On June 1st ballots will go out to 10,000 homecare workers that will determine the future of homecare workers in Fresno. Workers are voting on whether they want to stay in SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West or be represented by NUHW, a renegade organization led by the former leaders of UHW who were removed from office for misusing members' dues money. At issue for most workers is which organization has the political strength, resources, and organization on the ground to fight budget cuts that threaten to end home care services for hundreds of thousands of Californians and add more than 200,000 home care providers to California's 2+ million unemployed.
The Election and the Budget Cuts
Last September, four months before the trusteeship of UHW went into effect the Fresno Board of Supervisors voted to cut the wages of home care workers by $1.10 an hour. The former leaders of UHW failed to prevent the cuts from going into effect. In February, the California Legislature followed suit and voted to cut funding for home care.
The Trustees of SEIU UHW has launched an aggressive state-wide campaign to stop the cuts made by the Fresno Board of Supervisors and the legislature from going into effect.
- SEIU UHW filed a class-action lawsuit - seeking a preliminary junction to stop the State of California and Fresno County from slashing the wages of homecare workers.
- SEIU UHW held a 48 hour vigil in Sacramento - last week hundreds of homecare workers from across the state descended on the state capitol to meet with assembly members a call for an end to the draconian cuts and call for shared responsibility and a smarter, long-term solution to the state's budget crisis.
- SEIU UHW television and print ad campaign -- featuring President Barack Obama and Alameda Country home care provider Pauline Beck calling for a federal solution to ends cuts that will devastate seniors, people with disabilities and the critical care providers they depend on to survive.
On Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger proposed deeper cuts to home care that would gut services for 9 out of 10 home care consumers, and throw more than 200,000 home care providers out of work, potentially raising unemployment in California from 11 percent to 13 percent.
- 231,000 clients will lose services entirely.
- 156,000 clients will have their hours cut by three-quarters, from an average of 108 hours per month to about 25 hours per month.
Cut home care worker wages to minimum wage of $8 an hour from $11.50 an hour in current budget.
Eliminate "domestic and related services" for 90% of home care clients and eliminate services entirely for more than half of clients.
Cuts cost more than 200,000 jobs statewide, perhaps more than 250,000.
The Election Process
The election is being supervised by California State Mediation/Conciliation service. Ballots were mailed to 10,000 Fresno home care workers asking them to choose who they would like to represent them. Ballots must be received by the California State Mediation/Conciliation service by June 15. The ballots will be counted on the 18th of June.
The GOTV Effort
More than six hundred SEIU members from around the country, including hundreds of members from SEIU UHW in California have come to Fresno to participate in the GOTV effort. Members are SEIU's greatest strength. SEIU has 2.1 million members throughout the United States and is the largest union representing home care workers in the country. SEIU members have come to the Central Valley to stand with Fresno County home care workers as they fight to keep their union strong and protect their future.
Who is NUHW?
The National Union of Health Care Workers is a start-up organization begun in January by former leaders of SEIU UHW who were removed from office for misusing union dues.
