Suit Seeks to Protect California In-Home Care Services
California home care workers are under threat from potential devastating budget cuts. This is a report from AFSCME on how these workers are fighting back.
United Domestic Workers/AFSCME (UDW/AFSCME) has gone to court, along with several other plaintiffs, to prevent more than 100,000 low-income seniors and the disabled from losing critical in-home care services.
The group filed the class-action lawsuit Oct. 1 in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, on behalf of in-home care recipients and caregivers. It seeks to block the state of California from imposing budget cuts that would “render tens of thousands” of individuals ineligible to participate in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program.
Wal-Mart: Recession Profiteer
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Bank and insurance CEOs aren’t the only ones getting rewarded for horrendous behavior in this recession. There’s Wal-Mart, whom Newsweek now has anointed as “Our Corporate Savior.” (Hat tip to dakine01.)
“Wal-Mart recently announced that its same store sales in January were up 2.1 percent, which was more than forecast. With the company’s huge network of stores and ability to strong-arm suppliers, Wal-Mart offers shoppers good merchandise at prices which becomes more and more attractive as the downturn continues.”
The brutal truth is that Wal-Mart is profiting in the midst of misery because of policies that, like those of the financial services industry, fueled the nation’s economic disaster. While banks rolled up and peddled collateralized debt packages like cheap tuna wraps, Wal-Mart’s assault on America’s economy came from another angle–everyday low wages. By paying the vast majority of its workers little more than the minimum wage and offering health care plans most can’t afford, Wal-Mart shifted its corporate expenses to taxpayers.
State Budget Crises: New York, Texas for Starters
Last week in Albany, N.Y., in a scene likely to be repeated in state capital after state capital this year, thousands of state workers and their supporters took to the streets to protest proposed massive budget cuts in health care, education and other vital services.
As we reported last month, nearly every state faces billions of dollars in deficits because of the belly-up economy. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimates that for the remainder of fiscal year 2009, plus 2010 and 2011, 44 states face a total estimated deficit of $350 billion.
That means states are faced with the tough choices of cutting vital services, laying off workers or raising taxes.
Arnie’s Next Pay Cut Plan: Kill Overtime
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has come up with a cruel way to solve the Golden State’s budget impasse—take away the eight-hour day and cut overtime pay for private-sector workers. Those changes to basic workplace protections are part of his so-called compromise budget released this week.
His move followed the executive order he issued July 31, cutting the pay of some 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour and laying off thousands of state workers. The pay cut is now in the courts and workers will receive their full August pay.
