State Budget

1021 School Members at the State Capitol

1021 School Members Demand Education Protection

Published on May 10th 2012

Facing layoffs in K-12 and community colleges, SEIU Local 1021 school members met lawmakers at the State Capitol to fight for education.

“Our programs help parents pursue their education and professional goals,” said Adam Friedlander, Instructional Assistant for the Oakland Unified School District.

Governor Jerry Brown has proposed cuts to early childhood education and preschool programs as a method to close the state’s budget deficit. He’s also proposed a weighted pupil formula, which would harm school districts and the students they serve. Brown could propose additional cuts when he releases his May budget revise on May 14.

SOS: Save Our Schools (and everything else)!

Published on March 30th 2012

See the Act! Here! Now! box on the right to download and print the petition.

Overcrowded classrooms, laid-off teachers, overstretched police and public safety services. After four years of deep cuts, the Golden State has lost its shine. The all-cuts approach hasn't worked, and regular, working people and their families (your families!) are paying the price. We can't afford more cuts to our vital services. It's time to invest in California's comeback.

The Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012 is the only initiative that takes care of the whole state. By replenishing the state's General Fund, it funds schools, cities and counties. It raises up to $9 billion a year for education, health and dental care, child care, police, fire, parks, transportation and programs for seniors, disabled and the poor.

SEIU Court Workers Win Big Over Database Boondoggle

Published on March 17th 2012

SEIU won a big victory in its push to get more funding to the state’s trial courts on March 14, when the Assembly Budget subcommittee on public safety voted unanimously to suspend all funding for a boondoggle database system until the full legislature gets the chance to review it.

SEIU superior court workers -- including Local 1021 members from the Superior Court of San Joaquin County -- traveled to Sacramento for Wednesday’s committee hearing as part of the union’s two-year court campaign. That campaign is using lobbying, demonstrations and newspaper op-ed pieces to expose how the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on an IT system nine years in the making and still not working is draining court resources, closing courtrooms, cutting legal services for the public, causing hundreds of layoffs throughout the state court system and forcing pay cuts on the employees remaining.

Live from the State Capitol, Part 1: Brown budget proposal arrives early

Published on January 7th 2012

Gov. Jerry Brown planned to release his FY 2012-13 budget proposal next Tuesday, January 10, but was forced to announce it nearly a week early when the document was inadvertently posted on the California Dept. of Finance website yesterday, making budget watchdogs and reporters scramble to write their "first glance" analyses. If you were expecting bad news, you won't be disappointed.

Live from the State Capitol, Part 2: Public pensions in the news

Published on January 7th 2012

CalPensions: "Pension initiatives: could costs go up not down?"

"An official analysis of two public pension reform initiatives last week raised an issue quickly seized by opponents -- a potential cost increase of $1 billion or more a year for state and local governments during the next two or three decades. ...

The analysis by the Legislative Analyst's Office "makes the point that switching new hires to cheaper retirement plans can drive up costs, mainly by cutting the cash flow used to help pay pensions under the old plan."

Sac Bee: "The State Worker's Top 10 of 2011: No. 6 -- Niello's pension plan"

Sac Bee: "The State Worker's Top 10 of 2011: No. 5 -- GOP pension plan"

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Justice Gets Mugged 2: SEIU 1021 Superior Courts Industry Roundup

Published on July 29th 2011

Here’s the latest from all of our SEIU 1021 Superior Court chapters:

ALAMEDA — Despite our protests, the court laid off 73 workers in 2010 and this year is targeting 20 court reporters for layoffs. Judges apparently want to hire their own reporters, i.e. outsource our work, and have the attorneys/parties pay for it. We’re going to the table over this in August.

AMADOR — SEIU 1021 members extended their MOU for one year with only a 1.65 percent reduction (nine paid holidays prorated over the extension) and won language that frees up cash now and gives members paid time off during the year. There is also language to reopen if budget numbers swing 10 percent either way in respect to state budget allocations.

Watch the video "Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied"

Hear the "Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied" soundtrack

Justice Gets Mugged: SEIU 1021 members cite Judicial Council for breaking the legal system

Published on July 29th 2011

The California judicial system — the largest in the nation, larger even than the federal court system — got mugged this summer to the tune of $350 million ... by the lawmakers who passed the state budget.

This new round of cuts will so cripple the state’s superior (trial) courts that the gears of justice may all but grind to a halt.

"Cutting $652 million from California trial courts over the last four years is unprecedented, appalling and an absolute slap in the face to our members and the public," said John Gales, chair of SEIU 1021’s Superior Courts Industry Council.

The real victims, however, are court employees, the public and our constitutional rights. As usual, it was SEIU 1021 court workers who spoke out the loudest. They organized for the July 22 meeting of the Judicial Council, the body of judges that allocates the court system’s budget, and charged the judges with mismanagement.

From our "Someone Has to Pay" Files

Published on July 10th 2011

What do corporate CEOs and California state legislators have in common? Whining about pay cuts for themselves while ordering pay cuts and worse for working people. Read on...

California Budget Season Finale: The start of something new?

Published on July 3rd 2011

"All this has happened before, and all this will happen again." – old Cylon saying

How's that for a shocking season finale? Who could have guessed that the soap opera we love to hate watching every spring — the California State Budget Process — would come to such an unexpected conclusion? Any conclusion at all, that is.

WI to CA: SEIU 1021 members take arms against a sea of troubles

Published on June 2nd 2011

With anti-union attacks in snowy Wisconsin and massive budget deficits in sunny California, SEIU 1021 members didn't take things lying down. Instead, we organized, rallied, spoke up, and sometimes even changed things.