities between being able to stay in their homes....or having to go into nursing homes or other residential institutions.

Schwarzenegger needs remedial math class, it seems
According to Gov. Schwarzenegger, these cuts are all about balancing the budget. But how can potentially forcing 130,000 people to resort to institutional care really be cost-reducing when it's actually estimated to be four times more expensive to the state than in-home care? "A 2006 study showed that the average... public expenditure on home...based (Medicaid) services is $44,000 less than for a person receiving institutional services," stated Mitch LaPlante, leading disability researcher at the UCSF, in court papers.

Four SEIU locals whose members are IHSS caregivers and attendants are participating in the lawsuit, including SEIU UHW, SEIU ULTCW, SEIU Local 521 and CUHW, whose members are IHSS caregivers and attendants. The lawsuit alleges that IHSS cuts will violate the federal constitutional due process protections, the Medicaid Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. View filed complaint here. More at the LA Times.

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the state budget into law last week, but not before chopping another half billion dollars from services for women, children, the sick and the elderly - services that just days before he'd agreed not to cut any further. Legislators, feeling betrayed, may head to court to challenge the legality of the cuts.

According to the Daily Roundup, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to relish the task of reining in government spending, almost as if it was another cinematic role in which to star.

"With gusto, he launched blistering attacks against fraud in the welfare system, demanding that those abusing the system be kicked out. He unwaveringly stood his ground on taxes, never allowing Democrats to seriously consider including them in negotiations. And he proclaimed himself the guardian of responsible, frugal government.

"It didn't seem to matter to Schwarzenegger that fraud in the system was minuscule compared with other soaring costs; or that voters actually favored taxes on oil companies, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products; or that he'd previously increased state spending by tens of billions of dollars after coming to office in 2003."

What matters, what doesn't

In making the additional cuts, the governor made his priorities crystal clear. He cut:

• $80 million that pays for workers who help abused and neglected children;
• $50 million from Healthy Families, which has already frozen enrollment and now will actually disenroll more than half a million children who are currently covered. In blunter terms, it takes away health care from half a million kids. Why? Because he can. It's easy to take candy from a baby.
• $50 million from services for developmentally disabled children age 3 and under;
• $16 million from programs protecting women from domestic violence;
• $6.3 million from services for the elderly;
• $6.2 million from parks.

But according to veteran Sacramento reporter Bill Cavala, new revenues that might have saved these and other services never really had a chance:

"The fight for revenue increases was effectively lost when the Governor and the Republicans were successful in depicting the defeat of the various ballot measures -- especially Prop. 1A -- as a referendum against taxes.

[...] The lack of public pressure ... combined with the need to involve Republicans because of the 2/3 requirement and the need for a signature gave the Democrats no real hand to play. Holding a gun to the head of Democrats by threatening the very existence of social service programs, the Governor was able to force changes in law otherwise unthinkable by the Majority Party."

So there you have it: government by extortion. Experts say we'll be back at it by October, trying to reform California's government, tax code, and maybe even the State Constitution. California needs a new way of working.

Detailed budget analysis from the California Budget Project - www.cbp.org

(Thanks to SEIU Local 1021 for this budget update)

A new poll for CT Gov. M. Jodi Rell shows her approval rating has dropped to her lowest level ever, amid a severe economic downturn and months of criticism and ad campaigns from SEBAC, a coalition that represents Connecticut State public service workers.

The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute numbers show that 71% of voters support "raising the state income tax for individuals making at least $265,000 per year and couples making at least $500,000." Yet the Governor continues to refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy. The poll also finds that 55% of voters reject the "argument that raising taxes will force wealthier residents to move out of Connecticut." A majority of voters also support raising taxes on corporations.

Rell has said that raising taxes would be the worst thing the state could do and instead has proposed deep cuts to social services, health care, and higher education.

What do SEBAC leaders think about these poll results? As you may have guessed, they're definitely not shocked.

"I am not surprised that her approval numbers are beginning to drop," said Ron McLellan, the President of CEUI/SEIU Local 511. "Until this economic crisis, Governor Rell could hide her allegiance to big corporations and Connecticut's wealthiest citizens. But now, when the difficult decisions must be made, she has taken money from services that protect the middle-class and that support the most vulnerable among us -- all so that the rich and big businesses don't have to sacrifice."

