We are all aware that there are budget crises affecting our state, our university system, and our county. When cuts start happening, we do not want them to be targeted at our community’s least powerful, most vulnerable people. AFSCME local 3299 is currently struggling with the UC system to gain fair, market-level wages, a reasonable wage-step system, and adequate representation during negotiations about healthcare and pension. The budget crisis has become the number one reason cited by university officials (who acknowledge the wage gap and the need to address it) as a reason to delay making needed changes to improve the lives of the working poor. Yet their appointed neutral factfinder, Carol Vendrillo, reported that
“It is not the lack of state funding but the University’s priorities that leave the service workers’ wages at the bottom of the list.”
UC President Mark Yudof will receive a total compensation of $924,642 this year. Some service workers make as little as $10 an hour. What values do we express as a society when we accept such shocking economic disparities? When I hear these facts, it occurs to me that we aren’t just experiencing an economic crisis; we’re experiencing a crisis of conscience in which our deepest values are challenged by financial insecurities and the economic interests of the few rather than the many.
This isn’t just a problem in the UC system. SEIU 721 is facing county budget cuts that will significantly (and often with little warning or clarity) affect social service workers and the vulnerable members of our community who they serve.
County social service workers gather on July 2nd to remind Santa Barbara what our priorities should be.
This month, CLUE participated in an SEIU rally at the county courthouse in support of public service workers. Our board president, Anne Anderson, gave an invocation to start out the event:
Anne Anderson begins the rally with an invocation, reminding us of the abiding source of our deepest values.
We come together today celebrating the potential of the human spirit and a vision of a world where there is enough.
For those who see God, may we know that it is through service that God’s love is made visible.
For those called to right action, may we walk together in solidarity toward a world where the web of interdependence is netted with the threads of service.
Here’s some of what I had to say at the rally:
CLUE is here today to support these workers and to stand up for those vulnerable people in our community who need the vital social services that they provide. CLUE is an interfaith organization that believes all economic decisions are also moral choices. The way we prioritize the distribution of our shared economic resources reflects how well we are able to recognize and respond to the dignity, respect, and compassion that are basic rights of every member of our community.
During difficult budget years, when our leaders are making tough decisions about spending, we people of faith want to remind them how important it is to us that this process be as transparent, fair, and just as possible. We want a budget that prioritizes not just economic sense, but the moral sense of dignity, respect, and compassion for our community’s vulnerable and needy members, and for the hardworking individuals who spend their careers assisting them.
When I work with union members on these issues, I am guided by my faith to prioritize helping those in need and honoring those who labor. I am guided by my faith to desire equitable distribution of shared economic resources, rather than policies that favor the wealthy through special tax exemptions. It is at times of budget crises that our commitment to our deepest values becomes most apparent. These workers should be priorities during hard economic times, not the ones who bear the brunt of budget shortfalls.
