Western Service Workers Association CALIFORNIA SERVICE …€¦ · 28/03/2017 · COME WARM UP AT...

CALIFORNIA SERVICE

WORKERVOL. 43 NO. 1 BAY AREA EDITION

Western Service Workers Association

$2.00 Suggested Donation

InsideWho Doesn’t Have the Right toComplain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 2

WSWA 41st Anniversary Photo Collage . . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 12

Breaking News: EBMUD Board Adopts Demands . . . . Pg. 14

Service Worker Project Water Demands . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 14

What’s Happening . . . . . . . . Pg. 18

Service Workers Mobilize to EBMUD Hearings – Demand Water as a Human Right

‘Call for an end to unaffordable punitive measures against the poor!’

Left photo: SWPAUW member Kevin Jordan demands the EBMUD Board of Directors issue a moratorium on water shutoffs to families atthe federal poverty level. Right photo: WSWA and SWPAUW delegations celebrate outside EBMUD headquarters on December 13, 2016.

The Service Worker Project for Affordable Utilities and Water (SWPAUW)is calling on the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) Water Boarddirectors and the staff from EBMUD Customer and Community Services to fulfill the commitment they made at the December 13 EBMUD Planning Committee meeting to ensure ratepayersget affordable payment plans. SWPAUW

reiterated its demand that EBMUD imple-ment policy changes to conform with in-ternational, federal, state and local laws aswell as their own stated mission, “To man-age the natural resources with which thedistrict is entrusted to provide reliable, highquality water and wastewater services at fairand reasonable rates for the people of theEast Bay; and to preserve and protect the en-vironment for future generations. Ensure fair

and open processes involving the public.”Over two dozen delegates from

SWPAUW presented testimony at the December 13 EBMUD Planning Com-mittee meeting at the invitation of the Manager of EBMUD Customer and Community Services Sherri Hong (see page 14 for a copy of SWPAUW’s demands). As a result of this and other

Western Service Workers Association(WSWA) strengthened the ranks of ourmembership organizing drive throughoutthe fall and winter with over 300 serviceworker heads of household participatingin the association’s Benefit Plan II, learn-ing basic organizing skills while achievinghundreds of dollars in budget savings perfamily.

Scores of volunteers publicized the sea-sonally targeted programs through phonecalls, membership door-to-door canvassingin sections of East and West Oakland anddistributed flyers in membership areas.The free-of-charge distributions got outover 150 warm winter jackets plus hats,scarves, gloves and blankets – a compo-nent of WSWA’s 2017 Winter SurvivalCampaign. Some 250 holiday food basketsand toys for private family gift-giving

Seasonal Benefits Build Sustainable OrganizingContinued on page 4

Continua en la página 6

WSWA volunteers (left to right) Operations Manager Jennifer Lovewell, Administrative Assistant OliviaRodriguez, RN, Jenri Discua and his son Mateo, Ashley Janea, Liza Osterdock and her son Jaime,Food Distribution Coordinator Kevin Jordan, Arielle Bronson and her niece Camryn Ferguson filledbackpacks with school supplies to distribute free-of-charge to members enrolled in Benefit Plan II.

Trabajadores de servicios se

movilizan para audiencias con el

EBMUD;demandan aguacomo un derecho

humano

El Proyecto de Trabajadores de Servicios de Agua y Utilidades Asequibles(SWPAUW) solicita a los directores de laMesa de Agua del Distrito del Este de laBahía de Servicios Públicos de los Municipios (EBMUD por sus siglas eninglés) y al personal de Servicios alCliente y Comunidad del EBMUDcumplir el compromiso que asumieron enla reunión del Comité de Planificación delEBMUD del 13 de diciembre para asegu-rar que los contribuyentes obtengan planes

Continued on page 8

Attention All WSWA Members!Can’t afford to heat your home?

Is your heat shut off?

COME WARM UP AT WSWA!Make WSWA Your Warming Station!

The office is open 7 days a week!

¡Piden fin de las medidas punitivasinasequibles contra los pobres!

Photo by Josh Fogerty

All WSWA members are entitled to come toyour association’s office central to benefit

from the warmth of the office heating systemduring periods of extreme cold or it your home heating system is off. Don’t suffer

the cold and endanger your health.

Photo by Michael C

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Photo by Scott Cianciosi

BREAKING NEWS: EBMUD Board Members Back Moratorium on Shutoffs! See page April 2017

Who Doesn’t Have the Right to Complain?EDITORIAL

APRIL 2017

If you have received this publication in error, please call WSWA and let us know that we havethe wrong address for the person the publication is addressed to so we may update our records.

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Want to make a difference around is-sues like poverty and inequality? Hint: thelast thing you should do is reduce the scope of your actions to one Tuesday in November.

The premise that voting is the primary– and legitimately can be considered theonly – means of expressing political opin-ion and effecting political change gets re-peated with such frequency as to assumethe appearance of an axiom by virtue ofvolume alone. All have heard sayings suchas “If you don’t vote, you don’t have theright to complain.”

But do you ever hear people assertingthat if you don’t organize the oppressed,unite the disenfranchised, fight for theneeds of the people and stand firm in theface of exploitive policies and practices,that you don’t have the right to complain?No. Rather, the message we hear impliesthat inaction is okay – or doesn’t evenqualify as inaction – so long as you act inone particular way on one particular dayevery four years.

With the economic, social and environ-mental stakes as high as they are, we needto dispense with the notion of voting as amodern-day indulgence, granting moralreprieve from societal purgatory.

For that matter, how about ditching thewhole ancillary framework of figuring outhow not to feel bad about the way thingsare, and replacing it with the goal-orientedcommitment to fight for solutions to thedire problems confronting our society.

After all, low-income workers havenever had the luxury of saying, “Well, atleast I tried,” while returning to a lifestylethey find acceptable. They have no re-prieve, no sanctuary from joblessness, lackof necessities and all the economic, med-ical and social costs of poverty. In 2015,

according to the Feeding America website,43.1 million people (13.5 percent) in theU.S. lived in poverty and 14.5 million (19.7percent) children under the age of 18 livedin poverty.

According to the Alameda County web-site, more than half the children in 15 neigh-borhoods in the county live in poverty andmore than one-third in another 36 neigh-borhoods live in poverty. Fewer and fewer people really have even the illusionof reprieve or sanctuary from these condi-tions. Higher-paid workers are being re-strained, students are graduating withmountains of debt and few job prospects,and the specter of ecological disasters pre-cipitated by human acts looms larger andlarger by the year.

Even a cursory glance at social and eco-nomic trends reveals that stagnant wages,widening inequality and the increasing preva-lence of temporary and part-time jobs havecontinued stubbornly through the decades,regardless of which party controlled the ex-ecutive or legislative branches. Since the lasttime that workers got any kind of real raisewe’ve had administrations from both partiesand despite some differences in rhetoric, atthe point of practice, the results have beenessentially the same for working people.

Here at Western Service Workers Association (WSWA) we start with the his-toric self-interest of our membership of low-income workers. We ask, what will move ustowards a living wage for all workers? Howcan we achieve long-term solutions, for thegreat mass of working people here and every-where?

The electoral system appears to offerus an array of choices: vote for this party,or that party, or don’t vote. But truth betold, those with the wealth, muscle and in-fluence to determine what the choices are

WSWA Administrative Assistant Olivia Rodriguez, RN calls on the EBMUD Board to implement state law AB 685 that directs water be accessible and affordable for every humanbeing in California. SWPAUW members raise their signs to demonstrate support for her statements.


Continued on page 16

CALIFORNIASERVICE

WORKER

California Service Worker1141 Peralta Street, Oakland, CA 94607

(510) 832-2111

Published by Western Service Workers Association (WSWA), 1141 Peralta Street, Oakland, CA 94607. California Service Worker is published to tell the story to every WSWA member, volunteer, supporter and friendof what WSWA is doing. As WSWA grows in dimension and reaches out to more of the Bay Area and beyond, sodoes the California Service Worker. We need your support more than ever. Expanded circulation and distributionare critical. We need community reporters, writers and photographers now for our next issue. There is always aneed for experienced and apprentice desktop publishers, layout people and printers. Contact us as soon as you can.

California Service Worker is distributed free of charge to WSWA members. Others are asked to contribute a suggested minimum of $20.00 for an annual subscription to help WSWA cover production costs.

Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer LovewellEditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olivia Rodriguez, RNWriters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott CianciosiPhotography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Khurshida Begum, Juan Calderon, Scott Cianciosi, . . Michael Cravotta, Josh Fogerty, Jim Lovewell, Bunker Seyfert, Emily Wheeler

Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nina Cayan, Scott CianciosiCirculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Khurshida Begum, Stanley Brown, Fletcher Cole, . . . . . . . . . . Carla Fuller, Alex Gubert, Kevin Holden, Kevin Jordan, Al Kueffner, . . . . . Ann Lyttle, Benny Murillo, Amanda Nervig, Maren Poitras, Gretchen Powell, . . . . . . Dakota Russo, Rachel Scheibe, Andre Starobin, Jim Stenson, Clark Stone, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Herman Tse, Michael Vela, Jaquai Wiley, Grace Wong

Translator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Juan Calderón

By choice and necessity your financial gifts to WSWA are not and never have been tax deductible. For that reason, your donations are doubly appreciated!

