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Transparency, Fairness & Safety Regarding DSW Assignments

Santa Clara County Chapter
Social Services Unit – DEBS

As you may know, during this Public Health Crisis, public sector workers are considered “Disaster Relief Workers” (DSW): https://bit.ly/cadisasterservice

We, the SEIU 521 Stewards in the Social Services Unit, are aware that many of you have been assigned to alternate locations and assignments to perform duties related to the COVID-19 health crisis.  We are aware that some of these assignments do not make sense, and management has created their own process to assign such duties. 

On April 20, 2020, we met with management to demand transparency, fairness and safety when assigning these tasks. 

We proposed the following:

  1. The County must provide a list of known disaster relief assignments during the COVID-19 federal, state and/or local emergency. 
  2. The County needs to agree that such assignments shall be recruited, when practicable, from a list of SEIU 521-represented workers who are on a Paid Administrative Leave (PAL). The order of recruitment shall be in the following order:
    a. Volunteers by order of seniority for those who are currently on PAL.
    b. If there are not enough volunteers, the remaining assignments shall be provided in inverse seniority order.
    c. If there are still remaining assignments due to reasonable accommodations and/or not enough workers on PAL, the assignments shall then be to those not on PAL. Such assignments shall be recruited by volunteers in seniority order, then by inverse seniority order.
  3. Orientations for disaster relief assignments shall comply with all CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines and orders/recommendations from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the State of California and the County of Santa Clara.
  4. During the orientation, workers shall be provided with exact location(s) of where they can pick up PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). PPE shall include, but is not limited to, gowns, face shields, face masks, hand sanitizer, hospital grade disinfectant, and gloves.
  5. Any worker who is working with patients/community members who have tested positive for COVID-19 shall be provided with the PPE listed above but will also be provided with N95 masks.

The County responded stating that they are not interested in negotiating how we can keep ourselves and the public safe while on DSW assignment, stating that the California Emergency Services Act (https://bit.ly/cadisasterservice) gives them the right to do what they want. The County management also stated that no workers would not volunteer unless being assigned, that all staff would rather get paid for “sitting at home.”

As stewards of SEIU 521, we recognize the importance of our roles in providing safety to our community during the COVID-19 pandemic and know our co-workers will step up to the plate when needed. While the California Emergency Services Act does give County management lots of rights, the safety of our community and co-workers must remain a priority.

Through this process, management has made it clear that without our union, they would have no intention of negotiating with us. Through these trying times, we need to remain strong and united, and need to speak with one voice.  We cannot ensure everyone’s safety without every member being involved. Take the following steps now to protect our co-workers and the community we serve:

  1. Sign the petition for safety protocols for our social workers: https://www.seiu521.org/protectsccsocialworkers
  2. If you are not yet an SEIU 521 union member, sign up now to show management that they are not going silence our voice: https://members.seiu521.org/SEIU521MembershipApplicationExternal.aspx
  3. To get up-to-date information, sign up for MemberLink, our secure portal for SEIU 521 members: https://members.seiu521.org – If you don’t know your Member ID, call us at (408) 678-3300.

With our concerted action, we can bring change. We appreciate your support in these trying times. We are all in this together!

In unity,

Lorena Briones
Santa Clara County Social Worker II & SEIU 521 Steward

Visit the COVID-19 online toolkit with resources, information, and updates for our SEIU 521 members: https://www.seiu521.org/covid19

In the COVID-19 online toolkit you will find:

  • Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) FAQs
  • Local, State, and Federal Resources
  • Fact sheets
  • Our union’s demands of employers
  • Preventive actions taken by our union
  • Mental health support

We will continue providing updates to the toolkit as they become available.