"The Governor does not ask our wealthiest households and corporations to step up to the plate and be part of the solution,"[MO3]  said Maggie Adair, Policy Director for Connecticut Association for Human Services, an organization that works to end poverty and empower families. "Her budget priorities do not reflect the opinion of Connecticut's residents, who overwhelmingly support increasing the income tax on our highest wage earners."

In February, the SEBAC launched an aggressive television campaign that was designed to educate the public about the Governor's budget priorities and to hold her accountable for her budget decisions into the gubernatorial election season. To learn more about the coalition's campaign for a fair budget and view the video of their latest TV ad, visit www.InThisTogetherCT.org.

With a future body count guaranteed to make it a horror film classic, the new California state budget approved by legislators on Friday puts an end to the endless "debate" that's been causing debilitating migraines even in those who don't suffer them.

But the pain is far from over. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his band of loyal lawmakers proved they're no 'girlie-men' with the budget cuts by taking healthcare from the sick and frail and every kind of care from the elderly; by closing schools so kids have nowhere to learn, and after-school programs so they have nowhere else to go. They closed the deficit by privatizing public services and throwing public servants under the bus, while taking money with impudence from those who remain. And if you thought these outcomes were shocking, here's the most shocking thing of all: CA lawmakers managed all of this without taxing corporations one single additional dime.

And no doubt the heads of those corporations will be spending this glorious, victorious weekend with Governor Arnold in his hot tub, smoking their cigars.

The difference
Rapid action by members of SEIU Local 1021, Local 1000 and all the California locals, together with the communities they serve, prevented the outcome of the budget deal from being much worse. "While we don't like the outcome [of this budget], had we not gotten involved it would have been much worse," said SEIU executive vice president Eliseo Medina.

Working closely in collaboration with communities and allies, scores of public events were held all over the state that put a human face on the cuts to home care, health care, CalWORKS, schools, and other public services. All together, SEIU members made 40,000 calls to the Governor and legislators, took part in 400-plus lobby days and sent 100,000 petitions and postcards. The most dramatic difference these efforts made is that new revenues are finally on the table and, against the odds, even made it into the Conference Committee budget. And more significantly, SEIU members, CA activists and allies helped scale back (and lessen in severity) the Governor's worst cuts:

• Home care: In-home Supportive Services (IHSS) will be cut by 20 percent instead of 90 percent.
  
• CalWORKS will be cut 40 percent instead of eliminated entirely.
  
• Healthy Families: The Governor wanted to eliminate the program entirely - instead, it was cut by 50 percent.
  
• Education: Despite deep cuts to education, Proposition 98 was not suspended and legislative safeguards on school outsourcing were protected.
  
• State workers: Workers' pensions and health care were protected, and a fourth furlough day has not been issued like Governor Schwarzenegger threatened.

As California confronts severe budget difficulties in coming months, the war of words, lobby days and public actions are far from over. Middle-class families will continue to challenge state leaders to provide a common sense, balanced approach--even when it requires that our leaders have the courage to stand up to powerful corporate interests. More news and reports on the CA budget can be found from Rough & Tumble and California Budget Project.

Thanks to SEIU Local 1021 for this budget update.

Last week, elected officials left Springfield without doing their job--again. So SEIU Healthcare Illinoismembers took their fight to protect home and childcare workers from budget cuts to the scene of the crime. Protesting in the statehouse, members demanded an end to budget cuts that would devastate home care, child care and countless other human service programs in Illinois. Governor Quinn agreed and vetoed the bill.

Recently, healthcare activists gathered at Rep. Kirk's campaign kickoff for his Senate bid--to fill the seat that was previously held by President Obama--to demand he support measures that will bring quality, affordable healthcare.

But it seems as though Rep. Kirk isn't trying nearly hard enough to emulate the former holder of the Senate seat he's bidding for, when it comes to stepping up the plate to tackle the biggest challenge facing our country: making sure every American has access to high quality, affordable health care. After the Monday event announcing his candidacy, Rep. Kirk told one of the activists, "We can't afford to insure everyone."

According to a report by HCAN, from 2000 to 2007, health insurance premiums for working Illinois families has risen by 73 percent. So the real question is, how can we afford not to support fixing America's broken healthcare system? SEIU members will continue pressuring their legislators to pass measures that put quality care in reach for everyone. Stay tuned for more information on how you can help.

