All posts by Courtni Pugh

California

SEIU CA Members Change Washington DC, California

SEIU’s more than 700,000 members across California are joining their neighbors, co-workers, and communities today, celebrating this new day in Washington D.C. and California.

The last eight years of the Bush Administration and this last California legislative session should never be repeated. That’s why SEIU and its members were among the largest organizations in California to change our broken political system, elect pro-working family leaders, and pass initiatives and bonds that will improve our communities for the next generation.

Changing Washington

SEIU International was one of the biggest players in America to send Barack Obama to the White House. Hundreds of thousands of our members across the country poured into battleground states, including members from California who campaigned in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. Our members know how to organize the grassroots and mobilize voters, and we are thrilled to have played our part in this historic win.  

California members also worked hard to elect a new, pro-working family Member of Congress from California- Jerry McNerny – who will work to fix our economy, health care system, education, and protect our environment.

Changing California

Our first step towards victory here at home started early this year when, working with community partners, we registered an unprecedented 125,000 new California voters. Many of these are minorities and working families, two groups that are far underrepresented in California’s electorate.

In the closing weeks of the campaign, our members turned out these new voters along with targeted voters in droves to support candidates and issues that matter to hard-working Californians:

• Volunteered more than 80,000 hours on the phones and walking door to door

• Sent over 1.75 million pieces of mail to voters in partnership with allies such as California School Employees Association, the California State Federation of Labor, California Firefighters, California Federation of Teachers, and others

• Sent 750,000 pieces of mail to SEIU members

• Made over 2.6 million phone calls

As a result, we claimed victory in the following races:

• Measure A in San Francisco; Measure A in Santa Clara; Measure R in Los Angeles

• No on Proposition 4; No on Proposition 6

• Los Angeles County Supervisor: Mark Ridley-Thomas

• California State Senate: Lois Wolk SD 5 and Hannah-Beth Jackson SD 19

• California State Assembly: Joan Buchanan AD 15, Marty Block AD 78, Manuel Perez AD 80

The end of the election, however, does not mean our work is done.  Rather, it merely provides us with the opportunity to begin to change workers lives.  SEIU remains committed now more than ever to its mission of bettering the lives of workers everywhere.  Tuesday’s victories in both Washington and California were huge steps toward making that happen.

When the hard-working men and women of SEIU join a fight, they join it to win because they know their lives and the lives of the people they serve are at stake.  We are now in a position to create the changes working Californians need in order to fix our budget, provide increased access to affordable healthcare, and fund our schools.

Together, with our partners, community leaders and activists across the state, SEIU members put the American Dream back within reach for all Californians.  

Budget

SEIU Survey Shows California Republicans Support Budget Compromise Including New Revenue

(Courtney is the head of SEIU State Council.  Good stuff in this poll. – promoted by Julia Rosen)

The Service Employee International Union (SEIU) California State Council is releasing our new poll today showing 65 percent of California Republican voters say GOP Legislators should work with Democrats to achieve a practical compromise to produce a balanced budget – including revenue increases. Just 29 percent of those surveyed agree GOP Legislators should resist any tax increase even if it means gridlock.

As you know, California’s State Legislature is four weeks overdue in passing this year’s state budget. According to our State Controller John Chiang’s office, the gridlock in Sacramento is causing a ripple of concern and crisis throughout California communities as the State’s $2 billion reserve fund for community health clinics and small hospitals ran out of money earlier this week, July 28. Schools, community colleges and local governments, which typically receive a significant portion of their funding at the end of this month, will not because there is no state budget.

In addition, Governor Schwarzenegger has threatened to sign an Executive Order today which would lay off 22,000 employees and force another nearly 200,000 state workers to work for $6.55 an hour – well under the poverty level for a California family of four. Controller Chiang has vowed to refuse to comply with this illegal threat and meaningless stop-gap strategy. We appreciate his responsible leadership and willingness to stand up to Governor Schwarzenegger.  

Here are the details on our survey… [Note by Julia: edited to put it on the flip.]

SEIU CA State Council’s survey of 800 registered California Republicans was conducted June 5 through June 9 by The Feldman Group. Key findings are as follows:

* 85 percent of Republican voters say the budget deficit has them concerned

* 65 percent say they think Republican Legislators should work with Democrats to achieve a compromise including budget cuts and revenue increases.

* 54 percent support increasing the top bracket of the state income taxes from 9.3 to 10 percent for families with taxable income over $272,000 annually and to 11 percent for families with more than $544,000 a year in taxable income.

* 54 percent support closing the loophole that allow.

* 56 percent support the sales tax to entertainment such as concerts and sporting events.

* 64 percent support a bill to prevent people who purchase yachts and luxury vehicles from avoiding sales taxes on these purchases.

In a split sample, half of the participants were told “Democrats, Who make up about 60 percent of the legislature, say they will never approve spending cuts and Republicans, who make up about 40 percent of the legislature, say they will never approve raising taxes. Neither side has the two-thirds votes necessary to pass the budget.” When asked what respondents think legislators should do, an overwhelming 71 percent said both sides should work out a practical compromise of cuts and new revenue without gimmicks and more borrowing.

SEIU is the largest union and one of the largest advocacy organizations in California. Our more than 700,000 health care professionals, public service providers and service workers are dedicated to protecting and strengthening California’s communities. That’s why our members – Democrats and Republican – are reaching out to their elected officials in Sacramento and allies on the local level to encourage Legislators to compromise on a balanced, responsible budget that gets California moving again.

Courtni Pugh, ED, SEIU California State Council