Search: Community, 2014

Members help low wage workers organize

Local 1000 members advanced our fight to grow the middle class and protect all workers from the race to the bottom by participating in a global wave of strikes and protests on May 15 in 150 cities across the US and 33 additional countries on six continents.”As someone who cares about where our economy is headed and what kind jobs are being created in my neighborhood–this is my fight,” said Beth Snyder, a steward at the Department of State Hospitals who attended actions in Sacramento.

Members voted to ensure retirement security and affordable health care
Theresa Taylor, the Local 1000-endorsed candidate, has won a seat on the CalPERS Board of Administration, earning 55 percent of the votes counted — a nearly 20-point margin over the next opponent.

On Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014, federal Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge Christopher Klein ruled in the City of Stockton case.  One of the issues was whether public employees should be treated like any other creditor in bankruptcy. The good news is that Stockton city employee pensions are safe and the threat this case posed to public employee pensions everywhere has been averted.

California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon’s “second mother,” his Aunt Francisca, spent most of her 74-plus years cleaning houses for people who had pensions through their employers or were wealthy enough to set aside money in their own retirement accounts.

Aunt Francisca has neither, only Social Security. At an age when many people retire, she had to keep working until just recently, when she suffered a minor stroke. De Leon now helps support her.

Local 1000 members are volunteering to be part of a campaign to build support for retirement security, including California’s Secure Choice program, which would offer options to more than six million California workers whose employers do not offer a retirement plan.  

At a July 1 training session, more than 20 member activists learned about the retirement crisis and best practices for communicating about these issues with fellow state employees and community members.  

Long-time activist is committed to retirement security

Longtime Local 1000 DLC 786 president Theresa Taylor, who has been active in every major Local 1000 campaign in the past decade, has announced her candidacy for an open seat on the CalPERS Board of Administration.