Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 521 distributed fliers over the weekend that suggested San Benito County might be headed in the same direction as San Bernardino, which recently gained national infamy after filing bankruptcy.
The fliers read: “There’s a car show going on and it’s happening all over our County. We are being driven off a cliff.”
The flier also states that SEIU employees offered concessions of $1.3 million to the county in contract negotiation. The SEIU representatives said the county negotiators rejected the concessions despite a $1.7 million shortfall. The union held a rally at 7 a.m. outside the county administrative office where the 2012-13 budget hearings were set to begin at 9:30 a.m.
The organized protest from the local SEIU – its membership comprises most of the county workforce – came in light of tense talks among supervisors on how to fill a $5.3 million shortfall for 2012-13 for a $33 million general fund.
The flier also stated: “Instead of real solutions, the Board of Supervisors will be voting on a sham County budget that creates no reform and no accountability to tax payers while putting our community in danger by protecting $100,000+ management staff while eliminating working class jobs in public safety, our library, substance abuse, road repair, criminal prosecution, child support services, building safety, probation and much more.”
The flier included photos of each supervisor along with a phone number.
County Administrative Officer Rich Inman started the budget hearings Monday by reading a letter into the record concerning the negotiations with SEIU.
“I feel compelled to provide you with a public document that addresses the misinformation and distortion of facts that has been provided to SEIU members and the public,” Inman read from the letter. “It is incredible to me that SEIU can have such disdain and disrespect for its members and the general public by intentionally misrepresenting the facts concerning their proposal.”
Inman listed nine facts in the letter that he said SEIU has distorted or misrepresented in documents shared with the public.
First, he noted that the concession offered would not balance the county’s budget. Second, he said, his staff members estimate the savings of the concessions would be $576,201, not the $1.3 million in savings that has been touted.
He said a proposal dated July 3 would have SEIU employees pay both the employee’s share and the county’s share of contributions to PERS, but a July 11 proposal changed it to provide 12 percent contribution to both.
In order to agree to the concessions, Inman said the SEIU wanted the county to rescind all layoffs to SEIU employees made over the last six months, meaning that the county would have to fund those positions, which would increase the budget deficit. The proposal also called for a 1 percent salary increase for all employees, with a 7 percent increase for all members if the county were to layoff or reduce the hours of any SEIU member. The proposal asks for binding arbitration for future negotiations and extended time limits for implementing layoffs.
“SEIU’s proposal would create a tiered layoff policy by serving only employees represented by SEIU while ignoring the interests of those not represented by SEIU,” Inman read from the letter.
During the public comment period, five members of the public spoke in regards to the SEIU proposal, including four members of the union.
Luisa Blue, chief of staff at SEIU 52, said Inman had attached the wrong proposal to his letter, stating that the July 3 proposal was not the final document approved by members.
“The budget proposal cuts jobs and services,” Blue said. “You have a deep commitment to offering short-term plans instead of long term. You keep managers while cutting the frontline workers. Eliminating services is not a long-term solution.”
She noted the “extraordinary concession” offered by SEIU in terms of PERS contributions, saying no other union in the state or county offered up such concessions.
Denise Quintana, the chapter vice president and child support worker for the county, also spoke.
“The county administration is playing a broken record,” she said. “We offered a plan of $1.3 million savings and millions in the years to come. A lot of our families had other significant others lose a job and in return we expected to see some accountability.”
Quintana called for the county to stop the practice of hiring private contractors and instead to keep county employees on the roster.
Henry Soria, an SEIU representative, said the letter from Inman was “disingenuous” and should be investigated.
Soria contacted the newspaper last week and agreed on July 17 to send a copy of the proposal the union members had approved but it was not received by the Free Lance as of July 23.
Khanh Weinberg, a media representative for the union, did email a press release to the newspaper on July 20 that states union members proposed to contribute the full employee share of pension costs and to pick up part of the county’s cost as well.
Jacki Credico, a human resource analyst for the county, said last week that the county was still in negotiations with the bargaining unit.
Correction: This story originally said San Bernardino County filed for bankruptcy. It was the city of San Bernardino.