Labor donated

Consider: Were you able to walk intothe voting booth in November and mark aballot in favor of guaranteeing all workersa living wage? No. Did you have a chanceto vote against forced prison labor (for as little as 13 cents an hour)? No. Wereyou able to vote to end privatization of

that voters have to choose from – they’rethe ones with real power. This story goesback to Bismarck, the reactionary IronChancellor of Germany, who, in the 1870s,instituted unprecedented voting rightswhile indicating that he didn’t care whichway people voted, as long as he controlledwho and what they could vote on.

CALIFORNIA SERVICE WORKER 3

This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen uni-versal peace in larger freedom. We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions,including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sus-tainable development.

All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan.We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secureour planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently neededto shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, wepledge that no one will be left behind.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing today demon-strate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda. They seek to build on the MillenniumDevelopment Goals and complete what they did not achieve. They seek to realize the human rightsof all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are inte-grated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic,social and environmental.

The Goals and targets will stimulate action over the next 15 years in areas of critical importancefor humanity and the planet.

Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere•Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote•sustainable agriculture

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages•Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong•learning opportunities for all

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls•Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation•for all

Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for•all

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and•productive employment and decent work for all

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable• industrialization and foster innovation

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries•Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and• sustainable

Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns •Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*•Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for•sustainable development

Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,•sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse landdegradation and halt biodiversity loss

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,•provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusiveinstitutions at all levels

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global• partnership for sustainable development

* Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating theglobal response to climate change.

La presente Agenda es un plan de acción en favor de las personas, el planeta y la prosperidad. Tambiéntiene por objeto fortalecer la paz universal dentro de un concepto más amplio de la libertad. Reconocemosque la erradicación de la pobreza en todas sus formas y dimensiones, incluida la pobreza extrema, es elmayor desafío a que se enfrenta el mundo y constituye un requisito indispensable para el desarrollosostenible.

Este plan será implementado por todos los países y partes interesadas mediante una alianza de colab-oración. Estamos resueltos a liberar a la humanidad de la tiranía de la pobreza y las privaciones y a sanary proteger nuestro planeta. Estamos decididos a tomar las medidas audaces y transformativas que se nece-sitan urgentemente para reconducir al mundo por el camino de la sostenibilidad y la resiliencia. Al em-prender juntos este viaje, prometemos que nadie se quedará atrás.

Los 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible y las 169 metas que anunciamos hoy demuestran la magnitudde esta ambiciosa nueva Agenda universal. Con ellos se pretende retomar los Objetivos de Desarrollo delMilenio y conseguir lo que estos no lograron. También se pretende hacer realidad los derechos humanos detodas las personas y alcanzar la igualdad entre los géneros y el empoderamiento de todas las mujeres yniñas. Los Objetivos y las metas son de carácter integrado e indivisible y conjugan las tres dimensiones deldesarrollo sostenible: económica, social y ambiental.

Los Objetivos y las metas estimularán durante los próximos 15 años la acción en las siguientes esferasde importancia crítica para la humanidad y el planeta.

Objetivo 1. Poner fin a la pobreza en todas sus formas y en todo el mundo •Objetivo 2. Poner fin al hambre, lograr la seguridad alimentaria y la mejora de la• nutrición y promover la agricultura sostenible Objetivo 3. Garantizar una vida sana y promover el bienestar de todos a todas las•edades Objetivo 4. Garantizar una educación inclusiva y equitativa de calidad y promover•oportunidades de aprendizaje permanente para todos Objetivo 5. Lograr la igualdad de género y empoderar a todas las mujeres y las niñas •Objetivo 6. Garantizar la disponibilidad y la gestión sostenible del agua y el•saneamiento para todos Objetivo 7. Garantizar el acceso a una energía asequible, fiable, sostenible y moderna•para todos Objetivo 8. Promover el crecimiento económico sostenido, inclusivo y sostenible, el•empleo pleno y productivo y el trabajo decente para todos Objetivo 9. Construir infraestructuras resilientes, promover la industrialización• inclusiva y sostenible y fomentar la innovación Objetivo 10. Reducir la desigualdad en los países y entre ellos •Objetivo 11. Lograr que las ciudades y los asentamientos humanos sean inclusivos,•seguros, resilientes y sostenibles Objetivo 12. Garantizar modalidades de consumo y producción sostenibles •Objetivo 13. Adoptar medidas urgentes para combatir el cambio climático y sus• efectos* Objetivo 14. Conservar y utilizar sosteniblemente los océanos, los mares y los• recursos marinos para el desarrollo sostenible Objetivo 15. Proteger, restablecer y promover el uso sostenible de los ecosistemas•terrestres, gestionar sosteniblemente los bosques, luchar contra la desertificación, detener e invertir la degradación de las tierras y detener la pérdida de biodiversidad Objetivo 16. Promover sociedades pacíficas e inclusivas para el desarrollo sostenible,•facilitar el acceso a la justicia para todos y construir a todos los niveles institucioneseficaces e inclusivas que rindan cuentas Objetivo 17. Fortalecer los medios de implementación y revitalizar la Alianza•Mundial para el Desarrollo Sostenible

* Reconociendo que la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el CambioClimático es el principal foro intergubernamental internacional para negociar la respuestamundial al cambio climático.

Los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible 2030The Sustainable Development Goals 2030

Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Transformar Nuestro Mundo: La Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible

WSWA Endorses Sustainable Development GoalsIn this issue and all subsequent issues of the California Service Worker, we will be publishing

the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by way of endorsing them and making them knownto our membership and friends of labor throughout the area. The Economic and Social Councilof the UN General Assembly has called upon organizations to make the people of their countriesaware of the goals and to press their governments to be accountable to them.

WSWA Respalda los Objectivos de Desarrollo SostenibleEn esta publicación del California Service Worker y en todas las subsecuentes publicaremos los Objetivos

de Desarrollo Sostenible (SDGs) de la Organización de las Naciones Unidos (ONU), para hacer que nuestramembrecía y amigos de los trabajadores de la área los conozcan y que los hagan suyos. El ConsejoEconómico y Social de la Asamblea General de la ONU pidieron que organizaciones informen a la gente ensus países acerca de los objetivos para que puedan poner presión a sus gobiernos y hacerlos responsable ala misma gente.

Estos 17 objetivos globales fueron adoptaron de forma unánimemente por todos los miembrosde la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) el 25 de septiembre 2015 como la agenda deprioridad y para realizarlos para todos los países para todos los países por el año 2030, para ase-gurar que todo ser humano pueda cumplir su potencial en dignidad y igualdad y en un medioambiente sano.

These 17 global goals were adopted unanimously by all member states of the UnitedNations on September 25, 2015 as the Agenda for all countries to prioritize and achievecooperatively by 2030, to ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dig-nity and equality and in a healthy environment.

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testimony by SWPAUW representativesover the preceding months, EBMUD Water Board of Directors and the stafffrom EBMUD Customer and Community Services made a commitment to ensureratepayers get affordable payment plans.However, SWPAUW members report thatwithin one week of the December 13 Planning Committee meeting, EBMUDwas not complying with its commitment.Ratepayers are still being subjected to un-reasonable rates and water shutoffs.

SWPAUW to EBMUD: Fulfill yourmission statement!

Over the preceding several months,SWPAUW representatives educatedEBMUD Directors about EBMUD’s poli-cies that harm the East Bay’s lowest-in-come residents by shutting off water serv-ice and charging fines and deposits thatare outside the reach of tens of thousandsof their customers. In response, on November 3 Hong sent a memo to theEBMUD Board of Directors explainingEBMUD policies with regards to watershutoffs, penalties for non-payment andfines for “water theft.” Hong’s memostated, “At the September 13 Board of Directors meeting several members fromSWPAUW demanded affordable waterservice for low-income customers, citingthe District’s unreasonable rates andpenalties. SWPAUW is a volunteer privatemembership association of service work-ers who assist low-income workers andtheir families to stop pending utility shut-offs and assist with restoring service totheir homes.”

At the September 13 public hearing ofthe EBMUD Water Board of Directors,over 15 delegates from SWPAUW madetheir concerns clear to the Planning Commission.

SWPAUW member Stanley Brown ex-plained, “One woman makes only $350 amonth on general assistance. She is a sin-gle mom with a daughter with severeasthma and has been living without waterfor several weeks. She was charged byEBMUD a $1,000 water theft fine forturning on her water after it was shut offand it’s still off. The members of thisboard must understand what it is like try-ing to survive in the Bay Area on only$350 a month.”

The federal government defines thepoverty line as an income of $980 or lessper month for an individual adult. An

Alameda County family comprised of oneadult and two children would need tomake over $5,100 a month to meet cost-of-living estimates for the area. WesternService Workers Association (WSWA)volunteer advocates who have interviewedthose seeking assistance with preventingtheir utilities from being shut off havefound many earn less than $1,000 permonth and pay over half of their monthlyincome to rent alone, leaving insufficientfunds for food, water, transportation,childcare and medical expenses.

EBMUD Water Theft Ordinance targets the poor, not real water thieves

EBMUD Board member Andy Katz responded to Brown’s testimony, ex-plaining that the Water Theft Ordinancewas originally passed to regulate largecontractors stealing water at a job site, notlow-income residents. “Yet that is who itis being used on, more and more,” ex-plained Brown, “And EBMUD hasn’tdone anything to change that policy.”

