As the “rolling work stoppage” by members of Santa Clara County’s largest public employee union continued into its third week, the 11,648 members began voting Oct. 22 on the county’s “last, best and final” five-year contract.
The union members’ vote continues to Nov. 5, which means the work stoppages are likely to continue until the impasse is resolved.
Representatives of the Service Employees International Union Local 521 said the job action that began Oct. 7 was legally justified because the county improperly moved a Family and Children’s Services office without first consulting with the union.
The county has countered that the allegation is a ruse intended to authorize an illegal job action aimed at bringing attention to the dispute over the contract that expired on June 16. Each side has filed complaints with the state Public Employment Relations Board as contract negotiations collapsed.
The revolving strike forced a one-day closure of the county’s public libraries on Oct. 19, as workers from Gilroy, Morgan Hill and five other libraries joined pickets at the Cupertino Public Library, protesting the county’s allegedly unfair labor practices, staff shortages and “the inability to properly recruit and retain qualified staff.”
At the Cupertino Library, library assistant Lucia LeBlanc said, “Many in our community depend on the services our libraries have to offer but don’t always realize that we the workers do not have the resources we need.
“Too many of our co-workers are taking on extra work that doesn’t always reflect our job duties to meet the staffing shortages, and it is not sustainable.”
The union complained that the county’s current 7 percent vacancy rate, or about 1,500 vacant positions, is excessive.
Prior work stoppages last week forced the county to reschedule elective surgeries at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and O’Connor Hospital, and to close outpatient physical and occupational therapy services for one day.
County Employee Services Agency Director John Mills responded to the union’s vacancy complaint by saying, “Operationally, consistent full staffing is not realistic because there will always be some turnover due to transfers, promotions, retirements, etc. Vacancy rate/turnover has been remarkably consistent over the past five years.”
He also said that between October 2018 and October 2019, the county had a 94 percent retention rate for SEIU-represented employees.
The county added nearly 2,000 employees—including 739 SEIU-represented workers—with the acquisition this year of O’Connor and St. Louise hospitals and the DePaul medical clinic.
The significance of this labor dispute goes beyond the issues affecting half the county’s 22,000 workforce, because of its impact on six other union contracts up this year.
The County Employees Management Association, with 2,475 members, has been without a contract since June 16.
The contracts for the Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20, IFPTE, AFL-CIO & CLC, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21, representing 261 employees, expired Sept. 22.
The contracts for the Registered Nurses Professional Association, with 3,001 county members, and 63-member Union of American Physicians and Dentists AFSCME expired Oct. 20.
County residents can stay informed of service updates at www.sccgov.org/strikeupdate.
The county’s “last, best and final offer” was presented to the SEIU on Oct. 15. The offer includes a 3 percent general wage increase for all SEIU-represented employees effective upon ratification, with additional 3 percent guaranteed wage increases each year for the next four years, for a cumulative increase of nearly 16 percent over five years.
The offer also removes the county’s prior request that employees contribute 2 percent of the premium toward the cost of their health care, and provides additional wage increases that would apply to specific job classifications above and beyond the across-the-board 3 percent per year general wage increase. And there are no changes to the pension and health benefits the county already provides to SEIU-represented employees.
County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith provided the following statement on the status of negotiations:
“The Board of Supervisors and county administration recognize the very difficult financial situation faced by residents of the county, including our own employees. Our employees are the county’s greatest asset. They are devoted public servants who provide critical services to our community every day. The county has proposed significant wage increases designed to keep their salaries highly competitive with those of other public servants in the region, while also protecting the stability of the county budget in the hopes of minimizing the impact of an economic downturn on our critical services and workforce.”
