Texas: Building a Coalition to Fight for Essential Services

Members of TSEU/CWA Local 6186 urged legislators in Austin to use some of Texas’s unused $9.4 billion ‘rainy day’ fund to cover budget gaps instead of cutting state services and workers’ benefits.

Members of the Texas State Employees Union/CWA Local 6186 have formed a coalition with 36 other unions, civil rights and community groups that’s working for a fair approach to close the state’s budget deficit.

The Texas Forward Coalition is diverse. In addition to TSEU, it includes the Christian Life Commission, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, and United Way.

They are calling on the governor and legislature to develop a balanced approach to closing the deficit that takes both spending and revenue into account but spares critical programs and services, and public worker jobs.

Texas state employees don’t have collective bargaining rights, but have been successful in several campaigns to stop the state from cutting services for citizens, especially those who can least afford it. “We fended off a five-year effort that would have privatized our state’s human services eligibility program,” said TSEU organizing coordinator Mike Gross. The move would have eliminated 3,000 jobs and closed every state office where unemployed workers and others needing help would apply for Medicaid and other vital services.

“Everything would have been moved into a call center, putting a tremendous burden on those who need quick access to essential services,” Gross said. “We won by pushing back, and our campaign was just like an all-out organizing campaign.” TSEU activists made their case to city councils and local Chambers of Commerce, as well as to lawmakers in districts that would have been affected.

On April 6, TSEU and coalition members will rally in Austin for a huge Lobby Day, beginning on the capitol steps and followed by meetings with lawmakers.

In February, hundreds of TSEU members and other supporters held a vigil at the capitol to show solidarity with Wisconsin state workers. “An attack on one is an attack on all,” Texas State AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller told the crowd. “We are here today to honor a basic principle of the labor movement.”

TSEU members also have been working to make sure the public knows the true cause of the state’s budget deficit. “Our deficit was caused by inadequate revenue and tax policies, not excessive pay or pensions of state workers,” Gross said. “The state has always starved state services to keep taxes low for the wealthy and corporations.”

Texas cut property taxes by 33 percent, revenue that was used to support schools. Now, without any plans to bring in revenue to cover that tax cut, schools are at a crisis point.

The 10,000 jobs targeted in the governor’s budget include parole officers, health service workers, and University of Texas at Austin workers, educators and staff. That’s in addition to the 100,000 school district jobs at risk.

TSEU members, like public workers across the country, are bracing for additional cuts to jobs and benefits, including pensions, although state workers already contribute 6.5 percent into their pension plan. Lawmakers want them to pay more still, while cutting the state’s contribution.