Brown continued, “There are manyreasons why a low-income resident isdriven to ‘steal public water’ by turningtheir own water back on. The $1,000 mas-sive fines do nothing to solve the problemand only make poverty conditions worse!We call on you to go after the real thieves.From 2008 to 2012, Wells Fargo, one ofEBMUD’s main three bondholders, re-ceived the largest estimated federal in-come tax subsidy of all Fortune 500 com-panies – over $21.6 billion! Join with usto ensure water is a right to all residentsunder your jurisdiction, demand the stateand federal government cease and desistallowing huge corporations to go withoutpaying taxes.”

When low-income residents and theirdesignated SWPAUW advocates speakwith EBMUD customer service represen-tatives to work out a payment plan, or tomake arrangements to avoid a shutoff, theEBMUD customer service representativehas cited the 2012 MUD Act authorizingEBMUD to charge customers a depositdouble their average bill if they are lateseveral times in one year paying their bill.

SWPAUW member Kevin Jordan tes-tified before the EBMUD board, “The av-erage water bill of people who EBMUDis shutting off is about $170 bimonthly.For someone with an income of $1,000 amonth, that’s 8.5% of their monthly in-come, and for someone with an incomeof $500 a month, that’s 17%! I know ofpeople whose bills reflected a $900 de-posit in one case, $485 deposit in anothercase and many other customers’ deposits

Water HearingContinued from page 1

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APRIL 2017

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Volunteers from SWPAUW and WSWA testify at December 13 EBMUD and February 14hearings. Clockwise from this page to lower left of page 5: 1. SWPAUW member StanleyBrown (center) supervises advocacy case with EBMUD Customer and Community ServicesDirector Sherri Hong (right) to stop a member from getting her water shut off. 2. SWPAUWmember Stanley Brown. 3. SWPAUW member Ola O’Neal. 4. SWPAUW member JoanneStamps. 5. WSWA Administrative Assistant Olivia Rodriguez, RN. 6. SWPAUW advocateNoni Session. 7. SWPAUW member Kevin Holden. 8. WSWA volunteer Andrei Starobin. 9. WSWA volunteer Rachel Scheibe. 10. WSWA volunteer Fletcher Cole. 11. WSWA volun-teer Albert Kueffner.


are $300-$400 above their regular bill.They were told by EBMUD if they didn’tpay it, they would be shut off. For mostservice workers or elderly and disabledliving on low fixed incomes, a penaltycharge this high can amount to an entiremonth’s income.”

EBMUD responds to SWPAUW at December 13 Planning CommitteeAs a result of SWPAUW testimony

presented at the September 13 EBMUDWater Board public hearing, Directorspromised to look into the matter and di-rected Hong to report back. Her report,“Customer Assistance Programs Update,”issued on November 3 is a response toSWPAUW’s demands and explainedEBMUD’s current practices of chargingdeposits, water theft fees, etc., and howthese practices have increased EBMUD’srevenues. Hong explained, “Customerswho engage in water theft are typicallyunable to pay the water theft penalty fee.”

Hong reported that of the 12,167 waterdisconnections that EBMUD did fromJanuary 1 to November 1, three percentwere enrolled in the Customer AssistanceProgram (CAP), leaving 97% of thoseshut off not benefiting from enrollmentin CAP. Hong later reported that allhouseholds in EBMUD’s service areawho make 80% or less than the medianhousehold income of $48,000, are eligiblefor CAP.

On December 13 Hong gave a presen-tation to the EBMUD Planning Commit-tee on EBMUD’s Customer Billing andAssistance Programs. Present were threemembers of the EBMUD Water Board:Doug Linney, Marguerite Young and LesaMcIntosh. Hong invited SWPAUW mem-bers to attend. Hong explained EBMUD’sshutoff, Water Theft and deposit policies,“We are trying to alert customers that youdon’t want to get your water turned offbecause there are fees… At the same time,we are putting more staff’s efforts intocollecting revenue… About 6,000 aresigned up for the EBMUD CAP pro-gram… We share with customers aboutour CAP program…”

WSWA staff member Scott Cianciosiexplained, “99% of those who are request-ing our advocacy and over a fifth of thepopulation of Oakland alone are eligiblefor CAP, because they make way below$39,000 a year, yet EBMUD is clearly notreaching out to them as the vast majorityof our members have never heard of CAP.The United States Census Bureau reportedthat there are hundreds of thousands ofeligible low-income residents in Alameda

and Contra Costa County, yet EBMUDhas only enrolled 6,000.”

EBMUD’s Board Member MargueriteYoung pointed out to Hong that all of the“education and outreach” in the worldwon’t help a customer who cannot possi-bly afford to pay their bills.

SWPAUW member Stanley Brown ex-plained, “After the last hearing on September 13, 2016, EBMUD was morehelpful in arranging payment plans thatpeople could actually afford. Then, afterseveral weeks, the customer service rep-resentatives just faded out and stopped as-sisting with reasonable plans. SometimesWSWA advocates would leave messagesand wouldn’t get called back.”

Community advocate Noni Sessionstated, “I just ran for City Council, District3, in West Oakland. I remember strugglingas an eighteen-year-old single mother try-ing to survive on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). I knowwhat it’s like to get behind on one’s billsand be criminalized and charged arbitraryand capricious deposits for being low-in-come… That was in the ‘90s. Twentyyears later families like mine are still be-ing attacked with these draconian meas-ures. It is unthinkable that over 12,200families like mine have been shut off bythis institution this year alone. I demandEBMUD follow 2012 California Law Assembly Bill 685 that “every human be-ing has the right to safe, clean, affordable,and accessible water adequate for humanconsumption, cooking and sanitary purposes.”

A SWPAUW member explained, “Mymom is 99 years old. She has dementiaand an infection from a severe burn. Herwater was set to be shut off the day I re-quested advocacy. She survives off of$1,000 a month. EBMUD customer serv-ice reps said they would not stop her waterfrom being shut off unless she paid $400,which at that point she did not have. Ihave been frantically trying to get themoney from St. Vincent de Paul, but theyhaven’t yet followed up with me or madea pledge. My mom needs a long-term pay-ment plan that she can actually afford,which EBMUD thus far has refused toprovide.” After the hearing, SWPAUWmember Stanley Brown and WSWA vol-unteer Fletcher Cole were successful ingetting a commitment from Hong, and themother’s water was not shut off.

“In this case and other cases theEBMUD customer service supervisors hadrefused to speak to the volunteer advocate,citing privacy concerns, which makes nosense, because it’s the customer’s privacy

they’re supposed to protect, not the com-pany,” explained WSWA AdministrativeAssistant Olivia Rodriguez, RN. “EBMUDcustomer service representatives and su-pervisors demanded that the volunteer ad-vocate give the last four digits of their ownsocial security number and be added tothe member’s account. EBMUD is therebymaking it much more difficult for thirdparties, such as volunteer advocates, to ad-vocate for and assist low-income cus-tomers who face shutoffs or have alreadyhad their water shut off, even though thecustomers are on the telephone line with avolunteer and the customer confirms theywant the volunteer to represent them.Many people come to us precisely becausethey have had a difficult time negotiatingwith EBMUD and they don’t often knowtheir rights.”

“EBMUD’s new practice is inconsis-tent with state law,” continued WSWAOperations Manager Jennifer Lovewell.“In fact, it is common for non-attorneysto make appearances on behalf of othersin formal and informal proceedings beforethe Public Utilities Commission, per thedecision of Consumers Lobby AgainstMonopolies v. Public Utilities Com.(1979) 25 Cal.3d 891, 913-14. Signifi-cantly, for intervener’s fees and expense,Section 1802(b)(1) of the California Public Utilities Code defines ‘Customer’as either a participant representing con-sumers, customers, or subscribers of anyelectrical … corporation, or a representa-tive who has been authorized by a cus-tomer. These definitions did not limit therepresentatives to only licensed attorneys.Therefore, there is no regulatory supportfor EBMUD’s arbitrary claim that its cus-tomers cannot be represented by a thirdparty advocate in the negotiation to es-tablish a payment plan.”

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Continued on page 15

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de pago alcanzables. El SWPAUW reiterósu demanda para que el EBMUD imple-mente cambios de política para confor-marse con las leyes internacionales, fed-erales, estatales y locales, así como supropia declaración de misión: “Para ges-tionar los recursos naturales, los con queel distrito se confía para proporcionar ser-vicios de agua y aguas residuales fiablesy de alta calidad con precios justos y ra-zonables para la gente del Este de laBahía; y preservar y proteger el medioambiente para las generaciones futuras; yasegurar procesos justos y abiertos queinvolucren al público.”

Más de dos docenas de delegados delSWPAUW presentaron testimonios en lareunión del Comité de Planificación delEBMUD del 13 de diciembre por in-vitación de la Gerente de Servicios alCliente y Comunidad del EBMUD, SherriHong. (Vea página 14 para una copia eninglés de las demandas del SWPAUW.)Como resultado de este y otros testimo-nios de los representantes del SWPAUWdurante los meses anteriores, los directoresde la Mesa Directiva del EBMUD y elpersonal del EBMUD del Departamentode Servicio al Cliente y Comunidades secomprometieron a afirmar que los con-tribuyentes obtendrían planes de pago ac-cesibles. Sin embargo, los miembros delSWPAUW informan que dentro de unasemana de la reunión del Comité de Plan-ificación del 13 de diciembre, el EBMUDno estaba cumpliendo con su compromiso.Los contribuyentes siguen siendo someti-dos a tarifas excesivas y a interrupcionesdel servicio del agua.

