Bakersfield, Calif: The following statement may be attributed to Alicia Aleman, County Social Worker and SEIU Local 521 Kern County Chapter President:
“Every day county workers endure severe understaffing across all departments—from critically short-staffed 9-1-1 call centers to overwhelmed child protective services struggling to support families, and behavioral and mental health services who don’t have the staff they need to curb rising homelessness and overdoses. Kern County is in crisis, and frontline workers are striking to demand change.
The County Board of Supervisors can avert this strike by addressing workers’ concerns about short staffing and high turnover, which are limiting our ability to keep Kern families safe and healthy. Instead, along with County administrators, they decided to ignore workers and even take unlawful actions to prevent workers from exercising their right to bargain and advocate for better county services.
Striking is a last resort, but it’s the only way to end the county’s failure to meet Kern families’ basic needs. The public should visit www.fixkern.com to learn more.”
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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.
