Fresno, California – The following statement can be attributed to Riley Talford,Fresno County employee and President of the Fresno County chapter of SEIU Local 521:
“The unfortunate incident involving a man today is not surprising for frontline Fresno County workers. As sad and disturbing as this news is, Fresno County’s Social Services and Behavioral Health Department workers have consistently raised workplace safety concerns like this for years including proposing increased safety measures that have been dismissed.
My colleagues will continue to sound the alarm regarding the Social Service and Mental Health crisis in Fresno County. We have been urging department leadership to work with us in addressing short-staffing, retention, and recruitment issues.
The Behavioral Health Department struggles to fill in vacancies for the exact positions that provide services to individuals that are facing mental health crises. For instance, according to the County’s data over the past four years there has been an average turnover rate of 194% for the County’s Licensed Mental Health Clinicians.
The County has repeatedly rejected proposals that would help retain and recruit mental health clinicians. Now is the time for county leadership to collaborate with workers around sensible and reasonable solutions for workplace safety and how to better meet the needs of vulnerable community members.”
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Service Employees International Union, Local 521 represents 53,000 public- and nonprofit, private-sector workers in California’s Bay Area, the Central Coast, and in 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 when it comes to our safety, health, and well-being.