El SWPAUW al EBMUD: Cumple con su misión declaradaDurante el transcurso de varios meses,

los representantes del SWPAUW le infor-maron y educaron a los directores delEBMUD acerca de la política de su agen-cia que perjudica a los residentes de másbajos ingresos del Este de la Bahía, cortán-doles el servicio de agua y cobrando

rigieron a Hong a proveerles un reporte.Su reporte, “Actualización de los Programas de Asistencia al Cliente,” emitido el 3 de noviembre, es una re-spuesta a las demandas del SWPAUW yexplica las prácticas actuales del EBMUDpara cobrar depósitos, honorarios de “robode agua,” etc. y cómo estas prácticas hanaumentado los ingresos del EBMUD.Hong explicó: — Los clientes que partic-ipan en el “robo de agua” son típicamenteincapaces de pagar la multa por “robo deagua.” —

Hong informó que de las 12.167 de-sconexiones de agua que el EBMUD hizodesde el 1 de enero al 1 de noviembre, eltres por ciento estaba inscrito en el Programa de Asistencia al Cliente (CAPpor sus siglas en inglés), dejando el 97%que no se beneficiaban de la inscripciónen el CAP. Hong informó posteriormenteque todos los hogares en el área de servi-cio del EBMUD que obtienen el 80% omenos de los ingresos medios del hogarde $48.000 son elegibles para el CAP.

El 13 de diciembre, Hong hizo unapresentación ante el Comité de Planificación del EBMUD sobre los Programas de Facturación y Asistencia alCliente del EBMUD. Estuvieron presentestres miembros de la Mesa Directiva delEBMUD: Doug Linney, MargueriteYoung y Lesa McIntosh. Hong invitó alos miembros del SWPAUW a asistir.Hong explicó la política del EBMUD ac-erca de la desconexión de servicio, el“robo de agua” y el depósito: — Estamostratando de avisar a los clientes de que noquieran que su agua se corte, porque haycargos... Al mismo tiempo, estamosponiendo más esfuerzos del personal enla recaudación... Alrededor de 6.000 estánfirmados para el programa CAP delEBMUD... Compartimos información connuestros clientes sobre nuestro programaCAP... —

Miembro de la WSWA, Scott Cianciosi, explicó que: — El 99% de losque están solicitando nuestra abogacía ymás de un quinto de la población de Oakland son elegibles para el CAP, puestoque sus ingresos están muy por debajo de$39.000 al año. Sin embargo, el EBMUDclaramente no está llegando a ellos, yaque, la gran mayoría de nuestros miembrosnunca han oído hablar del CAP. La Oficina

Continúa de la página 1

Audiencias con elEBMUD

SWPAUW volunteers Michael Vela (left) and Fletcher Cole (center) advocate to preventa member’s family from having their water shut off by East Bay MUD.

multas y depósitos que están fuera del alcance de decenas de miles de susclientes. En respuesta, el 3 de noviembre,Hong envió un memorándum a la MesaDirectiva del EBMUD explicando lapolítica del EBMUD con respecto a loscortes del suministro del agua, multas porfalta de pago y multas por “robo de agua.”El memorándum de Hong declaró que:“En la reunión de la Mesa de Directoresdel 13 de septiembre, varios miembrosdel SWPAUW exigieron un servicio deagua accesible para los clientes de bajosingresos, citando las tarifas y sancionesdel distrito como poco razonables. El SWPAUW es una asociación privada yvoluntaria de trabajadores de servicio queayudan a trabajadores de bajos ingresos ya sus familias a detener en contra de in-terrupción o corte de suministro de losservicios públicos pendientes y ayudarlesa restaurar el servicio en sus hogares.”

En la audiencia pública del 13 de sep-tiembre con la Mesa Directiva de Aguadel EBMUD más de 15 delegados del SWPAUW hicieron claro sus preocupa-ciones a la Comisión de Planificación.

El miembro del SWPAUW, StanleyBrown, explicó que: —Una mujer sóloobtiene $350 al mes en asistencia pública.Ella es una madre soltera con una hija quesufre de asma severa y ha estado viviendosin agua durante varias semanas. Ella fueacusada y multada por el EBMUD con“robo del agua,” con una multa de $1.000,por reconectar su suministro de agua de-spués que se la cortaran, y todavía estácortada. Los miembros de esta Mesadeben entender lo que es tratar de sobre-vivir en el Área de la Bahía con tan sólo$350 al mes. —

El gobierno federal define a la líneade pobreza como un ingreso de $980 omenos por mes para un individuo adulto.Una familia del condado de Alameda com-puesta por un adulto y dos niños necesi-taría ganar más de $5.100 al mes paracumplir con los estimados de costo devida para el área. Voluntarios de la Asociación de Trabajadores de Serviciosdel Oeste (WSWA por sus siglas en inglés)han entrevistado a aquellos que buscanayuda para evitar que sus servicios públi-cos sean cortados y han encontrado quemuchos ganan menos de $1.000 por mes

y pagan más de la mitad de sus ingresosmensuales para el alquiler de su vivienda,dejándoles con fondos insuficientes paracomida, agua, transporte, cuidado de niñosy gastos médicos.

La Ordenanza de Robo de Agua delEBMUD ataca a los pobres, no a los

reales ladrones de aguaEl miembro de la Mesa del EBMUD,

Andy Katz, respondió al testimonio deBrown, explicando que la Ordenanza deRobo de Agua fue originalmente aprobadapara regular a grandes contratistasrobando agua para su lugar de trabajo, noresidentes de bajos ingresos. —Sin em-bargo, se está utilizando cada vez máspara éstos, — explicó Brown. —Y, elEBMUD no ha hecho nada para cambiaresa política. —

Brown continuó: — Hay muchas ra-zones por las que un residente de bajosingresos se ve forzado a “robar aguapública,” volviendo a reconectar su propiosuministro de agua. Las multas intensivasde $1.000 no hacen nada para resolver elproblema y ¡sólo empeoran las condi-ciones de pobreza! Les pedimos que vayantras los verdaderos ladrones. Desde el2008 al 2012, Wells Fargo, uno de los tresprincipales bolsistas de bonos delEBMUD, recibió el mayor subsidio fed-eral estimado para el impuesto sobre larenta de todas las compañías “Fortune500”: ¡Más de $21,6 mil millones! Únansea nosotros para asegurar que el agua seaun derecho para todos los residentes bajosu jurisdicción, y que el gobierno estataly federal dejen de permitir que grandescorporaciones se vayan sin pagar im-puestos. —

Cuando los residentes de bajos ingresosy sus consejeros designados del SWPAUW hablan con representantes delservicio al cliente del EBMUD para elab-orar un plan de pago, o para hacer arreglospara evitar que corten el suministro deagua, el representante del servicio alcliente del EBMUD ha citado la Acta 2012MUD autorizando al EBMUD a cobrar alos clientes un depósito, el doble de su fac-tura promedio, si están tarde con el pagode su factura varias veces en un solo año.

El miembro del SWPAUW, Kevin Jordan, declaró ante la Mesa Directiva delEBMUD que: — La factura promedio deagua de personas que el EBMUD corta esde unos $170 bimestrales. Para alguiencon un ingreso de $1.000 por mes, eso es8,5% de sus ingresos mensuales, y ¡paraalguien con un ingreso de $500 al mes,eso es 17%! Conozco a personas cuyasfacturas reflejan un depósito de $900 enun caso; un depósito de $485 en otro caso;y los depósitos de muchos otros clientesson entre $300 - $400 por encima de sufactura regular. El EBMUD les dijo si nolo pagaban, su suministro seria cortado.Para la mayoría de los trabajadores de ser-vicio o de personas mayores y discapaci-tadas que viven con bajos ingresos fijos,un cargo o una multa así tan alta puedeser igual al ingreso de todo un mes. —

El EBMUD le responde al SWPAUWen el Comité de Planificación

el 13 de diciembreComo resultado del testimonio del

SWPAUW presentado en la audienciapública de la Mesa Directiva del EBMUDel pasado 13 de septiembre, los directoresprometieron investigar el asunto y di-

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del Censo de los Estados Unidos informóque hay cientos de miles de residentes de bajos ingresos elegibles enlos Condados de Alameda y Contra Costa,sin embargo el EBMUD sólo ha reclutado6.000. —

Marguerite Young, miembro de laMesa Directiva del EBMUD, señaló aHong que toda “la educación y la promo-ción” en el mundo no ayudarían a uncliente que de ninguna manera va a tenersuficiente para pagar sus cuentas.

Stanley Brown, miembro del SWPAUW, explicó que: — Después dela última audiencia del 13 de septiembrede 2016, el EBMUD fue más útil en ar-reglar planes de pago que la gente podíapagar. Luego, después de varias semanas,los representantes de servicio al clientesimplemente se desvanecieron y dejaronde asistir con planes accesibles. A veces,los consejeros de la WSWA dejarían men-sajes y nadie les devolvía la llamada.

La consejera voluntaria, Noni Session,declaró: — Acabo de postularme al Ayuntamiento, en el Tercer Distrito, enOakland del Oeste. Recuerdo haberluchado como una madre soltera de tansolo dieciocho años de edad tratando desobrevivir con Ayuda a las Familias conNiños Dependientes (AFDC por sus siglasen inglés). Sé lo que es atrasarse con lascuentas y ser criminalizada y cobrado de-pósitos arbitrarios y caprichosos tan solopor ser de bajos ingresos... Eso fue en losaños 90. Veinte años después, es impens-able que más de 12.200 familias como lamía hayan sido cortadas por esta institu-ción en solo este año. Exijo que elEBMUD siga el Proyecto de Ley 685 dela Asamblea Legislativa de California queproclama: “todo ser humano tiene derechoa agua segura, limpia, asequible y accesi-ble; adecuada para el consumo humano,la cocina y los fines sanitarios.”

