In poll after poll, California voters from both major parties have made it clear they see the recession, the state's budget mess and taxes as their top priorities this election year.

Everything's in place for the annual legislative battle, but in the end, the state will need more revenue.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's lawyer defended his furloughs of 7,900 state workers' compensation employees before a skeptical state appeals court Friday, saying a law that protects them from cutbacks leaves the governor free to reduce their workweeks.

Fed up with furloughs, pension attacks and the threat of minimum wage, growing numbers of Local 1000 members throughout the state say they're ready to express their anger at the ballot box.

Assembly and Senate democrats have submitted their proposals to close the state's $20 billion budget gap, and they are rejecting the governor's latest attempt...

If you do not have sufficient time outside of work hours to vote, California law provides all public- and private-sector employees with up to two hours paid leave to cast their ballot on Election Day, Tuesday, June 8.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's cuts-only approach to balancing the state budget will leave deep economic scars, according to a new report issued today (Thursday, May 27) by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. But it adds that balancing cuts with targeted revenue increases would save nearly 250,000 jobs - half of them in the private sector.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has removed one of his own appointees off a state transportation board -- the second board member he has dumped in nine months - the day after the appointee voted against an administration-backed proposal.

GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: Jerry Brown (Democrat) // LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Janice Hahn (Democrat)

2010 is an important election year for all state workers. The Unit 17 bargaining team urges all nurses to register to vote and help elect a new governor and state legislators who respect state services and state employees.

State employees have rights to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed to all citizens of the United States under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. These rights include participation in political speech and activities, generally under the following guidelines.

Members are on the campaign trail as they work to get Local 1000-endorsed candidates elected into office. We'll show you what they're doing.And how...

Budget revise: unbalanced, unfairGov's proposal a "non-starter"Why your vote matters: elect legislators that support the state services we provideKnow Your Rights: California state workers and...

The 2010-11 Academic calendars were proposed by the Office of Correctional Education (OCE) on April 15. On May 4, a team made up of Gary Pannett, Karen Williams, Linda Quinteros and John Kern met to discuss the proposed calendars. Your team argued for a more flexible work schedule and made several proposals in this regard. Even a proposal to make one week of faculty days off exchangeable with another one week was rejected. CDCR/OCE made it clear it was interested only in changes to the calendars themselves. Your team said it was no more appropriate for us to decide when our members have time off than it is for management to do so. Ultimately, no changes to any of the proposed calendars were made.

The San Francisco Superior Court issued its ruling regarding last week's Education Cuts Lawsuit. The Court refused to address the merits of Local 1000's arguments and instead found that the procedural requirements challenged by the state were not satisfied. The court found that Local 1000's claims around AB 900 and teaching program requirements did not create a mandatory duty that prevented any cuts. The court dismissed the case in favor of the State of California.

The Bee Capitol Bureau this morning hosted Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico for a wide-ranging discussion of his run for state Attorney General, the budget, education, prisons and state politics.

On April 13, 2010, State Fund Chief Operating Officer Harrison Jerome issued an office-wide email, announcing a change in State Fund Fleet Policy, as well as changes to State Fund employee income tax reporting procedures related to the use of State Fund cars for commuting purposes. After reviewing these proposed changes, Local 1000 Chief Counsel Paul Harris wrote to request that State Fund immediately cease and desist from the implementation of these changes for the following reasons:

Internal Research - Completed extensive research on the scope of the proposed sale, including a full fiscal analysis of the sale and its impact on our members.

Some departments are sending out notices to members on the governor's revised budget proposal. We'll tell you why lawmakers are already saying no to...

By President Yvonne Walker
California, along with the whole nation, is abuzz with fiery rhetoric and myths about the failings of our public pension system. But let's step back for a minute and look at the reality for retired state employees...

Even though Gov. Schwarzenegger's revised budget proposal received widespread media coverage and has been cited as fact in numerous department memos, political experts consider it only one of many proposals as debate over the budget deficit heats up.

Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg called the governor's proposal for $4.3 billion in cuts to education, $2.1 billion in cuts to state employee compensation and elimination of several state programs "a non-starter."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the chief justice of California's Supreme Court talked about the judicial branch's budget on the same day that an administration lawyer hand-delivered a controversial letter that informally asked the court to review a furlough case that the governor had twice lost.

California's highest court has jumped into the middle of the legal fight over state worker furloughs, a move that could speed up resolving whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger legally exercised his authority when furloughing more than 200,000 state workers last year.

Remember when California Republicans wanted to amend the U.S. Constitution so that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could run for president?

It may be cliché to say that every vote matters. But for California state employees, it's also an important truth. Votes by state workers in the June and November elections can directly affect our wages, benefits and working conditions. And state workers are in a position where our votes can save the services we provide and make a favorable change for the lives of our families.

Governor Schwarzenegger is taking aim at state workers in another ill-advised attempt to close the state's growing budget deficit.Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker says...

