as of June 21, 2023
February 23- Speaker at the D1 membership meeting in Escondido
February 28- Attended the Legislative Reception in Sacramento
March 1- Checks signing
March 1- Retiree weekly meeting
March 2- D 2 membership meeting in Orange county
March 3- D3 Local Board meeting in person Riverside
March 3- D3 one on one dinner meeting
March 14- Madera membership meeting D4
March 15- Organizer roundtable meeting at UDW San Diego
March 16- UDW retiree weekly phone conference
March 17- McCarthy day of action in Bakersfield
March 25- Speaker at the LCLAA event in San Diego
March 29- Checks signing
March 28- UDW retiree weekly phone conference
Dear Fellow UDW members,
Since the formation of our union more than 40 years ago, we’ve had to fight tooth and nail for our work to be acknowledged. We’ve seen our system continuously fail to create a wage standard for our invaluable work—and we can’t stand for that any longer.
This year, IHSS providers across the state are joining forces with elected legislative partners to win statewide bargaining and allow us to directly negotiate with the Governor, rather than county-by-county.
Our futures are up to us! Join me in learning more about our new efforts and helping secure better lives for caregivers, our clients, and our families.
In solidarity,
Editha Adams
UDW Statewide President
In April, UDW members joined hundreds of care workers from across the country in D.C. at the first-ever Care Workers Can’t Wait Summit, where we joined together to ask: who will care for care workers?
Several elected leaders stood with us to answer that question.
First, President Joe Biden hosted UDW members in the White House Rose Garden, where he signed a historic Executive Order that included $750 billion dollars to expand access to long-term care and child care and improve wages for home care workers and family child care providers.
Later that evening, Senators Bernie Sanders and Bob Casey hosted a town hall featuring care workers including UDW child care member Miren Algorri of San Diego County.
“We have carried the weight of the world on our shoulders without the care or recognition our work deserves,” Miren said in her testimony. “We are more than ready to tear down the broken systems to make way for the futures we deserve.”
UDW home care worker Sandy Moreno opened day one of the summit by telling her caregiving story: “This work is hard, but we do it because we care,” she said. “We do it because it’s essential. We do it because it’s the work that makes all other work possible.”
Sandy brought some to tears, fired up the crowd, and received a standing ovation.
“UDW members are always putting others first,” said UDW Executive Director Doug Moore. “But care workers can’t wait any longer.”
Our care counts each and every day and we are fighting around the clock to protect our rights and build better lives for the Californians in our care!
In the past few months, we:
Hosted assemblymembers and legislators at our child care centers around the state
Kicked off our efforts to pass AB 1672 for IHSS providers
Rallied to protect social security and Medicaid services for all
Continued to bargain and secure victories for IHSS providers
Began CCPU bargaining efforts
In March, CCPU-UDW began our second-ever statewide bargaining negotiations. Our top priority is to fight for and win a new permanent rate structure that better reflects the true cost of subsidized care. Our work makes all other work possible, yet we make less than minimum wage for subsidized care after costs. This is unacceptable!
We deserve a living wage for our invaluable work—and we need it now! “Our fight secured stabilization dollars, improved our access to health care, and even started paving the way to retirement,” Horace Turner, a CCPU-UDW bargaining unit member, said, “But we have so much work left to do! This is our chance to make the changes we need so that we can afford to do the work we love while educating and guiding the next generation.”
We know that our combined voices have the power to make the impossible possible. Now is no different.
Contact our Membership Resource Center at 800-621-5016 to find out how you can get
involved today!
We’ve struggled for decades with a broken county-by-county bargaining system that lets hard-working IHSS providers slip through the cracks. That’s why, this year we are working toward creating a bargaining system that is better prepared to support us and recognizes the value and impact of our work across the state.
To achieve this goal, UDW and SEIU 2015 partnered with Assemblymembers from across California in February to introduce AB 1672, the IHSS Employer-Employee Relations Act. If passed, AB 1672 would establish statewide bargaining for IHSS providers and empower us to transform care work into a respected profession with fair wages, no matter what county we live in.
Our union has expanded significantly and gained bargaining power in many counties, securing victories for providers like wage increases, life and health insurance, PPE funding, and emergency backup systems in San Diego, Riverside, and Orange counties. Unfortunately, in other counties like Alpine, Merced, and Kern, our union members are being left behind and undervalued by local leadership, offering meager compensation or nothing at all. This needs to change!