Un miembro del SWPAUW explicó:— Mi mamá tiene 99 años. Tiene demen-cia y una infección por quemaduras sev-eras. Su agua estaba programada para sercortada el día que pedí abogacía. Ella so-brevive con $1.000 cada mes. Los repre-sentantes de servicio al cliente delEBMUD dijeron que no impedirían quesu agua fuera cortada al menos que ellapagara $400, que en ese momento notenía. He tratado frenéticamente de con-seguir el dinero de San Vicente de Paúl,pero todavía no se han comunicado con-

migo o han hecho una promesa. Mi madrenecesita un plan de pago a largo plazoque ella pueda pagar, que el EBMUDhasta ahora se ha negado a proporcionar.— Después de la audiencia, el miembrodel SWPAUW, Stanley Brown, y FletcherCole, voluntario de la WSWA, lograronun compromiso de Hong y el agua de lamadre no fue cortada.

— En este caso y en otros casos, lossupervisores de servicio al cliente delEBMUD se negaron a hablar con el con-sejero voluntario, citando preocupacionesde privacidad, lo cual no tiene sentido,porque es la privacidad del cliente que sesupone protegen, no la compañía — ex-plicó la Gerente de Operaciones de laWSWA Jennifer Lovewell. — Los repre-sentantes y supervisores de servicio alcliente del EBMUD exigieron que el con-sejero voluntario diera las últimas cuatrocifras de su número de seguro social y seagregara a la cuenta del miembro. Por lotanto, el EBMUD lo hace mucho más difícil para terceros, como los consejerosvoluntarios, abogar y ayudar a los clientesde bajos ingresos que enfrentan la posi-bilidad de desconexión de su servicio oque ya les han cortado el agua, a pesar deque los clientes están en la línea telefónicacon un voluntario y el cliente ha confir-mado que quiere que el voluntario los rep-resente. Muchas personas vienen anosotros precisamente porque han tenidodificultades para negociar con el EBMUD,y no suelen conocer sus derechos. —

— La nueva práctica del EBMUD esinconsistente con la ley estatal, — con-tinuó Lovewell. — De hecho, es comúnque los no abogados hagan comparecen-cias en nombre de otros en procedimien-tos formales e informales ante laComisión de Servicios Públicos, por ladecisión de Consumers Lobby AgainstMonopolies v. Public UtilitiesCom.(1979) 25 Cal.3d 891, 913 - 14. Significativamente, para los honorarios ygastos de la parte interviniente, la sección1802 (b) (1) del Código de ServiciosPúblicos de California define “Cliente”como un participante que representa aconsumidores, clientes o suscriptores decualquier … corporación, o un represen-tante autorizado por un cliente. Estasdefiniciones no limitaban a los represen-tantes sólo a abogados licenciados. Porlo tanto, no hay apoyo regulatorio para laafirmación arbitraria del EBMUD de quesus clientes no pueden ser representadospor un tercero en la negociación para es-tablecer un plan de pago. —

El miembro del SWPAUW, KevinHolden, gritó: — ¡Soy el SWPAUW! To-dos ustedes tendrán noticias de nosotros

pronto para ¡asegurarse de que hagan loque dicen que harán! —

Después de la reunión, el miembro dela Mesa Directiva del Agua, Doug Linney,dijo a la delegación: — Ustedes son elgrupo más organizado de los que hanvenido a una reunión del EBMUD, ya quehe estado en la Mesa Directiva por másde 13 años... Estamos aquí para servir alpúblico; no somos como PG & E. Somosun municipio público. —

Los consejeros en la línea de fuego—A pesar del compromiso de los

miembros de la Mesa del Agua y del per-sonal de los Servicios al Cliente y Comunidad del EBMUD para asegurarque los contribuyentes obtengan planesde pago accesibles, dentro de una semanade la reunión del Comité de Planificacióndel 13 de diciembre, un hombre con cincohijos, incluso uno de 8 meses, vino porquesu agua estaba cortada por dos semanas,— explicó Kevin Holden, miembro delSWPAUW. —Él estaba luchando para so-brevivir con Cal-Works lo cual lebrin¬¬da $560 al mes, y tratando de en-contrar trabajo. También tiene un niño deocho años con asma grave que es propensoa convulsiones. Su factura total era de másde $2.700, de los cuales unos $700 corre-spondían a la factura de agua real, y elresto a honorarios y depósitos por restau-rar su agua después de que se había cor-tada y por pagar tarde las facturas anteri-ores. El EBMUD dijo que la familia tuvoque pagar $500 para que el agua sevolviera a conectar. Si bien es positivoque el EBMUD redujo la cantidad inicialnecesaria para restaurar el agua, todavíase negaron a ofrecer a la familia un plande pago que estuviera a su alcance, unavez más no cumpliendo con el compro-miso que aceptaron en la audiencia.

—En otro caso reciente, dijo Jordan,un miembro con cáncer de pulmón enetapa tres, acababa de tener su suministrode agua desconectado a causa de haberpagado sólo unos días tarde. Tenía unalínea central en el pecho para insertar laquimioterapia y la radiación, y necesitabaagua para mantenerla limpia. Duramosmás de una hora con el EBMUD paraelaborar un nuevo plan de pago que elmiembro pudiera pagar. A pesar de esto,$90 fueron cobrados como costos de de-sconexión y reconexión, a pesar de quesu ingreso mensual era de tan sólo $800.Le pedimos a la supervisora que cedieralos cobros pero ella ni siquiera deleitaríaesa discusión. —

—En otro caso, una abuela cuidabaun nieto propenso a las convulsiones mien-tras su pareja estaba por tener una cirugía

seria y su suministro de agua fuera a puntode ser cortado, — explicó el consejero dela WSWA, Michael Cravotta. — Le habíancortado el suministro de agua una vez an-teriormente y recientemente había perdidosu empleo. Ella estaba en aprietos de cómopagar sus varias cuentas, incluyendo sualquiler ya atrasado. El supervisor se negóa negociar con la miembro para un plande pago completo para toda su factura,sino tan solo retrasó el pago inicial porunas semanas y también se negó a hablarcon el consejero voluntario. —

Los voluntarios avanzan la lucha porel agua a través de la campaña de casa

por casa: Llaman a la AcciónLos miembros del SWPAUW y los or-

ganizadores voluntarios de la WSWA vande puerta a puerta para alcanzar a resi-dentes en el Norte, Oeste y Este de Oakland; hablando con trabajadores debajos ingresos que pueden estar luchandocontra interrupciones del suministro delagua y ofreciéndoles inscribirse comomiembro en la organización más ampliade la WSWA. Los voluntarios han inscritoa cientos de nuevos miembros, informán-doles de los beneficios de unirse con laWSWA, y presentándoles al Proyecto deTrabajadores de Servicios para Agua yUtilidades Asequibles (SWPAUW).

Brown encabezó un equipo de puertapor puerta desde la avenida 90 hasta la 100,así como por el bulevar Internacional, laAvenida 55 y la Bancroft. Paula Anderson, delegada del Consejo de Beneficios de los Trabajadores del Área dela Bahía, invitó a voluntarios a su vecin-dario para ir puerta por puerta y tambiéntuvo una reunión en su casa el 25 de marzo.— Fue la primera de una serie de reunionesen casa en 2017 para discutir las preocu-paciones de sus vecinos. — explicó Brown.

— Todos amigos de los trabajadores deservicios se necesitan para inscribirse enel Programa de la WSWA de Capacitaciónde Capitán de la Campaña de inscribirmiembros puerta por puerta; también parapersonal para la Mesa de Beneficios de laWSWA; y además aprender ser consejero,ayudando a familias en la restauración deagua, gas y servicio de electricidad, — con-tinuó Farley. Si Ud. puede participar comovoluntario en nuestras sesiones de abo-gacía; o con la Campaña de la WSWA deinscribir a miembros puerta por puerta; uorganizar una reunión en su casa; o asistira la reunión semanal del personal parasaber más sobre cómo participar, llame porfavor a Stanley al (510) 832-2111 para fijardía y hora para venir a la oficina de laWSWA en la esquina de las calles Peraltay 12 en Oakland del Oeste. n

Seeking Volunteers

As a food-first effort, our focusis on maintaining a minimal foot-print with an all-volunteer team.

To volunteer or support us, visit www.foodrev.org!

Based in San Francisco - alsotransports food in Union City

especially in Union City!

WSWA - stewards

of the earth, stewards of

volunteer timesince 1975!

8

Seasonal BenefitsContinued from page 1

aided with holiday cost savings, and 150backpacks filled with school supplieshelped parents meet back-to-school re-quirements – all part of Benefit Plan II’splanned approach to narrowing predictablegaps in living expenses and household in-come to prevent avoidable crises and en-able greater membership participation.

