The Budget's In, Our Needs Are Out

  

 by Bill Balderston

On July 28, Governor Arnold Schwarz-enegger signed the “final” version of a budget which appears to resolve the $26.3 billion deficit faced by the state through a series of last-minute cuts and a number of accounting maneuvers as well as an end to the 40-year moratorium on off-shore oil drilling.

The cuts are centered in child welfare and healthcare, services for the elderly, AIDS treatment, and state parks.

The governor cut over $9 billion for kindergarten through 12th grade public education, on top of $11.6 billion in previous reductions.

There were over $2.5 billion in cuts for higher education—community colleges, California State University, and University of California—and slashes to Cal Grants for needy students.

The governor attacked CalWORKS recipients, claiming that three-fourths of the half million receiving inadequate welfare-to-work funding are not really seeking jobs, and sought to eliminate this basic program. He sought to eliminate the In-Home Supportive Services which aids 400,000 elderly or disabled, again claiming massive fraud. While the programs were saved, the governor slashed over a quarter of the CalWORKs funding and 40 percent of In-Home Supportive Services finances. 

Other long-term effects of this fiscal fiasco will result from the “reclaiming” of county funds, massively reducing spending in health care, fire services, juvenile programs, and other essentials. 

The devastating impact of these cuts, along with MediCal and public health reductions, on the poorest and most vulnerable sections of the working class, highlights the class and racial oppression of major segments of the populace.  This is also seen in cuts to programs for immigrants—cash and food assistance, MediCal for documented immigrants, and CalWORKS caps—which affect tens of thousands.

We must respond by defending vulnerable parts of our populace and going on the offensive around the real waste—corporate loopholes in the tax code, including corporate tax credits, tax sheltering, enterprise zones and like-kind exchanges in commercial property.

Schwarzenegger’s other major target is public sector unions. The immediate effect of this anti-union assault is ongoing furloughs (3 days a month), reducing state workers’ pay by at least 14 percent.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

What is necessary is the building of a broad labor-based united front, including the major public sector unions, but also key community-based groups like ACORN, the NAACP, and youth, faith, housing and provider groups. The first steps have been taken by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and AFSCME, who have both laid out alternative revenue programs, and by coalitions that have built local actions protesting the regressive budget. Other unions that can and must play a role are SEIU Local 1000/CSEA, the main state employee union; the other CSEA, California School Employee Association; and my own union, the California Teachers Association (CTA), with over 300,000 members.

This movement must be a participatory campaign involving union locals and ranks and local groups affected by these cuts. It must be politically independent, while involving local Democratic Party clubs as well as the Greens and others, but not beholden to the state Democratic Party leadership. It must be linked to a broader agenda, especially around single-payer health care, housing, and job creation.

Bill Balderston is an activist in the Oakland Education Association/California Teachers Association and Labor for Peace & Justice.