Hundreds of Santa Clara County employees go on strike.
SEIU Local 521 alleges unfair labor practices; 15 complaints have been filed
SAN JOSE >> Hundreds of Santa Clara County employees hit the picket lines Wednesday morning on the first day of what union officials say will be consecutive day strikes designed to expose the county’s alleged unfair labor practices.
But the county’s top official said the strike had a negligible impact on everyday operations and contended the union, Service Employees International Union, is pushing for unrealistic salary increases that the county can’t afford.
SEIU Local 521 called the strike over 15 complaints of unfair labor practices it has filed against the county, which include burdensome caseloads for social workers, a decision to relocate the San Jose Family Resource Center and dangerous conditions at the county’s intake center for children removed from their homes.
The union estimated early Wednesday morning that 700 employees would strike across 12 work sites, SEIU spokesman Victor Gamiz said. It didn’t provide updated figures later in the day.
County CEO Jeff Smith said the number of people counted across the work as absent was closer to 200, though it’s not immediately known exactly how many participated because some may have taken vacation or sick leave to strike, he added.
The strike is expected to continue today at different work sites, Gamiz said, declining to indicate how many of the union’s 12,000 county members would participate. The union hasn’t announced an end date for the strike.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of county employees
picketed outside the Family Resource Center and Department of Child Support Services wearing purple SEIU shirts and holding signs that read “ULP strike for community” and “ULP strike to protect Santa Clara’s children.” At the east yard, which houses the Roads and Airports Department, 40 employees picketed along the road, turned away people coming in to work and blocked at least two trucks from making deliveries.
Workers also protested at other county yards, the Facilities and Fleet Department, San Jose Family Resource Center and Public Defenders Office.
So far the impact to services has been minimal, Smith said, noting the county began preparing for a possible strike weeks ago. The union has agreed to allow certain essential workers to cross the picket line and managers and executives have been asked to pick up extra work if their department is affected.
“It seems most of the picketers are in Fleets and Facilities, Roads and Airports, and Social Services,” Smith said. “We don’t have any evidence that they’re impacting Social Services significantly.”
Union members gathered in the afternoon for a rally at the Family Resource Center, where Rico Mendez, chief elected officer of SEIU Local 521, said they’re prepared to continue striking until the county agrees to a fair contract.
Several employees said they were upset with the county’s plan — announced several weeks ago — to relocate the Family Resource Center from 591 N. King St. on the east side of San Jose to Julian Street on the west side.
Veronica Moreno De Leon, a social work supervisor at the center the past 15 years, said the move would primarily hurt low-income minorities who have come to know the center as a onestop shop for services such as counseling for family violence, translation and assistance for transitioning out of foster care.
“Members of this community are going to struggle to obtain the services that they need,” De Leon said.
Mirta Mirabel, a child support officer in the county’s Department of Child Support Services, voiced similar sentiments.
“Basically they’re setting these families up for failure,” Maribel said.
San Jose Councilman Sergio Jimenez, who represents a southern portion of the city and was a former SEIU member, joined the picketers outside the Family Resource Center.
“We need the county leadership — the Board of Supervisors, Jeff Smith and everyone else involved — to come to the table, to negotiate and to find a solution that is mutually beneficial to everyone, including the workers, the families and making sure the services go on,” Jimenez said.
Smith said contract negotiations have largely focused on salaries and claimed the union filed complaints as legal pretext to call a strike. To strike over financial issues such as raises, SEIU and the county would first have to declare an impasse and go through a formal fact-finding process, Smith said.
He said the union is asking the county for almost double the salary increases that have been offered. The county estimates its offer is worth $625 million over a five-year contract and says if the same raises that SEIU is requesting were granted to other unions, it would have to spend $1.5 billion across all units over five years.
“We’ve made it clear that we really can’t afford that, and rather than going through the typical fact-finding and impasse process at the table, which would bring in an outside part to look at the finances, the union has decided to take to the streets,” Smith said Tuesday night, before the start of the strike.
The county’s offer as of Sept. 26 calls for annual 3% salary increases over five years, with additional bumps for certain positions. The county wants employees to pay an additional $1.50 from each paycheck toward retirement health benefits and increase their share of health premiums by 2%.
SEIU representatives have declined to divulge any details about their contract negotiations or proposal to the county.
Robert Barragan, who has worked for the Roads and Airports Department 15 years, cited the changes in Family and Children’s Services as the reason for the strike. He also pointed to the rising of cost living in the Bay Area.
Barragan and other road workers picketing Wednesday said SEIU employees saw no raises after the 2008 recession, a period during which they also took several furlough days.
“We’ve continuously given back to the county,” Barragan said. “We’re all born and raised here, but it seems like we can’t live here anymore because of the cost.”
Manuel Ortega, a peer specialist at the county’s Reentry Services Center, said the increased contribution to medical benefits would wipe out any additional money employees would have received.
Smith said another economic slowdown is approaching and the property tax revenue that has driven the county’s growth in recent years will begin to slow down when it does.
“They’ve basically told us they don’t believe the predictions of a recession. They think we’ll have the same booming economy we’ve had for the last seven years, and that’s just unrealistic,” Smith said.
He said that between 2013 and 2018, SEIU members have received general wage increases each year totaling 19.9% over that span.
Steve Acosta, a county road worker for 20 years, was skeptical about Smith’s prediction of an economic slowdown and his claim that the county doesn’t have the money for additional salary increases, pointing to the recent acquisition of two hospitals and other spending initiatives.
“I think they’re using a recession as their ace-inthe-hole — you do want to save it for a rainy day, I get that, but people got rent to pay,” Acosta said. “Then go with a shorter contract.”