About 35 health care workers attempting to unionize at the San
Benito County Health Care Foundation held picket signs and
serenaded motorists driving past the building on Fourth Street with
pro-union chants Thursday afternoon.
About 35 health care workers attempting to unionize at the San Benito County Health Care Foundation held picket signs and serenaded motorists driving past the building on Fourth Street with pro-union chants Thursday afternoon.
About three weeks ago, workers approached organizers with the Service Employee International Union with concerns about unfavorable working conditions under the Foundation’s administration, according to SEIU organizing director Sergio Sanchez.
“There’s a series of concerns,” Sanchez said. “Mostly it has to do with respect and dignity and the way they’re treated.”
Employees of the nonprofit health clinic are concerned about inadequate wages, shoddy benefits, favoritism and intimidation by management, he said. A union contract would make the working environment better and alleviate employees’ concerns, he said.
Employees wanting to unionize include clerical staff, nutrition educators and dental and medical assistants, Sanchez said. At least 40 employees would be eligible to be part of the union, he said.
Executive Director Rosa Vivian Fernandez, who has been at the Foundation’s helm for only a month, declined to comment on the employees’ unionization.
“We’re not interfering with their ability to unionize,” she said. “At this point we’re not ready to comment any (further).”
SEIU representatives served Fernandez and the Foundation’s board of directors with a letter on Friday, saying the majority of workers had chosen to organize and asked the board to respond to the union and set up union talks by Wednesday at 5pm, Sanchez said.
When the board failed to respond by the deadline, workers decided to picket during their lunch hour to show the administration they want to be taken seriously, Sanchez said.
“We would like to have a smooth process… but we’re prepared for a public fight,” he said.
Sanchez said the board has the authority to grant a volunteer card check election, where a union can be formed if a majority of workers show support. After that, an neutral third party would be brought in to verify the signatures and contract negotiations could begin, he said.
Board member Victoria Montoya said the board as a group decided not to comment on the unionization.
“We were advised not to make comments,” she said.
Board chairperson Priscilla Riberia, who Montoya said was the spokesperson for the board, did not return phone calls Thursday.
Health educator Peter Miranda said since management learned of the workers’ desire to unionize, in a period of four days one employee has been demoted and another was forced to quit because management changed her schedule and she was unable to acquiesce to the changes.
“They’re intimidating us because of the union,” Miranda said. “We’re finally fed up – it was time to do it.”
Dental assistant Estela Orozco said with her 10 years of experience, her salary of $12 an hour is unacceptable.
She worked for the Foundation for three years, left for a short time and returned in February. During her three years she received two raises totaling 20 cents, she said.
“And that’s only if they think you deserve the raise,” she said.
Orozco hopes being part of a union will get workers better benefits, including a retirement plan they currently don’t have, scheduled raises based on performance, not on favoritism, and a voice, she said.
“I like working here – I love working with my co-workers,” she said, “but the administration needs to get better.”
Orozco said the workers who were not picketing feel threatened by their supervisors – if they show support they will be fired.
“They’re afraid of losing their jobs,” she said.
About a year ago, the workers became “at-will” employees, which means they can be fired at any time without any formal explanation, said Christina Gonzales, a medical outreach worker.
Gonzales, who has worked at the Foundation for three and a half years, said before becoming at-will employees administration had to go through a formal process of several verbal and written warnings before firing someone.
She said when their status changed the workers didn’t question it because they were afraid. She hopes a union contract will abolish that continual fear.
“Because we were at-will,” she said. “We all fear for our jobs. We just want respect.”
