The juxtaposition in the room was telling. While San Luis Obispo County supervisors, one by one, heaped praise and accolades on several retiring department heads and deputies on Dec. 11, dozens of county workers gathered behind them holding signs.
“County employees on strike!” … “Would you work for up to 18 percent less than fair wages?!” … “I’m mandated to be on call but my pay was cut by 75 percent,” read just a few in the sea of cardboard.
It was day one of the SLO County Employees’ Association’s (SLOCEA) unprecedented four-day labor strike, and workers at the Board of Supervisors chamber had the chance to express their grievances directly to the people who set their wages. Scheduled retirement resolutions and normal county business were overshadowed by the SLOCEA strikers, who took turns blasting the supervisors for failing to keep their salaries in line with the area’s cost of living.
SLOCEA, which represents 1,737 employees, more than half the government workforce, asked for a 3 percent raise in 2018-19. County leaders gave them a 0.5 percent raise. Independent fact finders in the dispute sided with the SLOCEA, and concluded that SLO employees are compensated between 10 and 18 percent less than comparable agencies.
“It’s not right,” said Amber Trigueros, a county behavioral health therapist. “These are people who have families, who want to do the same thing you’re here doing today: your job. But we have basic needs that need to be covered. … When people can’t afford housing, and the prices of everything are going up exponentially, … help us. We’re here asking for help.”
Dozens of employees from disparate departments stated their complaints. Many fought tears.
“We are being completely underpaid and you have let all of us down, including the elders and dependent adults in our community,” said Allison, a Social Services employee working with vulnerable adult populations.
Ashley, a health education specialist, said employees in equivalent positions in Monterey and Santa Barbara counties start at salaries higher than what workers in SLO County top out at.
“We care deeply about the people in our community,” she said. “We aren’t asking to be paid more than a fair wage.”
When the meeting adjourned for lunch, strikers took to the streets outside the government center to picket for much of the afternoon. The strike is expected to continue through Dec. 14, although county officials indicated that some of the offices and services that were closed on Dec. 11 had opened on Dec. 12.
As of press time, county services impacted included the libraries (except the Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, and Cambria branches, which are open), Public Health (the San Luis STD clinic is closed), and various Behavioral Health services. Δ
This article appears in Dec 13-23, 2018.
The cost of living in San Luis Obispo County is accelerating at a rate that is driving county employees and the service industry out of the area. It is a beautiful place to live, now.
If the county wages are failing to keep pace with the cost of living here, then the beauty of this area will suffer. Rents are in excess of what it causes to own a home, but most county employees dont make the income necessary to finance a median value home in this market.
Ask the County what their succession plan is and many departments will indicate they are shifting to telecommuting where county employees dont live here, but work from home.
What does that say about our county future?
Hello SLO County Supervisors?!! If you think this kind of inequity is going to fly in these times, well, good luck with that. To get an idea of which direction the wind is blowing, take a look at what’s happening in France right now with the yellow vests movement. They started out with modest, fair demands that were met with disdain by the government, and now the genie is out of the bottle and the people will no longer be placated by some token concessions. You think this is a localized issue and that the people don’t see what’s going on?! Think again…long and hard. We working people, everywhere, are tired of politicians lining their pockets, padding their paychecks and feathering their nests at our expense. Through the global communications media we all know what’s happening all over the world, in real time, and we all see that the game is increasingly being rigged by those who we have entrusted to run it. It’s time for you, SLO County Supervisors, and other politicians to start playing fair or lose it all. At a certain point even honest, hard working people will take to the streets and stop carrying you on our backs. If you had a minimum of integrity you would rescind your own salary increases, or at least reduce them to the 0.5% you seem to think appropriate, and raise the county workers’ salaries by the amount you had raised your own pay, or at least to be comparable with other agencies. Shame on you! We are ALL watching and we are no longer going to be silent and passive. You might as well do the right thing, because we, the workers, people who actually get things done in this country, are going to start enforcing a policy of “Play fair or pay the price”. Caveat imperium!
Im sad that the County gives their management more benefits and raises, but they only give their rank and file .5%
Until the County workers, and management gets paid, what the private sector gets paid… everyone will always want more money. Why not retire on your neighbors taxed wages?
Downgrade the county salaries to the public sector average salaries.
That would be financially be amazing…. how many roads we could fix, and less demand for public taxes.
More private sector folks could afford houses, instead of just the county employees.
#inhonoroftheshredder #shredderit #newtimesshredderlove