Since the court has ruled against Governor Schwarzenegger and his cuts, we've made over 200 phone calls to the Governor's office, telling him to end the war on home care.

One caller, J.L., reported back after her phone call to the Gov.:

I would like the Governor to know that what he is doing is wrong and I plan to stand up for the sick and disabled. I am the caregive for 3 recipients of IHSS and without my assistance, these people wouldn't be able to live comfortably at all. Our wages should be more not less--these are peoples' very lives we are helping. My message to Arnold: Where Is your Heart??

Another caller, J.B. spoke to a woman in Schwarzenegger's office, Megan. Here's how his call went:

Megan said "you can't please everyone. Cuts across the board have been made." She implied that everyone suffers equally. I disagreed with her and stated that cuts in this area cause a disproportional amount of suffering. I suggested cuts for the State University travel budget for Professor that visit foreign countries; cuts here would be far less damaging to the citizens. Megan said the Universities are receiving cuts also.

From caller J.E.:

I cannot believe Gov. Schwarzenegger has the audactiy to cut wages of those who lovingly care for our nation's most vulnerable seniors. The seniors have loved, supported and fought for everything for us to have what we have now over all these years and it is time we did the same for them!!!

We applaud your efforts to tell the Governor his misguided policies will send California deeper into fiscal abyss. But it's not enough--we must keep the pressure on, because now the Governor and CA state officials are refusing to abide by the U.S. District Court's preliminary injunction preventing the slashing of salaries for in-home caregivers.

In light of this outrageous defiance, Judge Wilken has amended her original injunction to make it more specific: rescind approval of all IHSS wage reductions by July 14 that were scheduled to take place on July 1. The attorneys requested that the Court hold the State in contempt and issue fines and order the State to comply immediately, since it seems the Governor and state lawmakers haven't yet grasped the seriousness of illegally cutting the wages of IHSS workers who take care of our most most vulnerable citizens.

Now more than ever, we need to flood the Governor's office with calls to help put an end to the war on home care. Even if you or someone close to you is not affected by the CA Legislature's and Gov. Schwarzenegger's cuts, he needs to know how much support there is for the vital services home care workers provide to seniors and people with disabilities.

Will you take part? Please call the Governor now and tell him to put a permanent stop to these short-sighted cuts.

A U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction last week ordering the state of California to halt pay cuts of nearly 20 percent -- from $12.10 an hour down to $9.50 -- for the state's 400,000 home care workers. This ruling is big news for home care workers and those they care for, as it will temporarily stop the cuts that were to go into effect July 1st in those counties at risk.

There's a war being waged against home care, and Governor Schwarzenegger is leading the call. We can celebrate this initial victory, but this injunction will not stop the Governor from trying to cut home care again. CA State Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer has made this much clear, saying that the Schwarzenegger administration "can't imagine a legal interpretation that would prevent the state from moving forward to implement [the proposed cuts to home care]."

It's up to us to keep the pressure on. Now that a court has ruled against the Governor and his cuts, we need to ask him to reverse course on these short-sighted cuts.
Please call the Governor now and tell him: "Home care not only saves money, it saves lives. We need a common sense budget that protects home care:"

The unions in the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), District 1199 launched their latest TV ad this week taking aim at Governor Jodi Rell for protecting the wealthy in a time of crisis. The unions are delivering a hard-hitting response to Gov. Rell making good on her threat to veto the state budget Democrats pushed through the legislature late last week that would have asked those most able to pay to step up and help solve the economic crisis while preserving vital services.

HUGE news for home care workers and those they care for. In response to SEIU lawsuit, a U.S. District Court judge issued an injunction Thursday afternoon ordering the state of California to halt a proposed $2 cut in wages for the state's 400,000 home care workers.

The injunction has the effect of stopping pay cuts in all California counties that were planning on passing the state cut through to their home care workers.

The injunction, issued by federal judge Claudia Wilken, was in response to a lawsuit filed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which has 250,000 home care members in California. The lawsuit alleges the wage cut violates the federal Medicaid Law, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Rehabilitation Act.

