Santa Cruz County’s staffing crisis: union workers call for urgent changes
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) — Santa Cruz County government workers preparing to strike.
The union members say their contract expired overnight and now there's concerns about how this will impact residents.
As negotiations continue, union members tell me they want to avoid a strike to help their community but feel the current offers are not fair.
Santa Cruz County government workers gathered outside as negotiations continue, demanding better wages and improved working conditions.
"Right now, as a department overall, we can't deliver on those services that facilities, restaurants, water systems and so forth that are already paying for because we don't have the staffing to get out there and get the job done," Troy Boon Environmental Health Department said.
SEIU 521 members are raising alarms over understaffing and fair compensation.
"Santa Cruz County doesn't pay a competitive wage, it's the the lowest out of all the the surrounding counties and yet we have the highest cost of living," Mary Beth works for children's behavioral health said.
As of Wednesday night, the contract between Santa Cruz County and SEIU 521 which represents over eighteen hundred county employees has expired with a potential strike in place, what this means for the community.
"There's about twenty-eight hundred FTE's in the county, not all of those positions are filled at this time," Jason Hoppins County PIO said. "This would represent about two thirds of the workforce and some of those would be designated essential. I don't know what that number would be, but it would probably be in the hundreds, it would affect our services for sure."
According to the county, the last strike occurred in 2006 and lasted one day.
Officials assure that the public safety will not be affected and essential functions like elections will continue uninterrupted, allowing residents to vote even in the event of a strike.
"For example, during the last strike, we were able to continue operating, operating our clinics," Hoppins said. "They may be reduced in hours, so we would recommend anybody calling ahead if you have an appointment to make sure that what you need is there. We will try to provide as many services as we can, although probably at a reduced level with reduced hours, some lobbies will be closed."
The union is asking for at least what is comparable with other counties.
Negotiations are ongoing as both sides work toward a resolution.
According to the county, SEIU will give them a notice if they are going to go on a potential strike, which at this time they have not received that notice.
