County administration created a second-class labor system which strips frontline Extra Help workers of basic rights to negotiate their wages, health benefits, retirement, or even a paid vacation. A coalition of AFSCME Council 57 and SEIU Local 521 union members demanded fundamental changes to the system that prevents them from accessing basic rights and privileges all other county workers enjoy, despite producing identical public services.
View photos from the event: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=SEIU521&set=a.601461235330651
Telemundo reported on our rally (Spanish/Español).
Redwood City, CA – About one hundred (100) San Mateo County “Extra Help” workers amassed in front of the San Mateo government center to demand changes to an extensively abusive labor system.
SEIU 521 and AFSCME Council 57 workers in unison demanded the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors confront the harsh socioeconomic realities of Extra Help workers by ending the County’s discriminatory two-tiered labor class system.
“The San Mateo Board of Supervisors say they support our common sense proposals, but while at the bargaining table, the County refuses to come to an agreement. We ask the Board of Supervisors to show us that they support the hard working men and women who make San Mateo County run. We’ve waited a long time for fairness and equality. We can’t wait anymore.”
-Gabe Maldonado, Care Counselor, San Mateo County “Extra Help” Worker (29 Years of Service)
San Mateo County workers and union leaders point directly to high turnover, short-staffed, overstretched county resources and services as evidence of the public service crisis emerging by design of San Mateo County management. This dynamic perpetuates a second-class labor system that denies basic rights to negotiate wages, full benefit coverage, and retirement for Extra Help workers, who are predominantly women of color. Extra Help workers do the same work as their co-workers and are composed of hundreds of San Mateo County’s overall workforce.
“Extra Help workers have no more than three sick days a year. That is unacceptable. County workers who live and work in the County deserve a pathway to permanency. We must also stop the union-busting at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and ensure that our contracts are aligned with permanent workers. San Mateo is the only outlier [in the Bay Area] that treats its workers this way. We must negotiate together because our labor force works hard and our community services deserve more.”
-Mullissa Willette, President, SEIU Local 521
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AFSCME Council 57 is comprised of 26 local unions representing 35,000 members throughout Northern California and the Central Valley. Established in 1963, the Council was formed as a progressive, member-driven labor organization dedicated to empowering and securing dignity and respect for all workers. We work together to improve wages, benefits and working conditions through organizing, collective bargaining and political action. We represent workers in schools and community colleges, transit agencies, public works and services, clinics and hospitals, and water and wastewater facilities. Our members are also the health and social service professionals in corrections facilities across California.
Service Employees International Union, Local 521 represents 60,000 public-and nonprofit, and private-sector workers in California’s Bay Area, the Central Coast, and the Central Valley. Under a Community First vision, we are committed to making sure the needs of our community, and the vital services we provide our community, come first. We believe our communities thrive when residents, leaders, and workers recognize that we are all in this together regarding our safety, health, and well-being.
