Issues
Congressional Budget Puts Human Services at Risk, Frontline Workers Speak Out
Instead of making the 1% – the rich and big corporations – pay their fair share, House Republicans voted to make unprecedented and devastating cuts to essential services at a time when 99% of families can least afford it.
These service cuts would hurt millions of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. At the same time, some in Congress want to give the richest 1% and big corporations more than $4 trillion in tax cuts.
Money from the federal government is by far the single largest source of revenue for state and local governments. So what Congress does matters a lot.
Direct support professional, Cantave Pamphile, tells Congress to get its priorities straight
Cantave Pamphile, Direct Support Professional, Massachusetts
My name is Cantave Pamphile. I started this work because of the experience I had with my nephew. He has Down Syndrome and I saw what my sister was doing to take care of him. I wanted to be able to provide that assistance to others who need it. I see that if these individuals are given a hand, they can really be able to live the independent lives that they want to.
The best part of the job for me is just working with the individuals and spending time with them. We can see how much our work means to them and contributes to their well-being.
We’re often staffed just enough to maintain the proper level of care for our individuals, and there are so many more things that we could do with the individuals if we had the resources.
If funding for the individuals that we serve were cut, it would affect them a lot. There are eight individuals in the house that I work in, but we only have three staff at a time. The people that I work with need a lot of assistance, so if we were to lose just one staff person, the result would be dramatic. The whole system could fall apart.
Every one of the individuals that I work with has become a part of my family, and I feel like I’ve become a part of theirs. We spend so much time with them, making sure that they have the support they need, that it’s just natural to be close with them and their families. I can’t imagine not being a part of their lives.
Members of Congress need to hear about the individuals that I work with and how much they depend on the services that we deliver. They need to know how the work we do allows individuals to live as independently as possible, and without our work they would be left hanging.
Coworkers, family & community allies remember slain mental health provider
Candlelight vigil in Peabody, MA
Coworkers, family members, and community allies held statewide candlelight vigils to remember slain mental health provider Stephanie Moulton on her birthday. She would have been 26. Stephanie was killed just over a year ago, allegedly by a mentally ill client in Revere, MA.
Since Stephanie’s tragic death, her family, mental health advocates and coworkers have been working on key legislative initiatives that would improve safety in the mental health system, including “Stephanie’s Law,” which would require Department of Mental Health facilities in Massachusetts to be equipped with panic buttons.
Panic buttons – which would be used to call for help in the event of an emergency – could save lives.
Two-hundred people participated in events across Massachusetts last night honored Stephanie by highlighting the need for immediate implementation of measures to prevent and respond to threats to worker safety in the mental health system. People from around the country sent messages to Stephanie’s family and some shared their own stories about workplace violence within the mental health system. Please click here: to send Stephanie’s family a letter of condolence and to share your own story of workplace violence.
Remembering slain mental health provider Stephanie Moulton
Stephanie Moulton would have turned 26 years-old today.
About a year ago, the mental health provider was repeatedly stabbed to death by one of her mental health patients at the Revere facility, a Massachusetts state-run facility.
At the time of the incident Stephanie was working alone. She didn’t have a panic button, security or anything else to circumvent what took place after the patient was triggered.
Stephanie’s family, friends and SEIU Local Union 509 have since teamed up to push for legislation requiring mental health facilities to have panic button equipment for all its providers. Though one would think this would have been implemented days after Stephanie’s death, a year later this simple step in the right direction is caught up in endless committee.
While there will be statewide candlelight vigils taking place in Massachusetts today, we are calling on members and activists to send Stephanie’s family a letter of condolence, of solidarity, and if moved to do so, their own story as it relates to violence on the job. We will be certain that every response is personally delivered.
Super-Committee FAIL: Democrats Hold Firm; Republicans Side With Millionaires
Late Monday afternoon, the congressional Super-Committee announced their failure to put forward a proposal to cut $1.2 trillion from the U.S. budget over the next 10 years.
