The fight continues
Thousands take action to avert minimum wage, support our bargaining team for a fair contractAs the number of member actions continued to escalate throughout the state, Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker called on members to increase their actions in support of our bargaining team and opposing minimum wage.
"This fight is far from over. We won a temporary victory in Sacramento Superior Court. But that is a delay. In order to achieve victory we need Local 1000 members to support our bargaining team and continue to push state senators to vote for AB 1699."-- Yvonne Walker, SEIU Local 1000 president
Thousands of members have already participated in more than 150 actions in July, including major rallies at state buildings in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and outside the Sacramento Superior Court when a judge blocked the governor's attempt to immediately implement minimum wage.
Here is how members are stepping up:
"I'm going to keep fighting minimum wage in every way possible," said Cindy Felix of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. "I will go to every rally I can; write letters, speak out, make phone calls - whatever. I'm a single mother and I will do whatever it takes to survive this. I will not let the governor mess with my family."-- Cindy Felix
"I am doing everything I can to stand behind our bargaining team so we can get a contract and avoid minimum wage," said Clay Silva of the Department of Education. "We need people to show up and make our presence felt. We have all these events going on, but we really need people to become active in this struggle. We all have a role in this. We need to channel our anger into constructive action."-- Clay Silva
Many members taking action for the first time
"We collected 1,500 signatures from workers in our department all over the state and delivered them to our boss to demand that he ask the governor to rescind minimum wage," said Elvira Diaz of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "A year ago I never thought I would be so active. But after everything that has happened to state workers, we have no choice but to stand up and fight for our families."-- Elvira Diaz
"I've never really been very active before, but now is the time to step up," said Gerald Conley of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. "Justbecause we won in court doesn't meant that we can rest easy. The governor will not give up but neither will we. All of us need to make sure that AB 1699 passes and pressure the governor to sign a contract with our team."
-- Gerald Conley