Photography Exhibits
Photo
from "Fighting to Care: California's Social Workers SEIU 535"
Exhibit at U.C. Berkeley Institute of Industrial Relations 1/15-7/15
2002, photo 12 of 12
Oakland, 2000, 10 years later, workers are still demonstrating.
SEIU Local 535 was formed in the 1960s as a result of a strike by social workers in San Francisco over workloads and caseloads. Since then the union has repeatedly negotiated caseload language, worked to lobby legislators for more resources, and taken legal action to enforce caseload language. But state, county and federal governments have refused to make social services a priority. They have starved the social services system and overburdened social workers with documentation and paperwork requirements.
In 2001 a coalition
of groups working with state legislators proposed a $316 million
package to improve foster care and child welfare. Because of the
energy crisis and the downturn in the state economy, the $316 million
was slashed to $18 million.