About 100 county employees, with signs demanding higher wages in
tow, marched in front of the County Administration Building on
Wednesday afternoon.
Hollister – About 100 county employees, with signs demanding higher wages in tow, marched in front of the County Administration Building on Wednesday afternoon.
While passers-by honked their car horns, one union member on a megaphone shouted “What do we want?” to the resounding replies of “Parity!” from the other union members.
“When do we want it?” she asked.
“Now!”
The rally was organized by the San Benito County Employees Association, which represents approximately 290 county workers. The union is in negotiations with the county over its contract, which expires at the end of the month. While talks are still taking place, county employees came together to voice frustration at the disparity between the pay of San Benito County workers and wages for similar jobs in both Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
“One of the main issues is parity,” SBC employees association President Marc Hain said. “We’re facing retention and recruitment issues – we can’t keep employees here. They’ll drive the 30 minutes to get better pay.”
County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson declined to discuss specific complaints because of negotiations, but she said she had no reason to believe a contract would not be reached by the end of the month.
“At this point, it’s still a very positive conversation,” Thompson said. “We believe we’re progressing nicely.”
Lori Woodle, who works in the Sheriff’s Office and negotiates for the union on behalf of the county’s clerical staff, contended that county employees were underpaid.
“We want the county to look at comparables,” Woodle said. “We understand that some of the cities close to us – like Gilroy – we can’t compete with. But we use Santa Cruz and Monterey counties as examples (for management positions) …”
She said other county employees should be paid comparable rates as well.
In the analysis she had done, Woodle said, clerical staff on average in San Benito County were paid 73 percent of wages for counterparts in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
“They’re buying their gas, they’re making their payments at the same amount as those counties,” she said.
As a result of the lower pay, many of the county employees said it was hard to recruit and retain people.
Catherine Farnham, a community health nurse, said when she started there had been 12 nurses in her department, but they were now down to four with a few part-time workers.
“The reason is, we haven’t had the ability to recruit and retain,” Farnham said. “The salaries elsewhere become attractive in a regional market.”
The problem is especially difficult in the public nursing field, she said, where there is an overall shortage.
“There’s a national shortage of nurses – in that way we’re not different from other counties. The difference is in our ability to recruit,” Farnham said.
Hain, who works with public works, said it had taken 19 months for his department to replace a retiree. As a result, he and others were forced to take on more work.
“That’s the main problem is the extra workload it creates,” Hain said.
In many instances, the city and consumer suffered as a result of the shortages, he said.
“It affects the public and services and our ability to provide those services,” Hain said.
