For Immediate Release
CEO Jeff Smith’s plan disregards the county supervisors’ directive to address vacancies. By eliminating unfilled positions, the plan would mean longer wait times and reduced vital services for county residents.
Santa Clara County, CA — Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 521 has obtained an internal memo that reveals Santa Clara County management’s plan to eliminate 20% of the county’s unfilled positions in the proposed FY 2023-2024 budget. In anticipation of the recommended budget release SEIU Local 521 released the following statement from Chief Elected Officer, Riko Mendez:
“The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors knows very well that a chronic staffing crisis is hindering county workers from providing adequate service and lifesaving care for our community. The recommended county budget directly ignores the priorities set forth by the elected Board and exacerbates the growing vacancy woes across all county departments. Recommending the deletion of 20% of the County’s vacant positions sends a message to workers and residents that the county is complacent in enabling growing service wait times and unsafe working conditions while contributing to a mass exodus of essential workers.”
SEIU Local 521 Santa Clara County members also released the following statements:
“If we were fully staffed, patients wouldn’t have to wait as long in our Hospital System emergency rooms. I work at O’Connor at night when everything is an emergency. I try and make sure I have the operating room ready to go. If we were fully staffed, I would be able to go stock the rooms and keep everything ready, but the reality is that we aren’t, and the idea of deleting vacancies is alarming.”
-Lori Lumphreys, SEIU 521 Member and OB Tech at O’Connor Hospital
The latest vacancy April 2023 report from the County of Santa Clara shows over 2,300 SEIU positions vacant, up by 237 positions since December 2022.
At a critical time when more and more Santa Clara County residents are reliant on county services, essential departments with the most significant numbers of vacant SEIU positions show that the number of vacancies is either stagnant or growing. In Social Services, vacancies have more than doubled from 201 to 475 since December 2021, leaving children and seniors at higher risk of unsafe living conditions. In the Hospital System, vacant Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) positions have doubled since December 2021. The same growing trend is true in the Behavioral Health Department, as Peer Support Specialists and Mental Health Community Workers are far below their budgeted staffing levels, despite these positions recently receiving the ability to bring in federal funds through billing Medi-Cal.
The County’s senior management has said the cuts are necessary to balance the budget, but a close analysis of the county’s own reports shows that cutting positions at VMC, the County’s health system, has actually made the fiscal situation worse by forcing the hospital to overuse contracted professional services whose cost is often greater than it would be if the work were done by county employees. The fact is that the county can afford to properly staff vital frontline positions. Download the analysis here.
SEIU Local 521 Santa Clara County workers are committed to finding comprehensive solutions that will position the county as a top employer committed to delivering the highest quality care and service to the community.”
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Service Employees International Union, Local 521 represents 12,000 public-sector workers across Santa Clara County. Under a Community Firs in t 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.