At a State Capitol press conference earlier this year, Sydney O’Connor from Kern County stated, “Home care workers and the people we care for are so important, but the system doesn’t treat us that way. California can do better for all of us, and I believe statewide bargaining is how
we get there.”
AB 1672 empowers us to bargain as a united front and secure pay equity, good benefits, and training opportunities across the entire state, while addressing the state’s growing care crisis.
We are the key to transforming care in California!
Join us in our efforts to pass AB 1672 by contacting your local office. Together, we can transform care in California!
Presidents Report
October to December 2022 (Q4)
October 27 Attended the in-person PAD and membership meeting in Santa Maria
October 28 Meeting with District 5 Local Board
October 29 House-to-house visits for Kern County term limits campaign
November 3 Attended the D6 PAD and membership meeting held in Sutter/Nevada
November 16 Speaker at the PAD and membership meeting in El Centro
November 17 Speaker at the PAD and membership meeting in San Diego D1
November 18 Speaker at the PAD and membership meeting in Butte County D6
November 22 Speaker at the PAD event in Stanislaus County
Welcome to the 2022 issue of UDW’s annual legislative scorecard. This was a year of transition into a new normal and into a new era for the labor movement. Our union is more prepared than ever as we continue to fight for workers and families and we are excited for the bright future ahead.
UDW members proudly care for their communities’ seniors and people with disabilities and nurture the minds of our states’ children.
From before daybreak to past sundown, home care providers and family child care providers give the best quality care and early education they can provide.
Over decades, we have taken on fight after fight to defend and expand our rights as care workers and the rights of those we serve. This year, 88 California State Senators and Assemblymembers supported the invaluable work of UDW home care and family child care workers at every opportunity, paving the way towards a more prosperous future.
But it’s not just care workers who are making waves. This year thousands of workers up and down the state joined us in similar fights, and through their thousands of hours spent organizing, striking, and marching, sparked a new age of labor where workers’ rights are prioritized locally and statewide.
The long hours and hard work are paying off, and in 2022 we’ve seen an empowered workers’ movement fighting for and winning legislation that protects farmers’ right to unionize, promises pay transparency for all workers seeking employment, creates protections for workers during emergencies and natural disasters, improves pay and time off expansions while on family leave, and of course, a historic tax credit—spearheaded by UDW members—for working Californians who pay union dues.
Workers like us are more emboldened and empowered than ever before. UDW is excited to keep working with California lawmakers to continue improving pay, benefits and working conditions for home care workers and child care providers.
On behalf of the more than 165,000 home care and family child care providers represented by UDW, we thank the 88 of legislators who voted to protect care—and care providers—every time.
UDW Legislative Scorecard 2022 | Download
Our livelihoods are at stake, and we need your help to elect candidates who put people first today and every day! Check out UDW’s list of endorsed candidates at udwa.org/endorsements and cast your vote before November 8.
To my fellow caregivers,
Every day you wake up and provide the best care you possibly can and make a difference in someone’s life— simply put, you are a hero. November is Home Care Provider Appreciation Month, so I would like to take a moment to thank you for your tremendous work as a caregiver and advocate.
And, I’m extremely excited to share some very good news with you all: in September, Governor Newsom signed our bill into law creating the Workers Tax Credit, which, when enacted, will allow union members across the state to receive a portion of the union dues they pay each year back to them. This win will level the playing field for working class Californians, and it happened because of you!
Throughout the month of November, I invite you to take some time for yourself and recharge so you can continue to provide the best care possible to yourself, your family, and your client! As part of our UDW tradition, I hope to see you at one of the many Provider Appreciation Day celebrations I will be attending in November, where we can eat, be merry, and enjoy the company of our fellow caregivers.
Call or visit your local UDW office to find an event near you.
In solidarity,
Editha Adams
IHSS provider and UDW President
Whether you are an IHSS provider or a family child care provider, you work hard to not only earn a living, but to ensure that those in your care thrive. There are so many ways that we show up every day as heroes for our clients, our communities, and our fellow union members. These are some of our stories:
Meet Astrid Zuniga. A loving care provider to her 23-year-old son, Manny, who has autism, Astrid has also served as our union’s Vice President since 2016. She is a passionate advocate for legislation that empowers care providers and protects and uplifts people living with disabilities, like her son.
We know the work we do is invaluable —that’s why we’ll never stop fighting for the dignity and respect we deserve!
