Union vote gives OK to strike

Move would affect more than 700 municipal employees who tend to streets and parks

A union representing more than 700 Riverside municipal employees who maintain city streets and parks, handle 911 calls and perform other key tasks has voted to authorize a strike.

The employees include police dispatchers, wastewater workers, street crews, code enforcement officers, park maintenance staff and mechanics who fix city vehicles, said Kyle Gregory, a spokesperson for Service Employees International Union Local 721.

Gregory said the workers, who have been seeking a pay raise to help them keep pace with the growing cost of living, cast ballots during a two-week period last month and the votes were counted June 29.

Of those who cast ballots, 97% agreed to authorize a strike, he said, though he did not know the number of yes and no votes. The union issued a news release about the authorization Thursday.

Jennie Pauli, police program coordinator and member of the union’s bargaining team, said the union delayed reporting the vote until then “to give the city the benefit of the doubt” that its representatives would negotiate in good faith.

Pauli said the union team, after meeting twice since then with city negotiators and making no progress, decided to publicly announce the vote.

The union accuses the city of engaging in unfair labor practices.

City spokesperson Phil Pitchford countered that Riverside officials are attempting to reach an agreement with the union.

“The city of Riverside is working diligently in good faith with SEIU on a proposed new contract,” Pitchford wrote in an email. “We remain hopeful that we will reach an agreement soon.”

The vote doesn’t mean a strike is imminent, Gregory said, but it empowers the union’s bargaining committee to call one.

“We will meet with the city on Monday,” Pauli said. “Hopefully, it will get resolved before it goes that far.”

If a strike is called, Gregory said, the union would give the city advance notice before employees walk off the job.

Although the mix of city employees includes people who work in the dispatch center, Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback said the agency doesn’t expect dispatchers to strike because police officers, firefighters and others who respond to emergencies are prohibited by law from striking.

“Our dispatch center will not be affected if there is a strike,” he said. “They are considered first responders.”

Railsback said 38 dispatchers currently work in the city’s public safety communications center and seven others are being trained to handle emergency calls.

“We’re not worried about it,” Railsback said of the strike vote. “We’ve got great dispatchers. They are first responders who know the importance and value of their job.”

In summer 2013, emergency dispatchers in San Jose threatened to strike during a dispute with Santa Clara County, and a county executive vowed to seek a court order to compel them to work if they did.

Several days later, their union and that county reached an agreement.

The Riverside vote followed more than two years of “disrespect” shown employees by city management, the SEIU Local 721 news release says. Workers have had to contend with unfilled

positions, high turnover and “grueling” workloads, while going more than two years without a cost-of-living adjustment, the union news release stated.

Pauli said the union’s contract expired July 1, 2020, and because of the pandemic employees agreed to extend terms for another 12 months. But now, Pauli said, the employees have gone without a new contract since July 1, 2021. Talks with the city began in February 2021, she said, but they have gone nowhere.

“We all did our fair share of being heroes during COVID and and we just want a fair contract,” Pauli said.

Pauli accused the city of engaging in “engaging in union-busting tactics” by not allowing union representatives access to city facilities to talk to member employees.

“We don’t want to go on strike, but we will if we have to,” she said.