Search: COVID-19 News, 2020
Results
Oakland’s Mayor Takes Cuts and Concessions off the Table
On Friday, June 19, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff announced she would not implement cuts to jobs and services. After a long-fought campaign, our members beat back the Mayor’s attack.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Oakland administration claimed that their budget was broken, and the only way they could fix it was by slashing services to public, cutting the hours of the city’s so-called ‘temporary, part-time’ workforce, and possible mass layoffs of permanent workers.
Oakland Members and the Community Reject Mayor Schaaf’s Cruel Cuts Amidst COVID-19
As Oakland’s strength is being tested by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Libby Schaaf has attacked city workers. First, she issued pre-emptive layoff notices to a thousand so-called “temporary, part-time” workers, many of whom have worked for Oakland for years. Then, she proposed weeks of furlough days and postponing wage increases. At the same time, she was busy appointing her cronies to high-paid positions in the City Administrator’s office.
City of Oakland workers, together with IFPTE Local 21 members and community representatives from groups including ACCE Action, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), and Oakland Rising came together to protest the Mayor’s cruel cuts in a creative, safe way that observed social distancing precautions by decorating their cars with posters and shirts and forming a car caravan to drive around Oakland’s Lake Merritt on the evening of Tuesday, May 26.
Lina Hernandez, a temporary, part-time library worker, said “I’m a young parent in Oakland’s sixth district, and I’m a proud Oaklander, and until recently, I was a proud Oakland city employee. But I have recently received a layoff notice. I’m one of the city’s roughly one thousand ‘temporary, part-time’ workers. I’ve been with the city for four years. That doesn’t feel temporary to me.”
VICTORY! City of Napa workers protect their community by fighting off job cuts amidst COVID-19
“We need the revised estimated expenditures that we have asked for weeks on end to have transparency, to have a dialogue, to get a real gasp of what the city’s financial position is,” said Kendra Bruno, a city waste diversion specialist and Local 1021 member. “This is not a game to us; this is about protecting the community and the level of services we provide.”
On May 27, Napa City officials formally delayed the implementation of 71 planned layoffs after workers and community allies organized a digital press conference to call out officials’ inflated financial reports and divisive communication tactics.
Napa members’ fight continues. In the past few weeks, members started posting yard signs on their lawns to advocate for their jobs by urging the City Council to “Save Napa Parks and Recs”.
You can stand against cuts with our fellow members by taking one minute to sign the online petition today. So far we’ve collected over 8,350 signatures.
Tell your CA legislator: Pass a Recovery Budget for All!
This pandemic has exposed our nation’s – and California’s – greatest weaknesses: inequality, racism, exclusion of immigrants, and the economic vulnerability of the vast majority of people, whether poor, working class, or middle class.
We cannot pass a budget that reproduces this injustice. Click here to send an email telling your CA legislator to pass a recovery budget for all.
SEIU frontline workers went from being invisible – to being “essential” – and now they’re on the chopping block. That’s not right.
We’re asking for a budget that:
- Generates new revenue from large corporations and the wealthy
- Includes no trigger cuts – this is a bad idea from the past and must not be repeated
- Includes no cuts that negatively impact working communities, low-income families, and communities of color
- Includes all immigrant workers and families regardless of status in our healthcare and economic safety nets
We need a bold, new approach – investing in our frontline communities who have risked so much to keep us safe AND asking for those who have benefitted the most from our economy to step up and contribute more. The time for courageous action is NOW, not next year. We can’t allow our state to kick the can down the road.
Click here now to email your CA legislator and tell them to pass a recovery budget for all.
Show Up for Oakland City Services!
Mayor Libby Schaaf recently said on KTVU Channel 2 that she stood for “people before profits.” This is just not true, as our temporary, part-time co-workers who were just issued layoff notices can prove.
We need to hold the Mayor and the City administrators to their words. That’s why on Tuesday, May 26, SEIU 1021 & IFPTE 21 members will take a car caravan around Lake Merritt to say #NoCutsToCityServices during COVID-19.
Join us at 5:30 pm in the parking lot next to the Lucky’s Supermarket at 207 E 18th St. We want to be visible and show our unity, so we will have signs for your back side windows, or you can use a purple shirt. We will be observing all social distancing guidelines.
Take Action To Save Jobs and Services
Call your US Senator at 844-967-2163
As the impending economic impact the COVID-19 outbreak will have on our communities comes into focus, we have seen many employers already calling for cuts to services and staff. We know there are difficult times ahead, but many of our communities have not yet fully recovered from the last recession. Cutting services further and not safeguarding against privatization would be devastating for millions, including SEIU 1021 members.
Tell Congress: Pass the HEROES Act
On May 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 3 trillion dollar HEROES Act relief legislation as the U.S. coronavirus death toll reached 90,000. HEROES would provide much-needed relief to public jurisdictions across California facing budget shortfalls including those employing SEIU 1021 members.
The legislation must still pass the Senate if it is to become law. Tell Congress: Pass the HEROES ACT. Members of the Senate need to hear our loud demand to #ProtectAllWorkers NOW. They must put working people first.
The HEROES Act Will Authorize:
- $1T for State and Local Governments
- $200B in hazard pay for essential workers
- $75B for testing & contact tracing
- Up to $6K per family in direct payments.
SEIU 1021 and SF Supervisor Matt Haney Secure, Donate and Distribute Thousands of Pieces of PPE for City Workers
Thousands of masks and gowns were delivered to members across San Francisco on May 13. SEIU 1021 secured 10,000 masks for workers throughout northern California, and Supervisor Matt Haney donated over 5,000 masks and 1,500 gowns to SF workers.
“Today we lead by example. Supervisor Matt Haney and our Union have secured around 10,000 masks and gowns for front line workers. We challenge leaders in local governments, business CEOs, and tech titans to use their connections to secure PPE for frontline workers providing essential services to the public,” said Theresa Rutherford, VP of SF and CNA at Laguna Honda Hospital.