Remember when the budget slowed our paychecks because it was not finished in time? One month after that budget was passed, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called an emergency meeting with his advisors because he had just discovered an 11 billion dollar hole in his new budget. He wants to cut 16 million dollars out of our paychecks to help make up for that!

The governor wants to cut us down from $9.25 to $8.00 an hour. He wants to cut out categories 1-3 (the household help) and just pay categories 4-5 (the medical and nursing). Should the elderly and the disabled live in filth and starve if they aren't able to prepare their meals? He also wants to stop paying anyone who is caring for family members, as he thinks that should be done for free. Caregivers spend many hours caring for family members. They also work very hard, and this work should not go uncompensated.

If our hours are cut, we will not qualify for health care. We are exposed to germs and infections daily and if we don't have health care, we will not be able to care for others. We will cost the state both time and money by flooding the emergency rooms for things that should not be emergencies.
 
We can hardly live on what we get now, and if hours are cut, many of us will have to find other work, leaving our consumers with no one to care for them. In fact we save California millions of dollars because we take care of people in their homes. If consumers were put in long term care facilities, it would cost the state a lot more than what it costs them to pay us now.

This rally was an important part of our fight. On Tuesday December 9th, the council will meet again and we need every one of you to show up and support the cause.