June 24th and 25th were historic days as over 200 CUHW members gathered in Sacramento to hold our Founding Convention.  The two days were a great success and included lobby visits to legislators and the passage of our new constitution.

Special thanks to the members who were able to participate and to our Constitutional Advisory Committee who worked on drafting a constitution that will serve our members well and ensure that the voice of CUHW is heard at every level of government.

STATE BUDGET UPDATE:

Judge Rules In Favor of SEIU to Halt Reduction in IHSS Worker Wages!

On June 25th home care providers and consumers won a lawsuit in U.S. District Court filed by SEIU to halt the state’s $2 cut in home care wages scheduled to take place on July 1st.

According to the budget passed in February by lawmakers, the state would lower its contribution toward home care wages from $11.50 to $9.50 an hour. If implemented, this cut would have resulted in some providers receiving a pay cut and would have hindered all of us from being able to negotiate higher wages that reflect the hard work we do.

While this is a huge and historic victory in our fight to protect home care, the fight is far from over as the Governor is still pushing to eliminate 90% of the IHSS program and drop our pay to minimum wage.
But work remains to be done!

We must continue to stand united as SEIU and tell the Governor that we need a fair and balanced approach to resolving the budget crisis!

Call the Governor TODAY at (916) 445-2841 and tell him that we need a fair and balanced approach to solving our state’s budget crisis!

Interested in taking IHSS classes?

If you'd like to learn more about IHSS classes offered through the Homecare Workers' Training Center, simply click on the link below.  To fill out an application and to be notified of when classes are being offered in your area, once on the Training Center site, go to the Register Now section and click the appropriate language and download the application.  Your application can be filled out on-line and sent via email, or you can print it out and drop it in the mail.  Please feel free to contact the Training Center with any additional questions you may have by calling (888) 373-3018.

Click Here: Homecare Workers' Training Center

Featured Member Testimonies:

"You Don't Know" - testimony given by Rosetta Annette Flemming at an October 27th Town hall Meeting in Madera Co.  

Click Here to read Rosetta's heartfelt testimony.

"A Nickel?"- testimony given by Violet Fagan at a November 6th Sutter County Board of Supervisors Meeting.

Click Here to read Violet's poignant testimony.

June 2, 2009 - Tuolumne Supervisors Approve CUHW as Official Union of IHSS Workers!

The Tuolumne Board of Supervisors approved a resolution today (6/2/09) that makes CUHW the official union for County IHSS workers.  Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen!  Welcome to CUHW!

MEETING UPDATES:

Please be sure to check your County meeting information by selecting your county in the drop-down menu since details have been recently updated.

NATIONAL ISSUES:

A major issue being discussed in Washington DC is the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Click here to learn the facts about EFCA.

We'd love to hear from you! If you have ideas on how to make CUHW.org more informative, please drop us an e-mail by clicking here or by sending an e-mail to webmaster@cuhw.org.

California United Homecare Workers is California's newest union representing over 40,000 homecare workers in 25 counties.

A joint affiliation between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), CUHW is dedicated to protecting the In-Home Supportive Services program, the homecare workers who make this lifeline program possible, and the hundreds-of-thousands of California seniors and people living with disabilities who rely on homecare for their most basic daily needs.