“The community really came out in fullforce to make these campaigns possible,”explained Administrative Assistant Olivia Rodriguez. “Julee Hermann and Ariel Bronson of Canvas and Cabernet, an upscalepainting studio in downtown Walnut Creek,did a drive at their office, bringing over adozen high quality backpacks and a carloadof high quality school supplies as well asbeautiful gift items for over a dozen children;Cynthia Battenberg and Maria Teresa Hernandez of The Renaissance InternationalSchool donated over 300 high quality toysand warm winter clothing, Sergei Fesai ofOakland Fire station #3 donated over 60turkeys and holiday food baskets with allthe trimmings, Geta Lahl and Mimi Han andtheir friends and co-workers from Facebookand other start-ups donated and helped dis-tribute over 25 turkeys, Barry Lewis at theMontclair Safeway donated over 20 turkeysand Ondrea Tainowitz of the Emeryville Pacn Save donated over half a dozen turkeys, Rodrigo Dominguez of Oakland Technology West donated over 100 back-packs; Louise and Katie Lovewell ofRE/MAX donated over 75 backpacks, over50 toys and 20 turkeys, and over 50 warmwinter jackets, blankets, gloves, scarves andmore; Beccarae Calato of Duck Soup PlaySchool donated close to a dozen more, filledwith critically needed supplies; TaniaGuilden did a collection in her neighborhood,bringing a carload of backpacks and supplies,turkeys and toys; and we got the rest fromdozens of other donors from all over the Bay Area.”

Even educators feel the pinch. Teachersspend an average of $490 of their own money on back-to-school supplies, according to an August 2015 survey fromSheerID and Agile Education Marketing.The American Express Spending & Savings Tracker found that parents spendover $1000 on average for back-to-school.

“I have been an art teacher for yearsand feel it is critical to participate with or-ganizations like Western Service WorkersAssociation,” explained Hermann, “Hav-ing taught both in Oakland and Orinda, Isaw the huge discrepancy in resources be-tween the two.”

Beccarae Calato of Duck Soup PlaySchool said, “With everything going on inthis country and world, I can’t not partici-pate in WSWA’s seasonal campaigns. Ed-ucation is a fundamental human right forall people and we all have to do our partto make that a reality!”

The past decade has seen the povertyrate increase across the entire Bay Area,with Alameda County going from 10.9%to 12.9%, where a single parent with twochildren needs an income of more than$5,000 a month just to meet cost-of-livingestimates for the area. When Oakland isthe focus, the poverty rate rises to a stag-gering 19.4%.

No fewer than 800,000 Bay Area res-idents are below the poverty line – 11.3%of the total population. The situation iseven worse than it first appears with fig-ures coming from federally-set thresholdsthat assume a more affordable cost ofliving. Oakland’s comes in at 37% higherthan the nation’s average and San Francisco’s registers as a whopping 63%higher. With these statistics, it’s no won-der that three quarters of Oakland stu-dents qualify for free or reduced-costlunches.

“This is why WSWA’s Benefit Plan IIis vitally needed in our community,” ex-plained Benefit Advocate Scott Cianciosi.“With the ever increasing cost of living inthe Bay Area, members and their families

must struggle even harder to keep theirheads above water.”

“Benefit Plan II is for members whoare heads of households experiencingchronic gaps between income and necessary expenses,” explained Food Distribution Coordinator Kevin Jordan.“Benefit Plan II members enroll and workclosely with a WSWA member who actsto assist fellow members in finding waysto narrow chronic income gaps. Most signup for WSWA’s weekly supplemental fooddistributions, featuring fresh produce, dairy,legumes, sandwiches, salads, salsa, naturaljuices, bread and tortillas. This aids headsof low-income households in saving moneythat they can then use to pay rent or utilitiesand prevent further financial catastrophes,such as evictions and homelessness.”

“Benefit Plan II also targets predictableseasonal jumps in family expenses, withprograms such as Back-to-School clothingand school supplies distributions, Thanks-giving and Christmas food baskets andholiday toy distributions to parents for theirchildren, Winter Survival Campaign dis-tributions of blankets, coats, heaters, utilitybill advocacy and “Operation WinterWatch” to check on shut-in seniors or the disabled,” continued Benefit II Coordinator Amanda Nervig.

“The hallmark of all these programs is‘members helping members,’ explainedLiz Luben, Procurement Coordinator. “Ioriginally got involved with the food pro-gram and wanted to help by picking upfood, as well as encouraging more dona-tions of food.”

While benefits, like the food distribu-tion, provide relief from some of the prob-lems low-income workers face, the benefit

(From left to right) The Renaissance International School (TRIS) Administrator Andrea JakabPeto, her son Marcell, WSWA Operations Manager Jennifer Lovewell and volunteer Shu-juanKennon proudly display a few of the hundreds of toys and gifts donated by the TRIS communityfor WSWA’s annual Benefit Plan II Holiday Campaign Toy Distribution to Parents.

program itself is not designed to be a so-lution. The benefit program helps members overcome obstacles to participation andhelps identify practices and policies thatcontribute to poverty. Through this ap-proach, an active membership can cometogether to discuss strategies for meaning-ful change.

Education or Corporate Welfare?Operations Manager Jennifer Lovewell

pointed out, “The under-funding of public ed-ucation and other social service agencies isan outrage in relation to the subsidies the stategovernment gives to both public and privatecompanies. California is the sixth largest econ-omy in the world with four of the five richestcorporations in the U.S. headquartered righthere in the Bay Area. Even with this wealth,our state ranks a dismal 42nd in the U.S. forper-child education spending. One examplethat explains this disparity is that from 2008-2012 Pacific Gas and Electric Company(PG&E) paid the equivalent of a negative16.7% tax rate, while making seven billiondollars in profit.”

“This is in stark contrast with conditionsin our current canvass spot around 55th andBancroft, in Oakland,” explained CanvassCaptain Fletcher Cole. “A growing numberof new members are struggling with evictions,utility and water shutoffs, unemployment andunderemployment and so much more!”

Volunteer organizers are needed full-timeand part-time for Benefit Plan II sign-upsfor the holiday campaign, running the holi-day benefits, organizing door-to-door mem-bership canvasses, utility advocacy sessions,and much more. Please call Stanley today at510-832-2111 about how you can be part ofthis critical campaign. n

WSW

A Photo

APRIL 2017

Ken Hines, DDS, aka Santa Claus, and his helper Keisha Brown (far right), listen to theChristmas wishes of G’Annie Powell at WSWA’s Family Holiday Party and Toy Distribution.

Photo by Michael C

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9CALIFORNIA SERVICE WORKER

SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATION

i s He r e t o W in , He r e t o S t a y

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Maxim SchroginMaxim SchroginCommunity Organizer & Real Estate Syndicator

1400 Shattuck Ave.,Suite 6

Berkeley, CA 94709(510) 548-9736

Active with:Berkeley RotaryYEAH!Berkeley Organized Congregations for Action (BOCA)Jewish Community Center of the East Bay

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Dana ArkinzadehDana ArkinzadehCertified Professional Organizer®

National Association of Professional Organizers

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WSWA Celebrates 41 Years of Fighting by and for Low-Income Workers!

12

1. Charles Lynch (center) and Gerald Asheim (seated at piano) perform spirituals to open the festivities. 2. Administrative Assistant Olivia Rodriguez, RN (right) presents a certificate of ap-preciation to supporter David Madison. 3. Cooking and wait staff volunteers (from left to right) Candice Hollimon, Alex Gubert (in background), Louise Lovewell, Valerie LaPierre and herfellow St. Mary’s soccer team mates, Linda Kallenberger, Joseph Lovewell, Allana Eads and Celia Medina work hard plating and serving the main course. 4. Khurshida Begum (center) andAl Kueffner (right) enjoy the appetizers. 5.Workers Benefit Council delegate Carla Fuller welcomes attendees and announces upcoming membership activities. 6. One of two homemade tresleches cakes proudly contributed by Carmen Segovia. 7. The audience is riveted to performance by students of Inferno Dance Academy. 8. Sue Fogerty, Leslie Egashira and two St. Mary’ssoccer team mates prepare floral bouquets provided to each guest as a thank you for attending. 9. Fletcher Cole, Joseph Lovewell, two dinner guests, Susannah Cox and Allana Eads (left toright) prepare sparkling cider for a toast and serve the final dinner plates. 10. Volunteer Mary Pouncil takes menu selections. 11. Operations Manager Jennifer Lovewell (left) and volunteerClark Stone present a certificate of appreciation to Sister Britta Johnson for her ongoing participation. 12. Volunteer Joseph Lovewell serves guests. 13. Maia Siani and Kale’ Woods of InfernoDance Academy receive a bouquet of flowers donated by Tony Martinez of Showers for Flowers. 14. Operations Manager Jennifer Lovewell presents a special paint set from Canvas andCabernet to artist Dylan Vermule. 15. Daisy Wong and Kevin Jordan greet newcomers. 16. Liz Luben, Will and Sue Coburn (left to center) entertain members’ children with face painting andhenna tattoos. 17. Khurshida Begum (right) presents a certificate of appreciation to Dhruva Thapa who catered the main course through his Taste of Himalayas restaurant in Berkeley.

Photo by Kurshida Begum

Photo by Kurshida Begum

Photo by Jim Lovew

ellPhoto by Josh Fogerty


Photo by Josh FogertyPhoto by Josh Fogerty

APRIL 2017

WSWA Celebrates 41 Years of Fighting by and for Low-Income Workers!


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SWPAUW Demands Presented to EBMUDIn order to make the human right to water a reality, and halt the practice of denying water to low-income residents unable to afford rapidly increasing rates and fees, SWPAUW demands the fol-lowing changes in EBMUD policy and practice:

1) Install a permanent moratorium on disconnection of water service for any customer whose in-come is at or below the federal poverty level.