Time and time again, the Super-Committee proved unable to reach an agreement on long-term deficit reduction for one reason and one reason only:
Republicans refused to make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.
Despite an overwhelming majority of Americans wanting the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share, Republicans refused to budge from their stance that Bush tax cuts be preserved while cutting programs that the middle class, seniors, and most Americans depend on.
Democrats on the Super-Committee stood their ground that the rich pay their fair share or no deal. They insisted that everyone in America pay their fair share and prevented devastating cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and other programs that millions of Americans rely on for their healthcare and livelihoods.
By rejecting the Republican proposals that came out of the Super-Committee, Democrats were expressing the views of the vast majority of Americans and standing behind them. While these efforts were able to prevent a bad deal from coming out of the Super-Committee, this fight is far from over.
“Now, it’s up to both chambers to focus on putting Americans back to work. That is the best way to reduce our deficit,” said SEIU President Mary Kay Henry in a statement following the announcement by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. “A cuts-only approach will not work and will end up shifting responsibility to already stretched state budgets and cost millions of jobs.”
[Read Mary Kay's entire statement on SEIU.org here].
In a White House press briefing Monday evening, President Obama took Republicans to task for not proposing any serious deficit reduction proposals that would required shared sacrifice:
“There’s still too many Republicans in Congress who have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise that are coming from outside of Washington. They continue to insist on protecting $100 billion worth of tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans at any cost [...]“
More details from the New York Times on the failure of the Super-Committee to propose a plan to identify $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions in time for the November 23rd deadline.
People with Disabilities and Workers Team Up to Fight the “Right Fight”
Bob Kafka, from the Adapt Community, Endorse the Guiding Principles while SEIU President Mary Kay Henry and SEIU Executive Vice President Kirk Adams look on.
Today leaders from the union and disability advocacy movements joined together to sign a historic document called “Guiding Principles: For Partnerships with Unions and Emerging Worker Organizations When Individuals Direct Their Own Services and Supports.”
For nearly three years, SEIU, ADAPT, the Center for Self Determination, and the National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services have collaborated to design these shared principles.
The refrain at the signing ceremony today was the words “stronger, “ and “together,” because these principles provide a framework for how disability advocates and labor unions can work side by side to advance an individual’s ability to direct and control their own services while also improving workers’ wages, benefits, and working conditions.
“In this environment, our two great movements must work together to fight these threats. We must support each other and combine our strength, or we will suffer the consequences. These Guiding Principles create the framework for us to work together,” SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said.
Now more than ever, Americans need our united voices. Millions of Americans in the 99% are being left behind in this economy; affordable, secure healthcare is under attack; corporations and right wing extremists are focused on dismantling the rights of workers; and the very foundation of independent living for people with disabilities is at risk.
Today’s ceremony closed with the joint commitment of both movements to go forward in educating its respective constituents of the Principles. Please feel free to download the full document, or this version of the document optimized for screen readers, and pass it along to everyone you know. You can also read a cover letter from the individuals involved in drafting the principles and get in touch with them here.
Left to right, back row: Tom Nerney, Leslie Frane, Kirk Adams, Mary Kay Henry, Mark Polit, Kevin Mahoney, Erin McGaffigan; Left to right, front row: Mike Oxford, Bob Kafka
Tell Congress to Get Their Priorities Straight!
I wanted to share this email I just received from SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry.
Dear Peter,
Sometimes our representatives in Washington lose their way.
It’s as simple as this: America needs good jobs, not more healthcare cuts.
Democratic and Republican members of the congressional “Super-Committee” are poised to cut Medicare and Medicaid rather than end tax giveaways for big corporations and millionaires.
That’s just plain wrong.
Please call to tell your member of Congress that they cannot support a Super-Committee deal that takes away the healthcare that seniors, people with disabilities and working families are counting on and destroys jobs. Here’s the number:
Recent news reports say that these members of Congress are reviewing proposals that include staggering cuts to Medicaid and Medicare to the tune of $500 billion or more.