For some state employees, Gov. Schwarzenegger's revised budget contains cuts that are even deeper than those in earlier budgets that sparked lawsuits from public employee unions.

AB 1897 (Jones) will require the State Compensation Insurance Fund to ensure that its employees have appropriate licenses for transacting workers' compensation insurance as a condition of employment, and require the fund to analyze adjuster caseload ratios to ensure equity with private workers' compensation insurers.

We're talking one-on-one with a long-time Capitol correspondent following the governor's May budget revise. He'll explain why Californians should expect a protracted budget battle and...

Member activist fights outsourcing: Caltrans worker fights back, keeps database of wasteful private vendor contractsYour Questions AnsweredKnow Your Rights: Article 14.8, Contracting outupdate_051910.pdf...

The following is a list of this week's top issues members are asking the Local 1000 Resource Center.

Meg Whitman may be a newcomer to politics, but she seems eager to reopen a very long running debate about how much taxpayer money is being used properly... and how much is being wasted.

In the hours since Meg Whitman released a bizarre new ad Friday, Calbuzz has been hunkered down in our darkened media room, playing and replaying the 60-second spot in slow-mo, stop motion and mute, deconstructing the thing with the same painstaking care we devoted to Blowup and the Zapruder film.

Kevin Hopkins spent 26 years as a union member but was rarely active until 2008 - when he was pushed to the brink after seeing private contractors receive preferential treatment.

The following are notes from the monthly CDCR layoff conference call.

Kathy Skow introduced herself as Acting Chair of Bargaining Unit (BU) 3 and moderated the call. She invited members to submit questions to the new BU3 email address: kskow@seiu1000.org. She also pointed members to the BU3 and Layoff sections of the Local 1000 website for items of current interest. New items will be posted as we develop accurate information.

Layoffs and SROA notices can be stressful. Fortunately, there are several important things you can do to help yourself.

Local 1000 has identified resources to help members dealing with financial challenges brought on by furloughs or layoffs. Depending upon your situation, there may be relief available to help you deal with a range of issues including food and housing assistance.

By Betty T. Yee
Chairwoman, California State Board of Equalization

... Legislators will then work to reach a budget agreement with the governor that likely will rely on more draconian program cuts, further decimating funding for our public schools, cutting programs that serve the elderly and our most vulnerable, raiding local government coffers and imposing increased debt burden on our children and future generations of Californians.

This policy brief compares the economic impact of the Governor's 2010-2011 budget with an alternative budget approach that includes revenue increases.

Mary Kay Henry was named one of the nation's "Top 25 Women in Healthcare" for 2009 by Modern Healthcare. For nearly 30 years, Henry has represented healthcare workers at the Service Employees International Union, where she helped lead the fight to expand healthcare for millions of children and strengthen the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Henry has devoted her life to helping America's healthcare workers form unions, improve their jobs and the quality of care, and advocate for a more rational and humane health care system. Her faith and values as a practicing Roman Catholic led her to pursue union organizing as a vocation.

Bills to protect members: Legislation affects our jobs, wages & benefitsHundred participate in endorsement processupdate_051210.pdf...

Local 1000's fight to convert permanent intermittent workers to full-time status continues. We'll tell you about our latest victory.Workers at EDD are breathing a sigh...

Local 1000's daily focus at the state Capitol is to support legislation that has a direct impact on the wages, benefits, working conditions and quality of life of state workers.

A growing number of members up and down the state are saying "politics matter" and are taking action to support Local 1000's efforts to pass legislation to increase the transparency of government contracting, reduce outsourcing, and improve the working conditions of members in specific departments.

During the past three months Local 1000 opened its endorsement process to all union members through town halls, open meetings and satellite conferences with political candidates throughout California.

The focus is to find candidates who not only support state services and the workers who deliver them, but who also oppose furloughs and reducing our salaries to federal minimum wage.

May is Asian Pacific-Islander Heritage Month - a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

In today's Members Sound-off segment, we pose the question, "If you had one minute with one of California's gubernatorial candidates, who would it be...

Agreements on permanent hires and worker safety at EDD officesOutsourcing defeated at vets homes: Legal challenge protects state jobsA quick guide to the new Local...

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct the nation's largest annual food drive to combat hunger on Saturday, May 8. Letter carriers will collect non-perishable donations from homes as they deliver mail along their postal routes.

The full State Personnel Board (SPB) has agreed with a challenge by Local 1000 and overturned a five-year outsourcing contract providing food services at two veterans' homes.

Last weekend,  Local 1000 members joined more than 100,000 Californians protesting new immigration laws in Arizona.Plus, a new study shows that local and state...

On Saturday, May 1, thousands of SEIU members joined leaders from the faith, civil rights and business communities in cities across the country to rally for comprehensive immigration reform. Their message was simple: This is not an immigrant problem, this is an American problem.

After pressure by Local 1000, the Employment Development Department (EDD) converted 24 permanent intermittent positions to full-time positions last month, bringing the total number of conversions to 630 over the past five years.