"This ruling is bringing hope to hundreds of thousands of home care consumers and workers all across the state," said Mary Harms, a home care worker in Contra Costa County. "We had no choice but to ask the court to help us after the governor and legislature let everyone down and put so many people in danger."

The enjoined state budget cuts would have slashed homecare workers' wages to as low as $9.50 an hour. The wage cuts would have forced thousands of homecare providers to leave their employment to seek living-wage jobs, forcing frail seniors and people with disabilities to enter nursing homes or other residential institutions.

On Tuesday, lawmakers on the California Legislature's joint budget committee refused to cut state worker pay and spared that state's In-Home Support Services the major cut that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed as part of his plan to solve the state's $24.3 billion deficit.

Under the governor's budget proposal, IHSS would stand to lose roughly $765 million, resulting in a near-elimination of services for nearly 400,000 people---or 90 percent of the elderly or disabled persons currently receiving care. Making such drastic cuts to California's IHSS program to make up for budgetary shortfalls would also result in more people having to resort to institutional care (nursing homes or other residential institutions)-- which is estimated to be four times more expensive to the State.

Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, who chairs the budget conference committee, reiterated the counter-productiveness of such large cuts to balance the deficit. Such large cuts would have been tantamount to cost shifting, Evans told the San Francisco Chronicle, as people would receive more expensive services at already-strained hospitals and nursing homes. "The imagination runs wild on what would actually happen to these people," said Evans. In contrast, the Conference Committee rejected the Governor's near-elimination of IHSS and passed cuts totaling $117 million, which would eliminate services for slightly less than 10% of those currently enrolled.

California Home Care Workers Rally at the State Capitol to Save the Services they Provide to California's Most Vulnerable: SEIU has played a big role in the movement to fight these cuts, mobilizing support for a fair state budget and balance budget approach that protects middle-class families, seniors, kids, and people with disabilities. Last week, SEIU released a TV ad arguing for a balanced approach and earlier this week, hundreds of home care workers rallied on the grounds of the California State Capital. "Stop home care cuts" was the message home care workers made loud and clear on the grounds of the California State Capital, as care providers from across the state displayed a 625 square-foot sign made up of more than 75,000 postcards calling for an end to the governor's drastic cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. In addition to the TV ad campaign, SEIU is encouraging Californians to weigh in for common sense budget at www.commonsense4ca.org.

The bottom line: Laying off state workers from their jobs and cutting their pay on top of the 9.2 percent cut those workers have taken through unpaid furloughs days is not the answer to solving this budget crisis. Neither is shredding California's social safety net and decimating state programs like the welfare-to-work program and health insurance for children. To produce revenue for the state, the legislative budget panel instead approved on Tuesday plans to hike up taxes on oil and tobacco, which would produce an estimated $830 million and $1 billion, respectively, in the coming fiscal year. Repealing a corporate tax break approved only a few months ago would produce another $80 million.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said yesterday at their press conference that they "expect that [their] Republican colleagues will be responsible" in helping them pass a "compromise" budget. Lawmakers are meeting with Schwarzenegger again today, and the two Democratic leaders are holding out the possibility that common ground can be reached to put a Legislature-approved plan on how to close the state's deficit by the middle of next week. Highlights of the Legislature's approach to solving the budget crisis at California Progress Report here.

After numerous songs, slogans, speeches and a march across Portland's Hawthorne Bridge, the message came down to a simple chant rising from Terry D. Schrunk Plaza and echoing off the Portland skyscrapers around it: "What do we want? Fairness! When do we want it? Now!" With that, about 2,500 SEIU Local 503 members and allies concluded the United for Oregon rally against state budget cuts and layoffs last Sunday.

The event drove home the need to shield front-line workers and those they serve -- children, seniors, and families made vulnerable by the economic downturn -- from absorbing an unfair share of proposed state budget cuts. A proposed budget from the Oregon Legislature calls for as many as 1,700 state worker layoffs, and unions have been asked to accept a wage freeze and as many as 24 unpaid furlough days during the next two years.

Led in part by SEIU Local 1996 in Puerto Rico, close to 100,000 union members, students, and other activists marched in front of the capitol building in San Juan last week to protest Governor Luis Fortuño's plan to lay off more than 30,000 government employees and suspend public sector collective bargaining rights. Puerto Rico is currently in its fourth year of recession and has an unemployment rate of more than 15 percent. Governor Fortuño has since agreed to meet with representatives from the laid-off workers.

