‘Do the right thing’: Disabled workers fight job loss in Vacaville facility | Opinion

Nearly 60 good jobs held by people with disabilities and service-disabled veterans at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville are now just days away from elimination.

This month, these dedicated employees did what any determined workforce would do when faced with losing their livelihoods: they rallied at the State Capitol and delivered a heartfelt letter directly to the leadership of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000, the union that raised this issue with the State Personnel Board but has since stepped back from the negotiating table.

The impassioned letter, written by Ameer L. Habeeb, a disabled veteran worker at the facility and the director of operations environmental services at PRIDE Industries and signed by 58 workers, made a clear, powerful plea: “Please talk with us and work with the state to save our jobs. Let’s have a face-to-face conversation to find solutions that preserve our jobs, including one that sees us joining your union.”

As someone who has lived my entire life with a disability, and as the author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I am using my voice to speak up for these workers.

For years, PRIDE Industries, a trusted nonprofit contractor, has provided these workers with meaningful employment opportunities — helping veterans who became disabled during their service, individuals managing life-long disabilities and those who rebuilt their lives after addiction or trauma. This model works extremely effectively, with a 98% task completion rate and a more than 98% quality rating from California Correctional Health Care Services. This equates to a reliable, quality custodial services that help the facility maintain its licensing and patient care standards.

But due to a 2023 decision by the State Personnel Board — spurred by a grievance from SEIU Local 1000 — these positions were to be reassigned to state civil service workers. But, in reality, the state has not been able to fill these jobs.

Now, instead of keeping these trained, motivated workers employed through PRIDE, the plan is to reassign these jobs to inmates through the California Prison Industry Authority — all while displacing qualified disabled workers.

This is not what equity and inclusion should look like.

“From the outset, we have expressed our desire to join SEIU Local 1000 and to find a path for PRIDE employees and SEIU-represented workers to equitably share the work,” Habeeb wrote in the letter. “We also support broader, long-term solutions that would open more civil service opportunities to Californians with disabilities — and by extension, future SEIU 1000 members. It’s worth noting that our company has positive relations with labor unions across the country and seeks the same here.”

Workers under PRIDE’s contract are not fighting for charity. They’re fighting for a fair chance to keep jobs that give them income and dignity.

“I have a lot of medical issues, and I’m not sure if I can find another job that will help me,” said Pacita Velasco, a PRIDE employee with disabilities. “I’m widowed. This is my only option for affordable medical coverage and to pay my bills.”

Their rally at the Capitol last week was an eleventh-hour plea. They also asked lawmakers to support Assembly Bill 912, a bill by Assemblymember Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, that would create a pilot civil service apprenticeship for people with disabilities to become environmental service technicians at correctional facilities. This is a smart, longer-term solution, but it won’t stop the layoffs scheduled for June 30.

To state leaders and SEIU Local 1000: the solution is simple. Extend the PRIDE Industries contract as a bridge until the civil service pathway can be built and meet with these workers to explore union representation that works for everyone. California’s commitment must be to these workers — not just to processes, not just to politics, but to people who have worked hard, beaten the odds and served their state well.

California has long been a champion for people with disabilities. Our nation passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, we declare and embrace Disability Pride Month and we claim to stand for a California for all. It is not too late to do the right thing.