Union rally demands a budget fix

Sacramento Bee
January 24, 2009

About 1,000 state workers and their supporters rallied on the state Capitol's south steps Friday to pressure lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to resolve the state's budget crisis. The Service Employees International Union, which represents 95,000 California state employees, sponsored the event.

"This is Day One of a concerted grass-roots campaign," promised Eliseo Medina, international executive vice president of SEIU. "We are not going away until they do their job."

Many in the crowd wore SEIU's signature purple shirts and waved signs: "Fix the budget NOW!!" "My landlord doesn't take IOUs!" "I care about our seniors!" The union plans to hold budget protest marches in Sacramento, Fresno and San Francisco today.