Chanting from union members gathered on the sidewalk beneath
gray skies penetrated the Board of Supervisors chambers Tuesday
morning as Chairwoman Pat Loe announced that the county would sit
down with a mediator and union representatives to resolve an
ongoing wage dispute.
Hollister – Chanting from union members gathered on the sidewalk beneath gray skies penetrated the Board of Supervisors chambers Tuesday morning as Chairwoman Pat Loe announced that the county would sit down with a mediator and union representatives to resolve an ongoing wage dispute.
Supervisors were to vote to implement a 3 percent wage increase for the county’s homecare workers, who are part of a state-mandated program that provides care for elderly and disabled people. Homecare workers and their union representatives are demanding a $1 per hour raise to their $9.50 hourly rate and say the offer of 3 percent – less than 30 cents per hour – is an insult.
Supervisors say that, while they value what homecare workers do, the county can’t afford the raise the union is demanding. The county is facing a $6.5 million budget deficit for next year. On average, the county has about 280 homecare workers, according to Gifford Swanson, manager of the Public Authority – a county agency that employs homecare workers.
Rather than push forward with the 3 percent increase, however, the county offered to go into mediation with union representatives. The union agreed, and both parties will meet with California’s State Mediation and Conciliation Service, according to John Vellardita, Service Employees International Union Local 817 executive director.
“We’ll do our best to reach an agreement,” said County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson, who declined to speculate on whether the county’s offer might change.
Despite mutual agreement to see a mediator, however, Vellardita said the union and its members would continue to be aggressive in putting pressure on supervisors to see things their way. About 40 union members demonstrated in front of the county administration building Tuesday. They chanted slogans such as “The people united will never be divided.”
“Those out front are the people who are poor, the working poor that care for the most vulnerable in society, the elderly and disabled,” Vellardita said to board members during the meeting’s public comment period.
Vellardita went on to accuse Loe and Supervisor Don Marcus of turning their backs on homecare workers as Loe repeatedly pounded her gavel against the supervisors’ dais. She asked Vellardita several times to sit down and hold his comments until the issue was discussed later in the meeting. A sheriff’s deputy, whose presence at the meeting had been requested by Thompson, slowly inched toward Vellardita. Thompson, however, motioned to the deputy to let the union man finish.
Later in the meeting, Marcus responded to Vellardita’s charges, saying that he appreciates what homecare workers do, but that the county’s financial footing isn’t solid enough to satisfy the union’s demand.
“This is not a political statement,” he said, “This is fact.”
Today’s picket and Vellardita’s comments were just the latest salvo from homecare workers and their union representatives.
Earlier this month, more than 50 union members picketed Loe’s Nash Road home, where some in the group trampled Loe’s front lawn and one demonstrator banged on her window. The pickets will not end until the union is satisfied, Vellardita said.
“It’s going to come, it’s not going to go away,” Vellardita said after the meeting. “We know we’re going to get what we want. It’s ours. Those guys broke their deal.”
During the past year, SEIU has lobbied for and secured state and federal funds that would pay for the bulk of the $1 per hour wage increase, according to Vellardita. When that happened, the county was to reopen wage negotiations, according to a 2004 agreement between the union and the county. Though wage talks have been proceeding since October, Vellardita said that the county isn’t negotiating in good faith. The offer of 3 percent is unacceptable, he said.
While San Benito would pay about 18 cents on the dollar for the wage increase that the union is demanding, supervisors say the county cannot afford the raise. Also, they say that 3 percent is the same wage increase other county employees have received recently and that homecare workers’ wages were increased 40 percent in 2004.
“My sense is that 3 percent is all we can afford at this point,” Supervisor Anthony Botelho said after the meeting.
Marcus agreed, and added that the homecare workers’ contract would expire this year, and the county would be back negotiating a new contract with the union in October.
“So it isn’t that the effects of this are that long-term,” he said.
Supervisors Jaime De la Cruz and Reb Monaco have both said that they support homecare workers getting a $1 per hour raise. Neither could be reached Tuesday.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
