Dozens of Rebekah Children’s Services workers represented by SEIU Local 521 held an informational picket July 15 outside the agency’s Gilroy campus, calling on management to halt layoffs of union positions and return to the bargaining table after months of stalled contract talks.
The picket, held at noon outside RCS’s office on IOOF Avenue, came the same day management laid off the first of what the union says are six positions, which make up 10% of the union’s membership at the agency. RCS has a total workforce of more than 270.
Union representatives said the layoffs come as RCS administrative staff have taken higher salaries and while the nonprofit boasts a growing budget surplus.
RCS, which provides mental health, foster care and educational services to children and families across Santa Clara and San Benito counties, said the layoffs were driven by state and county budget cuts resulting from the Trump administration’s H.R. 1 federal reconciliation bill. They said they have eliminated or cut contracts tied to three programs: School-Linked Services, School-Based Early Intervention, and Differential Response.
“Santa Clara County is under a $1 billion dollar deficit, which our agency contracts are directly tied to,” RCS CEO Christophe Rebboah wrote in a statement. “Rebekah Children’s Services is experiencing a total reduction in our contract of $5.4 million due to rate reductions for services billed, program closures and cuts. Layoffs are never easy and are a last resort, but we remain committed to being good stewards of our public funds.”
Union members dispute that the cuts are financially necessary. Marina Garduno, a family coach and member of the union’s bargaining team, said RCS has reported roughly $5 million in annual surpluses over the past five years and holds about $13 million in cash on hand.
“We’re being asked to work more because of budget cuts, despite there being a surplus, and for a long time,” said Tyler Klindt, an intensive home-based service provider and union member. “Having the positions cut, on top of not having our wages properly increased in over four years, really has put us in a difficult position.”
Affected workers and union stewards said the layoffs came in the middle of a bargaining process that has dragged on for more than a year. The negotiations were originally driven by wage disputes.
Workers said their previous contract had included close to no cost-of-living increases, while, according to union members, RCS’s chief executive’s compensation ballooned from “somewhere in the ballpark” of $250,000 to $400,000. According to the online nonprofit financial data aggregator CauseIQ, Rebboah was compensated $368,417 in 2025.
“We are the ones that provide the direct services and the backbone to the agency,” said Ruby Lopez-Flores, an intensive home-based services provider. “When we aren’t being valued, or almost feeling like we’re taken advantage of because they know we love what we do. It’s heartbreaking, it’s insulting.”
Case manager Karina Grajales said the union asked RCS months ago what the agency intended to do to avoid layoffs, including whether executives would forgo raises, but said the agency did not provide a clear answer.
“Now they’re coming to us with layoffs, and now we’re publicly seeing they’ve gotten raises,” Grajales said.
RCS said it requested professional mediation through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service on March 23 after bargaining sessions “became unproductive,” and that mediation sessions were scheduled for July 21 and 22.
“We have been in continual contact and communication with the Union and FMCS,” the agency said. “We are hopeful that we will come to a mutually acceptable agreement.”
Union members delivered a 10-day strike notice to the management of RCS July 15, as required by law for medical service providers before stopping work. They plan to begin striking July 27 if an agreement is not reached.
With a staff of more than 270 employees organized into multidisciplinary teams of four or five staff members, RCS said its size would allow it to continue meeting client needs.
“We will continue to serve thousands of children, youth and families and are dedicated to fulfilling our 129-year mission of bringing hope, happiness and well-being to our communities that we are privileged to serve,” Rebboah wrote.
Workers said the stakes go beyond staffing numbers. Lopez-Flores said many of the children RCS serves have experienced trauma or instability and may see a provider as one of few consistent, trusted adults in their lives.
“They can tell us about what they’re struggling with,” Lopez-Flores said. “We are the people that they go to when they’re having a hard time. When they lose that, not only will it affect them because they no longer have the support, but that creates a disruption in their lives that they lost someone important to them.”
Grajales said turnover already runs high at RCS, and layoffs threaten to worsen the problem. According to SEIU Local 521, turnover among RCS union staff is roughly 22% annually, which they said is the highest of any mental health provider represented by the union.
“We should be meeting with the kids for 6-12 months, sometimes longer,” Klindt said. “When you are turning over nearly a quarter of the staff every year, it really does disrupt the quality and consistency of our services.”
Members said they do not want to strike and instead want a negotiated resolution that reverses the layoffs and provides competitive wages.
“We want to return to the work that we love,” Garduno said. “And we want to continue to serve the families that we know are in need, and that continue to feel the impacts of the economy.”
