MEDIA ALERT FOR THURSDAY FEBRUARY 26
CONTACT: Mike Roth, 916.444.7170
Khanh Weinberg, 408.921.0098
#Overtime4Caregivers
HOME CARE PROVIDERS LAUNCH 24 HOURS OF EVENTS, FASTING TO DEMAND GOV. BROWN KEEP PROMISE OF EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER THE LAW
Workers Converge Outside Gov. Brown’s Oakland Residence; Escalate Pressure to Stop Excluding Home Care Workers for Elderly, People with Disabilities from Overtime Protections
Oakland, CA – Home care workers who provide in-home support for elderly Californians and people with disabilities will escalate their month-long campaign to hold Gov. Jerry Brown to his promise to treat their work equally under the law. Caregivers and supporters will take their message of equality and justice right to Gov. Brown’s Oakland front door, as part of a series of 24 hours of events statewide. Dozens will fast to draw attention to the injustice they face due to their exclusion from the same rights on the job that apply to every other California worker.
Events will take place as follows:
Thursday, February 26
11 AM Media Availability and March
Events kick off at Huckleberry Botanical Regional Preserve Parking Lot,
workers and allies march to Gov. Brown Residence
Pickets outside the Governor’s residence continue throughout the day
5 PM Candlelight Vigil
WHERE: Outside Governor Brown’s Oakland Residence
7257 Skyline Blvd. Oakland, CA
Note: Media Parking Available at Huckleberry Botanical Regional Preserve, 6930 Skyline Blvd.
SPEAKERS: Will include home care workers, Service Employees International Union and United Domestic Workers leaders, clergy, caregiver allies from organizations representing seniors and people of color.
VISUALS: Giant banners, workers wearing sandwich boards
5pm Candlelight vigils
Similar events will take place Thursday and Friday at the Governor’s residence in Sacramento and at the Ronald Reagan State Building in Los Angeles, where home care workers from across the state will travel to make their voices heard.
As part of the 2014-15 budget agreement, Governor Brown agreed to implement new federal rules that finally brought in-home care under the Federal Labor Standards Act, after 70 years of unfair exclusion. But on the brink of this historic step forward, Governor Brown is now using an out-of-state legal challenge as an excuse not to fulfill his commitment to give caregivers – who are mostly women and women of color – the same overtime protection as all other workers.
The caregivers have been ramping up the pressure on Brown over the last month, with February marking the second month they will have worked without the overtime pay that was promised to start Jan. 1. Workers have been holding a daily vigil outside Brown’s Capitol office in Sacramento, and united with allies in events across the state on Feb 11 highlighting the critical work that in-home workers provide to the elderly and people with disabilities.
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The Service Employees International Union is an organization of 2.1 million members united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide. SEIU is dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society.
For more information, visit www.seiu521.org