This year, Astrid worked alongside UDW leaders and community allies to successfully advocate for SB 882, a bill that will help people with developmental disabilities and mental illness during interactions with police, by creating an advisory group within the Attorney General’s office to make necessary improvements to the training police officers receive.
It took months of hard work and long hours of lobbying legislators, but in September, Governor Newsom finally signed SB 882 into law. This is a huge win and a great step forward as we continue to fight to protect the safety of our clients in interactions with law enforcement.
Meet Tuyet Nguyen. While most UDW members dedicate their passion and attention to IHSS or family child care, Tuyet does both. She has been a family child care provider for over 20 years, and last year, after 10 long years of unpaid care work, she officially became an IHSS provider for her brother, who lives with Alzheimer’s.
Every day, Tuyet makes sure that her brother is well taken care of while also giving the children in her daycare the attention, love, and education they need. She is grateful that she has a union to stand up for her rights as both an IHSS and a family child care provider because in the end, she knows this is what she is meant to be doing—giving back to her community and her family.
Meet Rosalia Santos. She is an IHSS provider to two elderly women in her community. She is passionate about her work because she sees the difference she makes in her clients’ lives—from the grocery runs to the doctor’s appointments, the cooking and cleaning to monitoring a client’s blood pressure and medicine. She knows that her work allows her clients to stay in the comfort of their home and live out their golden years in a place they love and worked so hard for.
Rosalia is a compassionate and loving care provider who will go above and beyond so that her clients get what every person deserves—love, company, and proper care—making her an everyday hero to those in her care.
Meet Luz Cedeno. She provides IHSS care for her mother who lives with severe arthritis, and she’s a passionate union member who joined UDW over 12 years ago. Luz is currently a member of the Orange County political council as well as the bargaining team, actively attending Board of Supervisors meetings, and speaking up about the many reasons providers deserve higher wages and better benefits.
Like so many of us, Luz understands the challenges care workers face, and that the solutions can only come when we have supportive elected officials who recognize and prioritize our work and invest in our programs. “There are so many people who can’t get proper care because we don’t get proper pay,” she says.
Bargaining in Orange County has been an uphill battle so far, but Luz knows that we can change the trajectory of care work by working together. Luz challenges us to get more involved in county bargaining, as well as our local elections. “We need to vote in November to make sure we elect people who support the IHSS program and are willing to pay us the living wages we deserve.”
We need to vote in November to make sure we elect people who support the IHSS program and are willing to pay us the living wages we deserve
Luz cedeno
With so many IHSS contracts expiring at the end of this year, we need you to help secure living wages and good benefits. Our voices are stronger when we are united, so let’s work together to win the best possible contracts. Contact your local office to find out how you can be involved IHSS bargaining in your county today!
Let’s take a moment to celebrate our win, but also know that it’s not enough and we’re not done fighting for our futures yet!
Horace turner
This September, thousands of CCPU-UDW members—our union’s family child care providers—voted to approve CCPU’s historic Healthcare Fund Tentative Agreement and a new union dues structure. It took tremendous effort to win this health care benefit for family child care providers, but our dedication to stand strong together made it possible!
Horace Turner, a child care provider from Stanislaus County, was ecstatic about the win. “It’s a sigh of relief to see something we’ve fought so hard for finally come to fruition, and I want us all to take moment and appreciate the fact that we won something historic for child care providers,” he said. “Let’s take a moment to celebrate our win, but also know that it’s not enough and we’re not done fighting for our futures yet!”
CCPU-UDW members voted YES on:
1) The first healthcare benefit for family child care providers of its kind in the nation, which will set aside $100 million in ongoing funding to lower or eliminate healthcare costs for insured and uninsured family child care providers across the state. The funding can be used to cover health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses.
2) CCPU’s new dues structure which is the next step in building a more powerful and financially stable union that can fight to earn the wages and benefits child care providers desperately need.
Stay tuned to learn more about these wins and how you can get involved!
This January 1, every IHSS provider will receive a $0.50 per hour wage increase, thanks to strong contracts that tie wage increases to increases in the state’s minimum wage, and our efforts to increase the California minimum wage to $15.50/hour in 2023.
REMINDER FOR IHSS PROVIDERS: Your union dues may be changing on January 1. Visit udwa.org/dues to calculate your new dues and udwa.org/benefits to take full advantage of your member benefits.
