The Board of Supervisors approved tentative contracts with two of its labor unions this week, SEIU 1021 and the Law Enforcement Management Association. But the caregivers, of SEIU 2015, are still asking for a wage that can compete with fast food workers.
The caregivers work for IHSS, or In Home Support Services, for Medi Cal clients. Union representative Cesar Alvarado says raising caregiver wages will bring more state and federal money into the county. “The federal government will pay 50%, the state will pay 35%, and the local government 15% of wage increases,” he said, after caregivers appealed to the Board for higher wages. “So every time we get a dollar as a wage increase, like right now we have one dollar on top of minimum wage, Mendocino County only pays about 15% of that one dollar. If we as a government in Mendocino County do not take advantage of that, we are just leaving federal and state dollars on the table.”
As of the first of the year, caregivers make $17 an hour. Priscilla Tarver, an IHSS caregiver, says it’s time for $20 because the work is physically and emotionally grueling, and costs continue to rise. Caregivers have encountered hoarding situations, abusive clients, and terrible sanitary conditions. “We’ve had caregivers be injured,” she said. “But they go back, because they know that this person needs them.” Many caregivers are elderly and in need of care themselves, “because the newer people aren’t coming in. They can’t live on what they’re being paid. You never thought bread would get to be a dollar. Well, it’s five and six dollars now…We know that wages will never meet the cost of living. But we try to get to the point where we can at least pay the bills and not come out negative every month.”
The Board was in closed session with negotiators from the caregivers union Wednesday, and the next negotiating session will be next Thursday. Alvarado says it’s already hard to find new workers. “Every fast food restaurant worker in the state of California will be making $20 an hour, as of April first,” he pointed out, predicting that, “The county will have a very hard time trying to get caregivers.”
During the brief Board discussion about the contracts that were approved with two of the county’s other labor unions, Supervisor Dan Gjerde indicated that he thinks the increases are only a short term solution. The members of the Law Enforcement Management Association were brought up to 100% of market wage, based on similar wages in communities Gjerde does not think are comparable to Mendocino County.
While he supported those two contracts, he reminded the Board that the current contracts are based on comparisons that were made four years ago with six counties and two cities where the median household income is 33% higher than that of Mendocino County. “So you could say the tax base in those communities is 33% higher” than it is locally, he argued. “Four years ago, we tried to bring the county employees to 90% of that average, and 95% if they were paid primarily out of state and federal sources. WIth this contract (with the Law Enforcement Management Association), we’re going even farther. We’re moving employees to 100% of the average within those six counties and two cities. And I predict that we will be able to balance the budget in the short run, but in the long run, it won’t be sustainable, because the community won’t accept the cuts” that he believes will be necessary to fund the wage increase. He suggested that future comparative salary studies compare Mendocino County to Humboldt, Lake and Sonoma County, where the median household income is still higher, but not by a third.
Meanwhile, workers in SEIU 1021, the county’s largest labor union, will be brought up to an agreed-upon market rate by 2025. Their union rep, Patrick Hickey, had some budgeting advice for the county. “Negotiations, which lasted over ten months, were unnecessarily contentious,” he revealed. “The primary reason for this was the lack of financial information available for negotiations. The Board, county employees and county residents deserve to have a timely, clear and transparent picture of the county’s fiscal position and whether it’s meeting its budget targets…Throughout the negotiations, the previous two years of the county’s finances were a black hole. The Board should make sure it never finds itself in this situation again.”
Dysfunctional economy: California (PG&E) has the highest electricity rates, highest insurance, highest gasoline prices, highest real estate prices, and some of the highest cost of living in the entire US. Anyone who goes to the grocery store will notice that food prices are sky high.
Then we have employers crying that they can’t find workers to work for minimum wage. In Econ 101, they teach that in the labor supply/demand curve, the wages need to go up in order for more labor supply. This is basic supply/demand. It does not take a PhD in Econ to figure it out: wages need to rise. Wages have risen, but still not enough to match inflation.