FRESNO, Calif.--Ten thousand home care workers won a partial victory April 24 as an independent arbitrator called financial reasoning behind proposed wage cuts "perverse" and ordered the county board of supervisors to lessen the severity of the cuts from an immediate $1.10 an hour over six months to a smaller cut over a period not shorter than 12 months. The board passed a new proposal last week to cut healthcare for the workers in addition to their wages.
The arbitrator went on to say, "... the IHSS funding presents a fluid situation and with the economic picture still unclear, it is difficult to precisely determine just what shortages will actually exist and how best to restore them."
"We can not, and will not, sit by and watch while the jobs of 10,000 homecare workers are put at risk," said Dave Regan Trustee of SEIU UHW. "The math behind these proposals does not compute. Fresno county is risking $15 million in increased revenue to save $1.3 million immediately. The federal stimulus money is on its way to California to avoid exactly this kind of situation."
The cuts were originally set to go into effect in January 2009, but were delayed when the Trustees for SEIU UHW appealed to the arbitrator. The cuts, if not repealed, could go into effect as early as July 1, 2009
The Fresno Country Department of Personnel has accepted a petition by a new organization, led by people who were removed from office at SEIU UHW for misusing members' dues money and who failed to prevent the cuts from being proposed in the first place last September
Background:
- Fresno County is poised to reap a nearly $3 million refund for past IHSS contributions, to be followed by an additional $12 million over the next two years.
- The board's decision to slash workers' wages will actually end up costing $15 million dollars because county cuts to home care workers' wages will result in reducing the amount of money home care workers are eligible to receive from the federal government and the state.
- Due to the multiplying effect of that lost income, the city will lose $2.2 million in tax revenue and Fresno area businesses will lose a whopping $12. 6 million in sales revenue.
On NUHW:
- The leaders of this organization did not take action to stop the cuts the board of supervisors voted on in September.
- The contract that now covers home care workers would be null and void.