If you think agree that workers should not be made to pay the price for a crisis they did not create, send a letter to the Governor of Puerto Rico in strong protest of these anti-union and anti-public sector measures. Layoffs of public sector employees are set to begin on July 1, so please take action now: Click here to send a letter telling Governor Fortuño not to cut public sector services and jobs.

Rebia Mixon Clay is a former real estate manager who quit her job to provide full-time care to her brother, who has cerebral palsy and is disabled. Here at SEIU, we had the pleasure of working with Rebia when she spent several months this year as one of our grassroots member lobbyists on Capitol Hill, advocating lawmakers to pass legislation to create change for working people, their families and communities.

As a home care worker in Chicago, Rebia currently receives a $9.85 an hour, her only source of income. Billions in budget cuts to critical human services programs are set to take effect on July 1st - leaving 80,000 working parents without child care, over 40,000 seniors and people with disabilities without home care and countless other families devastated by drastic cuts to the programs they depend on. In this video, Clay describes to us the potential effect on her family -- and her community -- if the budget for home health care gets lopped in half. "When you take jobs away from poor people," she said, "it's only going to create more poor people."

As the deadline for the Illinois for the state government to adopt a new revenue source or begin slashing human services continues to creep closer, pushback is increasing. On Thursday, a group of SEIU Healthcare Illinois members who provide state-sponsored child care, in-home care, veterans services and violence counseling held demonstrations with community advocates outside Illinois lawmakers' offices to show them first-hand why they ought to save the programs. Thursday's demonstrations are the first of many protests planned for coming weeks.

This past Saturday, Organizing for America asked that Americans around the country meet to discuss what they believe health care reform should look like. President Obama's organization put out a video that organizers could show their group and use to solicit support for reform and encourage participants to share their stories dealing with the broken health care system. Change that Works California is committed to working with OFA to support the President and make health care available to all Californians.

This past weekend, hundreds of meetings took place in California with thousands of participants around the state. I attended two OFA meetings in the Los Angeles area. On June 6, Mayor Abbe Land, Council member Lindsey Horvath and Deputy to the Mayor, Corri Planck held an OFA meeting at the West Hollywood City Hall. Approximately forty people were in attendance from in and around the city of West Hollywood. Participants watched the President's video; wrote their health care stories and talked about they wanted health reform to look like. Many community members stressed an emphasis on choice, echoing one of the three principals of health reform the President has stressed. Community members also wanted health care reform to encourage preventive treatment.

The second OFA meeting took place at Pasquale's Café in Los Angeles. About 25 folks squeezed into the café and dined on Pizza Michelle (created in honor of the First Lady by Chef Tonino) as they listened to several speakers, including Jack d'Annibale; Ronald Norby, Regional Director of the Veteran's Administration Desert Pacific Health Care Network and Mike Petrold, CA State Field Director for Organizing for America. Community members asked questions about the federal employees health plan and discussed their concerns about health reform. Health care stories were collected and the meeting concluded with a mini phone bank organized by Obama campaign workers from Nevada.

These kick-off meetings along with many others, are the precursors to the June 27 day of action-- check for listings of many of the OFA events around California on this site.

Governor Schwarzenegger says he thinks every day about the people who will be affected by his proposed cuts to health care will affect. "I know the consequences of those cuts are not just dollars," said the Governor to lawmakers yesterday. "I see the faces behind those dollars."

Fresno area home care provider Carlos Martinez and his wife Mikesha Martinez show the real face of those who would be impacted the most by these cuts.

Hundreds of home care workers from across the country continue knocking on doors this week, talking to Fresno home care workers about the importance of standing with their union in combating these dangerous cuts--which would cause nearly 400,000 elderly or disabled Californians to lose the services they need to live at home and still remain cared for.

In this new YouTube video, SEIU UHW member and upcoming leader Frank Valdez canvasses for the first time with mentor May Santiago in Fresno. "It's very important to take care of these folks at home, and that's why I'm here," says Frank, on why he's fighting alongside his fellow union members in support of Fresno home care workers.

Read more about SEIU's fight to block Governor Schwarzenegger's assault on home care and SEIU UHW's efforts to protect Fresno home care workers.