At 10 a.m. on October 10, hundreds of Unit 1 and Unit 4 members in EDD unemployment branches statewide silently stopped working, stood up together and waved their pendants, banners and flags which read CAUTION: EDD Workloads out of control (see image to right).

The Local 1000 Upward Mobility Committee is holding training meetings to educate and inform state workers in Unit 4 about the Upward Mobility program, opportunity for advancement and resources that may be used for future growth. Upward Mobility is essential to the professional growth of our members. "It is as simple as informing people of their rights -- no one is to be left behind," said Sophia Perkins, chair of Bargaining Unit 4. This language is specific to Unit 4 members; for more information, see section 13.11.4 of our contract.
 
At these meetings, Local 1000 members receive:
 

• Detailed information regarding the contract language
• Assistance with Upward Mobility requests
• Job change and promotion information
• Transfer information
• Contacts for Local 1000 Upward Mobility experts
• Next steps if your Upward Mobility request is denied

After seeing a crucial need, Taisha Brown didn't hesitate and jumped into action

A loss in federal funding is responsible for the cuts in Permanent Intermittent (PI) hours in Workforce Services (WS)

"The PIs in my office are looking for work," said Michael Murano, steward at EDD in San Francisco. "They can't survive on 100 hours a month."

Murano says some PIs are being forced to leave state service altogether.

"There appears to be a lack of planning," Murano says. "Management is forcing the PIs onto the streets without considering other staffing issues."

These cuts and the overall status of the EDD budget prompted Local 1000 stewards to meet February 23rd with EDD's budget experts.

The campaign by a group of EDD employees to get flex schedules put back in place at their facility has been successful and flex schedules will return next month.

Management has signed off on the flex schedules for employees at the facility on Tech Center Drive in Sacramento.  Local 1000 members say when unemployment was skyrocketing in California and management demanded extra hours of work, they obliged to make management look good.

When unemployment in California was skyrocketing, some Local 1000 members at the Employment Development Department (EDD) accommodated the department with flex schedules, allowing more work to be done. Now employees want flex schedules to return.

"We accommodated them to get work done," said Ray Shoblom, EDD employment program representative. "Now it's time they gave us a little consideration and let us start an hour earlier."

Members say years ago management demanded extra hours and days of work--sometimes up to 100 hours of overtime per month--to  make them look good. Employees were accommodating for the cause. But management took away flex schedules, forcing employees back into 8-5 shifts.

Speaker John Boehner--who has near absolute control over what comes up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives--is willing to ignore the dire unemployment crisis in this country, leaving nearly two million jobless workers to face a cut-off in access to emergency unemployment insurance, while he pursues a polarizing anti-worker agenda.
 
As EDD employees, we see every day how the federal unemployment extensions, which run out Dec.31, are the lifeline that sustains these workers hit hardest by the severe economic downturn.
 
Click here and join in demanding Congress extend emergency unemployment insurance now
 
Congress has never cut back on federally funded unemployment insurance when unemployment was anywhere near this high for this long.
 
But this time, it looks like it really might happen. Speaker Boehner is using the limited time left in this year's legislative calendar not to extend unemployment benefits, but to hold votes on legislation designed to benefit corporate CEOs and the richest 1 percent of Americans.
 
Email your congressperson now; demand they extend emergency unemployment insurance
 

The Employment Development Department (EDD) gets hundreds of calls from Californians about Bank of America's poor service, late debit cards, lost debit cards, improper fees and failure to solve problems after complaints. The time for Good Customer Service is NOW!

Click here to download the Bank of America petition [PDF]