Mayoral candidate target of backlash
Negative comments about county employees working from home getting bonuses is panned
San Jose mayoral candidate and City Council member Matt Mahan is in the hot seat after criticizing a recent decision by Santa Clara County leaders to dole out $76 million in federal relief funds in bonuses to county employees, including highly paid staff, for working through the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite scolding the county for what he called a “misuse of public funds” in a recent op-ed published by this news organization, the San Jose council member earlier this summer authorized new union contracts that also included one-time pandemic bonuses of $1,000 for thousands of full-time city employees.
Mahan says juxtaposing the city and county bonuses is an “apples to oranges comparison,” but some county employees and community leaders don’t quite see it that way.
“For us, the way we see it is he’s trying to divide essential workers and the worker movement that has carried us through the pandemic just as we are finally starting to breathe again,” said Maria Noel Fernandez, deputy Executive Director of Working Partnerships USA. “We need him to fully retract his statement, support essential workers, support hazard pay and put that support of essential workers into action.”
Fernandez’s organization has started a petition demanding that Mahan apologize for his statements.
During contract negotiations, earlier this year with five labor unions representing a wide range of city workers and Unit 99 — a group of some of the city’s highest-paid employees including department directors, senior executive staff and council office staff — the San Jose City Manager’s Office of Employee Relations agreed to provide $1,000 one-time, non-pensionable payments to full-time employees “in recognition of work performed during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The San Jose City Council, including Mahan, then unanimously approved the contracts, which featured more than $2.7 million in total bonuses, as first reported by San Jose Spotlight.
Mahan’s main criticism is that the county used coveted relief dollars meant to help communities recover from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide bonuses broadly to all employees, regardless of whether or not they were well paid and worked from home during the pandemic.
In the city’s case, he said San Jose received concessions from the unions, such as lower ongoing salary increases, in exchange for the one-time bonuses, therefore saving the city more money in the long run. He could not provide details on the concessions since labor contract negotiations are confidential.
In response to public scrutiny, Mahan has challenged Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who is also running for mayor and ratified the county ‘hero pay’ bonuses, to a candidate debate on the matter.
“Clearly this has become an issue in the mayoral race and I think it’s a very important contrast between the two of us and how we view the role of government,” he said. “Since she’s one of the architects of the plan, I’m asking her to sit down and have an open debate about the wisdom of spending $76 million on indiscriminate bonuses at the county.”
Chavez said Monday night that Mahan had not yet spoken to her about his proposed debate. As for his criticisms, Chavez steadfastly stood behind using the federal funds for county employee bonuses.
“I would honestly say that everyone on our team did something heroic during this last 18 months,” she said. “The federal government anticipated that many organizations across the country would use ARPA resources to reward and thank these very brave men and women.”
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 5 approved distributing $76 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds — about a fifth of its expected allotment — in “hero pay” bonuses outside of any contract negotiations. Approximately 22,000 employees will receive checks for their work throughout the course of the pandemic, including $2,500 for full-time employees, $500 for employees providing in-home support services and a prorated payment for part-time employees.
The federal government provided cities and counties with specific criteria for using the pandemic relief funding offered by the American Rescue Plan Act. The county bonuses, according to Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith, were provided under a “premium pay” provision, which allows public agencies to award additional compensation of up to $13 per hour to workers who were needed to maintain essential operations during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee was the only supervisor who did not vote in support. Lee, who abstained, raised concerns about supervisors possibly receiving checks and called the bonuses “almost overly generous.”
In an interview Monday, Mahan called attempts by some labor organizations to
compare the two bonuses “intellectually lazy,” “an intentional misdirection” and “an attempt to obfuscate the county’s poor decision.”
“Negotiating a union contract and reducing the
base salary ask in exchange for a one-time $1,000 bonus actually saves taxpayers money and give us more resources to recover from the pandemic,” Mahan said. “Whereas, taking ARP funds that are totally unencumbered and that are not part of a contract negotiation and saying we’ll take $76 million and give everybody a $2,500 check — even if they make $200,000$300,000 a year and have worked from home for 18 months — is just irresponsible.”
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who has yet to endorse a 2022 mayoral candidate but backed Mahan in
his bid for city council last year, sees the same distinction as Mahan.
“That’s the natural negotiation that happens in
any employee contract,” he said about offsetting ongoing wage increases with a one-time payment. “And that’s fundamentally different than simply cutting a check outside of a negotiation process.”
Mahan, who is running on a campaign focused on ensuring government accountability and fiscal responsibility, said he was not trying to attack front line workers but instead point out what he sees as “bureaucratic waste and mismanagement.”
“I think front line workers deserve our gratitude and a bonus — probably a larger bonus than they got, frankly,” he said. “If the county wanted to give it all out with bonuses, it could
have done a much better job focusing it specifically on the front line workers risking their health every day.”
Many county union workers and leaders, though, feel Mahan’s statements were still disrespectful to workers and their families.
“Matt Mahan must apologize now and stand with working families,” said Tammy Dhanota, a representative of SEIU Local 521. “Hero pay is essential for us essential workers and is a step toward recognizing our valuable sacrifices and efforts.
“All we expect is the respect we deserve.”