Strike: Clinics closed, appointments rescheduled

Day 2 of Santa Clara County union employees walk out affects more public services

SAN JOSE » Day two of a rolling strike by Santa Clara County union employees forced the closure of two health clinics and pharmacies and the rescheduling of appointments in some health departments.

As clinicians and administrative support staffers walked off the job Thursday at county health facilities, the effect on public services appeared more pronounced than during the first day of the employee strike.

Even County ECO Jeff Smith acknowledged as much. “The are larger than yesterday, but we’re still recommending clients come for services, except those with primary care needs,” he said. “This level we can tolerate … but it does damage to the public and the county.”

Service Employees International Union Local 521, which represents 12,000 county employees, estimated that 1,200 health system workers went on strike Thursday. The strike is being rolled out day by day, so employees are being notified about job actions in their department the evening before.

Smith said outpatient health clinics in Milpitas and Sunnyvale were closed because of the strike, as well as an employee assistance center. People needing immediate care or a pharmacy were sent to clinics in downtown San Jose and Moorpark, he added.

Also closed was a health clinic within the HomeFirst homeless shelter. Meanwhile, the Office of Vital Records and Registration on Lenzen Avenue operated at minimal capacity, according to a county website for strike updates. The county’s Better Health and Lenzen pharmacies also closed, according to the website.

But inpatient and acute care services at the county’s three hospitals — Valley Medical Center, O’Connor Hospital and St. Louise Hospital — continued to operate as normal, according to the county, which estimated

about 850 employees picketed across 20 locations by late morning.

SEIU has agreed to allow people whose jobs are considered essential to public safety to cross the picket line and continue working.

At the Valley Health Center in Sunnyvale, roughly 65 union employees picketed outside, prompting the facility’s closure. A notice on the door stated that “all routine primary and specialty care appointments have been temporarily cancelled due to a labor action” and urged those experiencing an emergency to dial 911.

“I’m surprised — maybe they could have called and let me know, and I wouldn’t have come,” said Devin, a patient with an afternoon appointment who did not want to give his last name. He comes to the clinic regularly for therapy, to pick up medicine and for primary care appointments.

Devin said the clinic had called to remind him of the appointment a few days earlier. Devin said he does not have a car and his bus pass recently expired, so as the strike stretches on he’s not sure where to go to refill his medicine.

At the Valley Medical Center campus on Enborg Lane, hundreds of workers, including behavioral health providers, financial and administrative support staff, crisis counselors and physical therapists, picketed throughout the day.

Renee Cortese, a physical therapist and strike captain for California Children’s Services, which provides physical and occupational therapy for children with disabilities, said all 40 of the department’s therapists participated and the clinic is rescheduling appointments.

Nicole Gilliam takes her 6-year- old son to California Children’s Services several times a week for physical therapy. On Thursday, she stopped by to pick up leg braces for her son and didn’t face any problems doing so.

The facility had told her there might be a strike, Gilliam said, but she didn’t know what it is about.

“I’m assuming, if they’re out here, we won’t be coming in, so I hope it ends soon,” Gilliam said. “But I’m in full support; we love our therapists and they go above and beyond.”

Cortese and employees across several health departments said they were striking in solidarity with those in social services and over the relocation of the San Jose Family Resource Center to another site across town, which she said occurred without bargaining with the center’s employees or input from clients. The union called the strike over 15 complaints of unfair labor practices, including changes in the social services department.

Several employees on the picket line also pointed to the county’s latest wage offer — a 3% raise each year over a five-year contract — as insufficient. The contract includes extra raises for certain workers and asks employees to pay an additional 2% share of the medical premium and $1.50 per paycheck toward retirement health costs. The county says its proposal is worth $625 million.

“They want to give us a measly 3% raise, but they end up taking more for taxes and and we’re not left with much,” said Laura Lopez, a public health assistant at California Children’s Services.

Smith has said the union is requesting “unsustainable” raises. SEIU’s most recent proposal seeks a three-year contract with a 6% raise the first year and a 5% increase each of the following years, he said.

Including other compensation changes requested by SEIU, Smith said the union’s proposal would cost $ 761 million over three years.

SEIU still isn’t divulging what it’s asking or addressing the cost estimates provided by Smith, who it said was “union busting through the media.”

“Regardless of the numbers and percentages that Mr. Smith is throwing out to validate his efforts to silence workers of our concerns, right now there are children who lack protection and families in need of critical service because we lack resources and staff,” said Valerie Pickering, a social worker supervisor and member of the bargaining committee.

The union also has asked the county to create a division dedicated to creating affordable housing for county workers and another initiative to provide child care for employees — issues the county says it won’t address as part of bargaining.

Smith said the county is studying both initiatives but would have to bring them before all of its unions rather than negotiate with just one.

Chuck Serface, who works as a counselor for suicide and crisis services, joined other paid counselors in striking Thursday morning.

He questioned Smith’s comments suggesting that the county doesn’t have money, pointing to recent spending initiatives such as the $235 million purchase of O’Connor Hospital in San Jose as well as Saint Louise Hospital in Gilroy.

“We don’t understand how a county that’s expanding buildings and buying hospitals are not investing in their workers,” Serface said. “They always say, ‘ The money has already been allocated,’ but I see them buying …. a portrait of Muhammad Ali, wanting to build new buildings and pay for new services.”