Cuts of this magnitude would be a terrible deal for 99% of Americans and especially disastrous for seniors, people with disabilities and children who rely on these lifesaving healthcare services. America’s middle class is hurting. Instead of cutting healthcare and cutting jobs, it’s time for Congress to ask millionaires and big corporations to do their part in reducing our nation’s deficit.
Call your member(s) of Congress and tell them that to say NO to any deal that cuts Medicaid and Medicare and yes to protecting the jobs that get America working again:
Keep Fighting,
Mary Kay Henry
SEIU International President
Cutting Medicaid Means Cutting Jobs
As the Congressional supercommittee looks for places to trim the federal budget, early reports forecast that Medicaid is on the chopping block for either direct cuts or massive cost shifting to already financially-strapped states.
What’s missing from these negotiations is the recognition of the positive value Medicaid has on the economy of every state.
REALITY: Medicaid benefits are not actually a major driver of the deficit. In fact, quite the opposite is true.
When it comes to job creation, investment in healthcare through Medicaid is one of the most effective and efficient forms of economic stimulus. Every dollar spent on Medicaid–whether from state or from federal sources–provides vital healthcare services to seniors, children and people with disabilities while bringing additional economic benefits and new jobs to everyone in that state.
Cutting federal spending on Medicaid, then, means cutting jobs.
Send a message to your member of Congress to focus on jobs, not cuts.
How Proposed Cuts to Medicaid Would Cut Jobs
In the name of reducing our federal deficit, some members of the Congressional supercommittee would rather risk jobs and the lifesaving healthcare services millions of seniors, people with disabilities and children rely on than raise taxes on the richest individuals and corporations in this country.
We do not ‘need’ to cut Medicaid in order to put Americans back to work. If the proposed cuts Congress is considering become a reality, they will have the exact opposite of the desired effect – resulting in the loss of not just healthcare services but also millions of good-paying jobs.
We’ve created a chart using the Families USA “Jobs At Risk” data to provide you with a clearer picture of how cuts to Medicaid would impact jobs and state economies.
Check out the full chart here.
More useful resources and facts after the break on why Medicaid matters for putting Americans back to work.
Why Medicaid Matters For Jobs
The Straight Facts:
- According to the Economic Policy Institute, the Ryan plan will cut Medicaid by $207B resulting in a private sector job loss of 2.1M over the next 5 years.
- In another month of otherwise stagnant job growth, more than 44,000 jobs were created in the healthcare sector.
- Every $1 million in federal Medicaid spending results in 17.1 new jobs. Cutting federal spending on Medicaid, then, means cutting jobs.
- Healthcare continues to be a growing industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 10 of the 20 fastest growing occupations are healthcare related.
- 3.2 million new healthcare wage and salary jobs will be generated between 2008 and 2018, more than any other industry.
Resources:
- The July 2011 state-by-state “Jobs at Risk” report from Families USA can be found on their website here. Download the PDF report here.
- “The Role of Medicaid in State Economies: A Look at the Research” – This policy brief from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured presents the results of 29 studies in 23 states that examine the role Medicaid plays in state and local economies.
- Families USA also released an updated Medicaid Calculator, which allows you to determine the economic impact of proposed Medicaid cuts in your state.
- A February 2011 chartpack (PDF) from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) outlines 5 aspects of the Medicaid program, including how Medicaid brings in federal revenue and helps to create jobs.
- “Of Mice and Medicine: How Investing in Medicaid will Create Jobs” (Colorlines, 9/13/2011)
Much more on how investments in Medicaid create jobs and stimulate the economy on our new campaign page: www.seiu.org/healthcare-jobs.
SEIU Members and Disability Rights Advocates Tell Congress “My Medicaid Matters!”