2) Make reasonable accommodations for payment plans for any customer whose income is at orbelow 200% of the federal poverty level.

3) Eliminate disconnection and reconnection fees for any customer whose income is at or below200% of the federal poverty level, in order to end this unaffordable punitive measure against thepoor.

4) Allow payment plans for arrears accounts to extend to 24 months, to provide more affordabilityfor low-income customers.

5) Install rate adjustments so that household water costs do not exceed 2% of household income,per federal standards, for any customer whose income is at or below 200% of the federal povertylevel.

6) Immediately cease the practice of charging an additional deposit to customers who fail to makeon-time payments on several occasions, regardless of provisions of the 2012 MUD Act, in orderto end this unaffordable punitive measure against the poor.

7) Eliminate fines for “stealing” public water for any customer whose income is at or below 200%of the federal poverty level, in order to end this unaffordable punitive measure against the poor.

8) Implement an immediate, more efficient way to apply for CAP and have trained personnel ac-cessible via telephone to assist low-income applicants. Extend CAP to any customer whose in-come is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, regardless of whether they occupy asingle-family dwelling or a residence in a multi-unit building.

9) In September, 2015, the United States joined 192 other members of the United Nations in adopting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which including Goal #6: “Ensureavailability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” EBMUD must pursueany and all state and federal resources to obtain the ways and means for extensive infrastructureupgrade, installation of water recycling facilities, desalination plants powered by solar energy,and other means to ensure adequate water supply and delivery that the region’s extensive tech-nological expertise and capabilities can devise and install, relying on the vast means of federalauthorities rather than unaffordable extractions from the lowest-paid workers.

APRIL 2017

BREAKING NEWS: EBMUD Board Backs SWPAU Demands!Service Worker Project for Affordable

Utilities and Water (SWPAUW) announceda tactical victory in their ongoing advocacyon behalf of low-income workers threat-ened with home water shutoffs. SWPAUWdelegations testified before a series of hear-ings of the East Bay Municipal UtilitiesDistrict (EBMUD) Water Board and Plan-ning Committee last year and again onFebruary 14, presenting SWPAUW de-mands (see full list of demands below).

Two of three EBMUD Water BoardPlanning Committee members agreed inFebruary to back SWPAUW’s demand fora moratorium on water shutoffs and prom-ised to publicize rate-discounts availablefor low-income households throughEBMUD’s Customer Assistance Program(CAP). They further committed to chang-ing EBMUD’s punitive “water theft” finesagainst customers who, out of despera-tion, reconnect their own water service,and promised to look into the practice ofEBMUD customer service representativesharassing SWPAUW volunteers advocat-ing for low-income ratepayers seeking areasonable payment plan.

Board members Doug Linney andMarguerite Young acknowledged that cus-tomer service representatives asking forthe Social Security Number and other per-sonal information of volunteer advocatesis intimidating and not in keeping withindustry norms. These Board membersagreed that because EBMUD is not a

profit-driven entity, it has a responsibilityunder California State Law AB 685 to en-sure every human being has access toclean, affordable and accessible water. Theboard requested that SWPAUW membersand other community members continueparticipating in the Planning Committeemeetings and report whether EBMUD ismeeting these goals.

Per EBMUD’s website, CAP may as-sist qualified low-income residential cus-tomers with their water bill. “For qualify-ing customers, EBMUD will subsidizehalf of the standard bimonthly water serv-ice charge, and half of the home wateruse for eligible households… It will alsosubsidize 35% of the wastewater servicecharge and 35% of flow charges. House-holds must meet the program incomeguidelines … in order to qualify for theprogram.” CAP financial eligibility is amaximum gross annual household incomeof $39,000 for one to two people. Thatceiling is raised for each additional mem-ber of a household, e.g., to $48,750 for afamily of four. However, CAP requires ahousehold resides in a single unit with anindividual water meter, which many inmulti-unit structures do not provide. Cur-rently, only 6% of those financially eligi-ble are enrolled in CAP, according toSherri Hong, EBMUD Director of Customer and Community Service.

“This was the first time we have re-ceived a commitment from the EBMUD

Water Board despite dozens of testimoni-als before the EBMUD Water Board overthe last six months,” exclaimed SWPAUWmember Stanley Brown. On February 14,after all SWPAUW members and volun-teers present had spoken, Water Boardmember Linney quoted SWPAUW’s de-mands saying, “I think Customer Servicedeals with many challenges thrown theirway, but there were many of their answersto the demands that were not satisfactoryto me. I would like to see us come from apoint where clean, accessible water is aright. At EBMUD, we do not have a profitmotive that we have to guard against. Wehave a public motive. On one hand, yes,we should look for a legislative solution.On the other hand, if someone really wantsto sue us for giving water to people whocan’t afford it, let them sue us. This is re-ally about [SWPAUW] demand #1, ‘In-stall a permanent moratorium on discon-nection of water service...’ That is thecorrect measurement of our complianceand should be our goal.”

Board Member Young stated, “TheCAP program is highly undersubscribed.Our goal definitely needs to be figuringout how to get clean, affordable and ac-cessible water to every ratepayer. We alsoneed to review the water theft penalty todifferentiate between water theft by low-income customers and large contractors.I voted for it thinking it was for large con-

tractors stealing from public water hy-drants, filling up huge tanks.”

Linney made a personal call to SherriHong, the Director of EBMUD Customerand Community Service, garneringHong’s agreement to begin the process ofwaiving the arbitrary and capricious de-posits that are double a customer’s averagebill, if the customer signs up for CAP.“This is a huge victory,” explained SWPAUW volunteer Maren Poitras. “Thiswill assist hundreds of our members andlow-income residents who can’t afford topay their bill precisely because they havebeen charged this deposit! I went downto EBMUD personally to get a stack ofCAP applications to begin getting morefamilies enrolled and their depositswaived.”

“The key now is that we have to holdthe EBMUD Water Board and Customerand Community Service Department ac-countable to California state law AB 685and what they committed to do: install amoratorium on all water disconnections andensure water is affordable and accessibleto every human being in the state,” ex-plained SWPAUW volunteer AndreiStarobin. “To do this we urgently need morevolunteers to help with water advocacy andpreparation for the next Planning Commit-tee meeting!” Call WSWA office today at510-832-2111 to leave a message to speakwith a SWPAUW representative. n


SWPAUW member Kevin Holdenshouted, “I am SWPAUW! You all willbe hearing from us soon to make sure youdo what you say you will!”

After the meeting, Water Board mem-ber Doug Linney said to the delegation,“You are the most organized group thathas ever come to an EBMUD meeting,since I have been on the board over 13years… We’re here to serve the public,we’re not like PG&E. We’re a public municipal utility.”

Advocates on the frontlines “Despite the commitment from Water

Board members and the staff fromEBMUD Customer and Community Services to ensure ratepayers get afford-able payment plans, within one week ofthe December 13 Planning Committeemeeting, a man with five children, includ-

ing an 8-month-old, came in because hiswater was off for two weeks,” explainedSWPAUW member Kevin Holden. “Hewas struggling to survive off of Cal-Worksmaking $560 a month, trying to find work.He also has an eight-year-old child withsevere asthma who is prone to seizures.His total bill was over $2,700, about $700of which was the actual water bill, andthe rest are fees and deposits for restoringhis water after it was shut off and beinglate on previous bills. EBMUD said thatthe family had to pay $500 to get the waterturned back on. While it is positive thatEBMUD reduced the initial amountneeded to restore water, they still refusedto offer the family something they couldactually afford; once again, not followingthrough on the commitment they agreedto at the hearing.”

“In another recent case, a member withstage three lung cancer had just had herwater shut off because she missed a pay-ment by several days,” explained SWPAUW member Kevin Jordan. “She

had a central line in her chest to insert thechemotherapy and radiation, and sheneeded water to keep it clean. It took usover an hour to work out with EBMUD anew payment plan she could afford. De-spite this she was still charged $90 for dis-connect and reconnect fees. This was de-spite the fact that her monthly income wasonly $800. We asked the supervisor towaive the fees, and she wouldn’t even en-tertain that discussion.”

“In another case a grandmother with agrandchild who is prone to seizures and apartner who is going in for a serious surgerywas about to have their water shut off,”explained WSWA advocate MichaelCravotta. “She had already had her watershut off once and had recently lost her job.She was struggling with how she wouldpay many different bills including overduerent. The supervisor refused to work withthe member to providea full payment planfor her whole bill, instead only delayed theinitial payment by several weeks and alsorefused to speak to the volunteer advocate.”

SWPAUW members and WSWA vol-unteer organizers are canvassing door-to-door to reach residents in North, Westand East Oakland, speaking with low-in-come workers who may be strugglingwith water shutoffs and making member-ship available in WSWA’s broader organ-izing drive. Canvassers have signed hundreds of new members, informingthem of the benefit of joining WSWA,and introducing them to the Service Worker Project for Affordable Water andUtilities.

Volunteers build water fight throughcanvass campaign: Call to ActionBrown led a team canvassing 90th to

100th and International Avenues and 55thand Bancroft Avenues. Bay Area WorkersBenefit Council Delegate Paula Andersoninvited volunteers to her neighborhood to canvass and hosted a house meetingon March 25. “This is the first in a seriesof house meetings in 2017 to discuss theconcerns of her fellow neighbors,” ex-plained WSWA Administrative AssistantOlivia Rodriguez.

