Rank-and-file members call on the Board of Supervisors to justify offering 6% to lowest-paid workers and 11% to managers over the next 2 years while County claims financial hardship.
Santa Clara County, Calif. – After weeks of voluntary mediation between the County and the union representing the majority of its employees, the rank-and-file bargaining team has ended mediation talks following the continued refusal by the Board of Supervisors to address the widespread vacancy and retention crisis plaguing the County.
“Jeff Smith, under the direction of the Board of Supervisors, has for months ridiculed and undermined the efforts of frontline workers to reach an equitable agreement that puts forth long-term solutions to the staffing crisis impacting our residents’ abilities to obtain critical services,” said Janet Diaz, Patient Business Services Clerk at Valley Medical Center and Santa Clara County Chapter President. “The County’s offer to its management employees contradicts Jeff Smith’s claims that the Board must offer so little to frontline workers because that is necessary to reach: a positive and sustainable resolution that protects the stability of the County budget [1]. The Board’s stance is not about sustainability – it’s about a total lack of respect for the county’s lowest paid workers and for the residents who don’t get the level of service they need because of the high number of vacancies that result from inadequate pay for the jobs we do.”
The County has a long-standing practice of passing any improvements which these management employees receive to non-represented County employees including those in charge of labor relations.
On December 4, the county announced an offer to management employees that would increase pay by 6% in 2019, 5% in 2020, and 3% per year thereafter. The County’s last, best, and final offer to employees represented by SEIU Local 521 is 3% per year for the same 5-year period. The SEIU group includes virtually all of the county’s lowest paid employees – a group that includes over half of the County’s workforce but represents only a third of the County payroll. The SEIU-represented workers are disproportionately women and people of color. “Denying equity to the SEIU workers will only exacerbate the economic divide that already exists in our community,” said Riko Mendez, SEIU Local 521 Chief Elected Officer.
The SEIU Local 521 rank-and-file bargaining team exercised their right under section 7 of the October 31, 2019 Agreement to Enter Voluntary Mediation to terminate the mediation, effective immediately.
“We remain willing to continue negotiations to reach a fair agreement on the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. We also will continue to insist that the many outstanding unfair labor practices which the County has committed be remedied. The unilateral changes at the newly-acquired hospitals remain unresolved despite our efforts to get them addressed during recent weeks, and there are many other serious unfair labor practices which have not been resolved. We will voluntary commit to refrain from calling a strike until further notice and such notice will not be given prior to Friday, January 10,” added Diaz.
Background:
Santa Clara County workers represented by SEIU Local 521 have been without a contract since June 17, 2019. 97% percent of its members voted in August to authorize an unfair labor practice strike. County workers started to strike over unfair labor practices on October 2nd. It was the first strike by Santa Clara County employees in 40 years. The strike was in response to the County’s reorganization of the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) without discussing the changes with the employees who do the work. The County’s reorganization plan included the closure of the San Jose Family Resource Center and many other changes that would negatively impact families and the workers who serve them.
Following a civil disobedience on Sept. 19 and the strike, the County Board of Supervisors decided on Oct. 22 to postpone the closure of San Jose Family Resource Center pending further review for location options. Francesca LeRúe, the DFCS Director who led the relocation effort of the SJFRC and unilateral changes to the DFCS that sparked the ULP strike, has since left her post.
On Thursday, Oct. 31, Santa Clara County and SEIU Local 521 agreed to enter voluntary mediation.
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Service Employees International Union, Local 521 represents 12,000 public-sector workers across Santa Clara County. 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.
