Downtown Bakersfield Service Employees International Union workers held a protest for the proposed cuts in Medicaid, housing, food assistance.
An alliance of social workers, labor unions, and community groups unite and protest Elon Musk’s and President Donald Trump’s mass federal layoffs and lack of funding of SEIU programs. According to amny.com an estimated amount of $2 trillion cuts from Medicaid, Medicare, housing, food assistance, and education.
Lydia Gonzales Human Service Technician III stated that she is here with her other co- workers to protest a 24-hour unfair labor practice and that the county left her and her co- workers no option but to come out here to find better ways to serve our community.
Other workers and people protested and said there is a need for these programs and the county is not giving the funds they need to continue these programs. Gonzales also said that the county has millions of dollars that could be put in the community to save these programs.
Alicia Aleman, Kern County Chapter President SEIU stated that she and the workers were out protesting today because of the negotiations for the county SEIU contract.
Aleman also stated that they haven’t put anything for our contract or anything across the table that the membership have voted for, so they served us with the best final offer in November and took it back to the membership and they rejected it. So the bargaining team held an unfairly repacted strike which is what we are doing here.
The original offer was a three-year contract with the first year seeing a 3% increase, second year also seeing a 3% in wages. While the third year a possible wage re-opener.
This problem of SEIU drawing back funds and workers is not only in Kern County but, all over America there have been protest like this.