“Friends of service workers are neededto enroll in WSWA’s Canvass CaptainTraining Program, staff WSWA’s BenefitIntake Desk, and learn how to become anadvocate to aid families in restoring water,gas and electrical utility service,” contin-ued Rodriguez. If you can volunteer inour benefit advocacy sessions, joinWSWA’s membership canvass campaign,host a house meeting or attend a weeklystaff meeting to learn more about how youcan participate, please call Stanley at (510)832-2111 to schedule a time to come downto WSWA’s office at the corner of Peraltaand 12th Streets in West Oakland. n

Right to WaterContinued from page 5

Visualize Successat www.yesican.wikispaces.com

or call Al Kueffner at (510) 290-1394

SWPAUW members (left to right) Jeremy Entwistle, Fletcher Cole, Kevin Holden, Shu-juan Kennon, Grace Wong and Stanley Browndemand a moratorium on water shutoffs at the EBMUD Water Board meeting on September 13, 2016.

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necessities like water? No.Whenever people restrict their political

practice to the mere act of casting a ballot,they accept an agenda that some other powerbloc has established. On the other hand, in-dependent, non-governmental, grassrootsorganizations like WSWA are the way thatworkers and their allies can unite aroundour own agenda and our own priorities, andbuild a strong organization that can fight forchange over the long term, versus beingcontingent on a single election.

Through building independent organi-zations, those who are losing under the cur-rent economic policies (and that is indeedthe vast majority of the population), canunite and fight around the issues that reallymatter in all of our lives. We don’t have tochase after the “issue of the month” thatthe media has decided is the big deal forthe moment. We can grow according to ourown priorities, separate from governmentpolicies. We can create our own publica-tions to tell the story of our struggles andthe issues that really matter to workers. Andwe can call for the drastic changes neededto solve the problems that more and moreworkers face.

Even when the government has insti-tuted reforms of one sort or another, thesehave hardly been proactive initiatives ofthe executive branch, but rather reactionsto unrest and organizing in the community.

President Lyndon Johnson signed theCivil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act afteryears of demonstrations, marches, boycotts,sit-ins, beatings and assassinations. He alsohad no problem throwing civil rights ac-tivists under the bus at the 1964 DemocraticParty Convention, that is, by sabotagingthe campaign of the Freedom Democratsof Mississippi to be seated as the state’sofficial delegation, and directly torpedoingsharecropper-turned-activist Fannie Lou

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Further, President Johnson’s Great Society programs coopted much of the realgrassroots energy and leadership arisingfrom organic efforts to fight poverty andoppression. Much of that grassroots lead-ership became involved in government pro-grams that were subsequently defunded ornarrowed in scope, and which never reallyaddressed the root inequalities and injus-tices of the society. The promise many sawin those years evaporated as inequality,poverty and oppression worsened.

President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Dealprograms and agencies came in response tovigorous and militant labor organizingspreading across the nation in the 1930s. Thehorrible conditions in the Great Depressionin the 1930s led to marching, rioting, mili-tant acts against foreclosures, and demon-stra-tions such as the veterans’ Bonus Armyin 1932, whose tenacity resulted in a violentgovernment backlash, pitting the U.S. mili-tary against U.S. veterans. The powerfulwere unnerved as they confronted somethingthat was a true threat to the economic systemthat brought them lavish rewards. OnlyWorld War II and the accompanying militaryindustrial production brought a temporary‘end’ to the Depression.

But in the meantime, President Roosevelt’s National Labor Relations Act(NLRA) of 1935, despite its dubious bene-fits, gave the powerful a gift that keeps ongiving: by leaving out entire categories ofworkers, this law created a poorly paid orunemployed group that has been used eversince to depress wages for all workers andbatter the remainder of organized labor.And by establishing the precedent of gov-ernment regulation, the NLRA paved theway for truly draconian policies just a fewyears later as the Taft-Hartley amendmentsin 1947 banned all of labor’s effective tac-tics and ousted many of labor’s most ef-fective leaders, giving us some of the mostrepressive labor laws in the world.

We know at WSWA that to achieve real,lasting solutions, those experiencing theabsence of those solutions need organiza-tion strong enough to carry the fight for-ward and advance demands that cannot beco-opted, watered down or dismissed. Andthat takes organizers!

We all absolutely have the right to com-plain. We have the responsibility to act aswell. Whatever you chose to do last November, there’s another choice you canmake that will have so much more of animpact: become a full or part-time organ-izer! Our impoverished communities need

16

Right to ComplainContinued from page 2

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W H A T ’ S H A P P E N I N G

Door-to-Door Membership Canvasses:Thursdays 12:30 - 5 pmSaturdays 10 am - 3 pm

House-to-house canvassing is theprimary way WSWA signs up newmembers and keeps current membersinformed about what WSWA is doing,allowing them to stay active in the or-ganization. Canvasses are held from10am-3pm every Saturday. If you areinterested in volunteering or want ourvolunteers to canvass your neighbor-hood, call our office at (510) 832-2111.

Publication Sessions:Wednesdays 7 - 9 pm &

Saturdays 1 - 4 pmJoin WSWA’s publication sessions,

where we produce the California Service Worker, Sponsors Guide andliterature we use to publicize the strug-gles and victories of low-paid workerswho are denied a voice in the media.If you are interested in learning moreabout our publications or are able tovolunteer your time and skills in pho-tography, graphic design, writing, ordesktop publishing, call today!

WSW

A photo

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Year-round Food Drives and Information Tables:

Fridays & Sundays 12 - 9 pmBay Area businesses, institutions

and individuals join the service workercause, making WSWA’s free-of-chargeemergency food distributions possible.Sign up to volunteer or to offer a boothor table space for WSWA outreach.Montclair Safeway, Lincoln SquareSafeway, and Grand Avenue Safewayin Oakland, Harbor Bay Safeway inAlameda, Shattuck Avenue Safeway inBerkeley, Solano Avenue Safeway inAlbany, the Lunardi’s in Danville,Walgreen’s in Berkeley on Adeline,Telegraph Avenue and Shattuck inNorth Berkeley participate monthly.

Utility & Water Advocacy:Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:30 - 4:30 pm

Every day 1500 households in California have their electricity shutoff for lack of ability to pay. This includes those who rely on CPAP machines, oxygen machines, nebulizers,or refrigerated insulin to survive.We’re fighting to keep our membersalive! Learn here at WSWA what ittakes to keep low-income families’electricity, gas and water operating,during our Utility and Water AdvocacySessions. Experienced advocates areready and able to teach new volunteers.

Phone Training Sessions:Mondays, Wednesdays &

Thursdays 6 - 9:30 pmReach members of the community

interested in volunteer opportunitiesso that they can be part of building astronger and organized voice of work-ing people to improve living andworking conditions for all of us.

Spring Family Party & Children’s Egg Hunt

Saturday, April 15, 3 - 6 pm

Bay Community Fellowship Churchat 1015 Campbell Street at 10th Streetin West Oakland is hosting WSWA’sannual Spring Family Party & Chil-dren’s Egg Hunt. The event providesa high protein meal for service workerfamilies while providing a fun SpringParty for our members’ children. Vol-unteers are urgently needed to cook,serve, run the games and egg hunt, facepaint and donate critically needed supplies.

Clothing Closet:Fridays 9:30 am - 2 pm

WSWA members and volunteersare needed to run distributions ofclothing and other household itemsevery Friday at the New St. Paul Community Baptist Church at 1012Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 10thStreet in Oakland.

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WSW

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APRIL 2017

WILLIAM R. HUMMER, D.D.S.

1239 Harrison StreetSan Leandro, CA 94577510.351.5751 [email protected]

“I know some wonderful, conscientious, ethical people at WSWA, and I support themin all their endeavors.”

- William Hummer, D.D.S.

510.351.5711 office

Administrative Assistant Olivia Rodriguez, RN (left) thanks WSWA member Maria Villafor delivering food allocated by decision of the Bay Area Workers Benefit Council tolow-income workers and an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico.

WSW

A Photo


(Left to right) WSWA volunteers Kristine Luna, Design Coordinator Scott Cianciosi, Jermaine Buckley and (second from right) Al Kueffner unload a donation of 1,400 pounds offood delivered by volunteers with the White Pony Express of Contra Costa County.

WSW

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____________________________________________________________________q YES! I want to read service workers’ news and views! I enclose my donation of

$___ for a one-year subscription to California Service Worker.

Name (please print) ___________________________________________________Address: ____________________________________________________________City: _____________________________ State: ____________ Zip: ____________Phone Number: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________q YES! I want others to read California Service Worker news and views! I enclosemy donation of $___ for ___ years’ subscription as a gift to:

Name (please print) ___________________________________________________Address: ____________________________________________________________City: _____________________________ State: ____________ Zip: ____________Phone Number: ______________________________________________________

By choice and necessity, your financial gifts to WSWA are not and never have beentax-deductible. For that reason, your donations are doubly appreciated!

California Service Worker is published as a benefit for members of WESTERN SERVICEWORKERS ASSOCIATION (WSWA). Like all of WSWA’s 11-Point Benefit Program, it isfree of charge to members. WSWA asks those who have joined our cause to support the pro-duction of our membership newspaper with a suggested donation of $20, or as much as youcan help with.

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APRIL 2017

Western Service Workers Association CALIFORNIA SERVICE …€¦ · 28/03/2017 · COME WARM UP AT...

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Transcript of Western Service Workers Association CALIFORNIA SERVICE …€¦ · 28/03/2017 · COME WARM UP AT...