Urgent Message
to IHSS Home Care Providers

If a proposal by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is approved by the California State Legislature this month, the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program will be gutted and UDW Homecare Providers Union could cease to exist.

This is no exaggeration. It is the greatest threat to IHSS in the program's history. We cannot and
must not allow this to happen .

As part of his plan to slash the state budget, the governor would force nearly 400,000 IHSS consumers (nearly 90 percent of all enrollees) out of the program. This would mean that only consumers with a Functional Index score of 4.0 and above (fewer than 40,000 people statewide) would continue to receive all IHSS services. It also means that most of you, if not all of you, would lose your jobs.

In addition to the above proposal, Schwarzenegger has recommended that the state only reimburse counties to cover the minimum wage--$8 per hour plus health benefits--for IHSS providers. This would mean a wage reduction for all providers; some would lose more than one-third of their salaries. But as bad as this wage cut would be for providers--and the consumers for whom they care--it pales in comparison to his latest outrageous scheme, which would all-but-destroy IHSS.

Over the years, UDW members have stood tall in protesting cuts to IHSS. Just last month, thousands of you took to the streets in Los Angeles and Sacramento to send the governor and legislators a strong message: “No more cuts!”

But now we need you to do more. We are asking you, your clients, your families and your friends to contact your state senators and assembly members as soon as possible.

Tell them that IHSS is a valuable, cost-effective program that helps some of our most vulnerable citizens and saves taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year over the cost of nursing home care. Ask them to protect the funding for home care in the state budget.

You can get information on how to write or e-mail your legislators by going to our web site: www.udwa.org (click on the “Contact Your Representatives Now” button), or you can call your local UDW office or Member Communications toll-free at (800) 621-5016 for more information.

Thanks for your continued support for home care and UDW.

 

In solidarity,

Laura M. Reyes, President
Doug Moore, Executive Director