FUTURE OF LONG-TERM CARE: Members take action to stop budget cuts at hearing

Workers send hundreds of emails, letters to governor to protect homecare

Workers contacted their elected officials July 14 and 15 to demand that they protect programs that serve California’s elderly and disabled. 

The workers were in Manhattan Beach to attend an SEIU jurisdictional hearing that explored the question of how to most effectively organize California’s caregivers and nursing home employees.  The issue at stake was whether the workers should unite themselves into one powerful, statewide union.  At the moment, those who care for the elderly and the disabled are represented by several competing locals.

Caregivers took advantage of the hearings to call their elected officials and to write them letters and postcards.  It was all part of an effort to stave off major budget cuts that would adversely affect the well being of hundreds of thousands of Californians.

In his latest budget, Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed a devastating 18 percent cut to the In-Home Supportive Services program.  This program provides vital help to the elderly and disabled and enables them to receive care in their homes.  Since it was started, the program has saved Californians millions that would have otherwise been pent on costly institutionalization.

“I know that California faces a budget shortfall,” said Julie Chow, a of the workers manning the phones. “But it’s crazy to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly. I take care of my dad at home, and I’m only able to do it because of the IHSS program. If it wasn’t for the program, I’d have to put him in a home…and that would end up costing the state a lot more than the little bit that they’re paying me now.”