"You Can't Cut Your Way Out Of A Crisis!" Oakland Community And Labor Groups To Decorate Their Cars For A Car-Caravan Around Lake Merritt To Protest Cuts To Services And Staffing
OAKLAND, Calif., May 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, May 26, at 5:30 p.m., Oakland community and labor groups will join together while observing safe social distancing practices to deck out their cars and drive them in a caravan around Oakland's Lake Merritt to protest cuts to community services and city staffing in the face of projected budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Schaaf has already laid off nearly a thousand of the city's so-called "Temporary, Part-Time" employees, many of whom have been with the city for more than a decade. More than 44% of the laid-off employees are African-American, and 68% are Oakland residents, meaning that these cuts will hurt the community both by reducing service levels and by eliminating jobs. Mayor Schaaf followed up these layoffs by announcing her mid-cycle budget on Friday the 22nd. The budget calls for deep cuts across city departments, including the police and fire departments. City Council will take up the budget on the 26th, and has until June 30 to pass a balanced budget. The Mayor insists that the city not use all the available rainy-day funds, including a $49 million reserve fund.
These cuts will add to the already existing crisis of understaffing in the City of Oakland. Oakland city workers are already working with a nearly 20% vacancy rate, having never rebounded from cuts made during the Great Recession.
"We understand that the situation is challenging," says City of Oakland heavy equipment mechanic and SEIU Local 1021 City of Oakland Chapter President Felipe Cuevas, "But many of us remember the way the city responded to the recession in 2008, and the city is still suffering from the cuts made then. What Mayor Schaaf and City Council need to understand is that the need for our services doesn't go away when times get tougher. In fact, the needs of the public actually increase. The core services provided by city workers keep our streets and our parks safe and clean, our sewers working, and our libraries and senior centers open. If a global pandemic isn't a rainy day, what is? This pandemic is hitting us hard, especially in the flatlands, in communities of color. We need to explore every option to maintain services and staffing, including a hard hiring freeze, before looking to make cuts and lay people off."
Community groups like the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) are joining the caravan to call on the City to invest in the communities and workers that are the backbone of Oakland. "Now more than ever, we are dependent on frontline service workers and public services that city workers provide," said Kate O'Hara with EBASE. "We will only get through this pandemic and economic crisis together - and that means investing in the services, the workers and the communities that make Oakland the Town that we all love."
"At a time when Oakland residents need City services more than ever, the time is past due for Oakland's wealthiest corporations to start paying their fair share," said Anthony Reese, Local 21 Regional Vice President for Oakland. "Residents have pitched in their fair share in taxes and labor has already sacrificed with layoffs during this current budget crisis. Working people of Oakland should not have to pay more and suffer disproportionality."
What: Car Caravan to Demand the Mayor and City Council Not Cut Services and Staff
Who: Community and labor groups, including SEIU Local 1021, IFPTE Local 21, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), Oakland Rising, and ACCE Action
When: Tuesday, May 26, 2020, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Clockwise around Lake Merritt, Oakland, California, with a socially distant starting point of 207 E 18th St, Oakland
SEIU 1021 represents nearly 60,000 employees in local governments, non-profit agencies, health care programs and schools throughout Northern California, including more than 2,000 City of Oakland workers.
IFPTE Local 21 represents more than 11,000 public workers in the Bay Area, including nearly 1,000 employees of the City of Oakland. Local 21 represents professional and technical employees such as architects, engineers, scientists, and planners.
SOURCE IFPTE 21
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