Our union’s home care workers provide lifesaving care to seniors and people with disabilities every single day around the country. They’re on the front lines of personal care and know all too well how cutting and gutting Medicaid will affect their consumers, their families and simultaneously cost hardworking people good jobs — jobs that cannot be outsourced or shipped overseas to other countries.
Folks have had about enough of the blatant disrespect the threat to gut Medicaid is toward our most vulnerable citizens–and the workers caring for them. It is for this reason that more than 40 home care members from 10 different states joined forces with disability rights advocates and allies today to participate in a “My Medicaid Matters” rally on Capitol Hill.
And the fight didn’t end there: Our members then went off to meet with the staff of 16 Senators, including members of the “super committee.”
When Gilda Brown, a home care worker from Chicago, had the chance to talk with some of the Senate staff, she drilled home how important Medicaid Matters with a story from a “normal day” of work for her:
“The woman I care for has sickle cell anemia and relies on me for everything. One day in the middle of the winter the furnace caught on fire, “Don’t leave me here,” she said, “Don’t let me die.” After instructing her to call 911, I ran down into the basement and began smothering the fire.”
Can you imagine how this day would have ended if Gilda was not there for her client? Cuts to Medicaid, as being proposed, would force her client to pay out of pocket for homecare – if she could afford to pay for homecare. If she couldn’t afford the care, however – what happens then?
Home care worker Julia Newton, member of SEIU Local 5, became a personal care attendant because of her son Antoine, who is autistic and needs around-the-clock care. Julia is also in town to participate in the important Why Medicaid Matters campaign.
Julia shared the story of Antoine being on the urgent waiting list for a Medicaid waiver for 10 years.
“Together with my fellow homecare workers, we led a campaign in the Virginia legislature to add more people in critical need of homecare services to our Medicaid program,” she said. “My son is one of the new lucky recipients, but there are thousands of Virginians who are still on the Medicaid waiting list who are not so lucky. This isn’t right!”
It’s time we get Congress to think long and hard about our seniors and neighbors with disabilities. We need to Congress to consider that cutting Medicaid would also eliminate millions of jobs the homecare and long term care industry currently employs.
Will you make yourselves heard with Gilda and Julia? Click here to take action to protect Medicaid now.
Local 509 and Advocates Call on State to Put Mental Health Client and Worker Safety First
SEIU Local 509 had a very successful week working in partnership with families, the trade association, advocacy organizations, legislators, and consumers. There was major news coverage of our call to action to improve safety measures in the state’s mental health system. Most notably was an op-ed in the Boston Globe, written in collaboration between the Presidents of both the SEIU Local 509 and the Behavioral Health Association, calling attention to the necessity that the state implement all of the Safety Task Force recommendations.
Both our organizations and our members understand the critical importance of staff and consumer safety at DMH-funded programs. Safety is an essential condition for the success of these services in helping individuals achieve recovery. Direct care workers, providers, consumers, DMH and the Legislature need to work together to for the benefit of both consumers and staff in passage of comprehensive legislation based on the recommendations of the DMH Task Force on Staff and Client Safety.
Press coverage also included a six minute radio interview on WBUR with SEIU 509, NAMI-Mass, and the family of Stephanie Moulton, a human service worker allegedly killed by a mentally ill client. There were also two news articles on a rally spear-headed by the Moulton Family, SEIU Local 509, and The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.
Here are some links to those articles:
Family of Slain Caseworker to Testify on Beacon Hill for ‘Stephanie’s Law’
Service Workers, Family of Slain Peabody Woman Rally for Statewide Safety Reform
Photo from Rally for Stepanie
Local 509 also testified in favor of “Stephanie’s Law” at State House, as a part of an overall safety reform campaign in the mental health system.
Photo from committee hearing on Stephanie
This bill, named after Stephanie Moulton, would require all DMH facilities to be equipped with panic buttons. Local 509 is proud to garner support for this bill and will keep working with all stakeholders to improve all areas of safety for human service workers.
509 Members at Rally for Stephanie