A few hundred Stanislaus County social workers, child support specialists and other government workers picketed outside the Community Services Agency on Monday, in what could be the first strike against the county in decades.þþService Employees International Union Local 521 President Kate Selover said she and other union leaders plan to make their case before the Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday meeting.þþStrikers are protesting what they say is a lack of competitive pay and high turnover. They say the lack of adequate staffing and resources has put children, seniors, disabled people and other vulnerable clients at risk.þþSEIU Local 521 represents about 700 county workers, including social workers, child support specialists, community service workers and mental heath workers.þþSelover — who works as a child support officer — said she could not recall another strike by employees during her 30 years with the county. She said the strike could continue through Wednesday.þþþShe said nearly 400 employees took part in Monday’s protest. She said the roughly 150 employees who are recent hires and still on probation with the county as well as part-time employees were asked not to strike but to go to work.þþCounty spokeswoman Amy Vickery in an email said the strike affects seven county departments “that provide essential services to the public.”þþþVickery said the county has plans in place to make sure essential services continue. She said the county has been negotiating with the union for seven months, adding “the county has offered the SEIU the same level of wage and benefit increases that have been approved by unions representing the vast majority of county employees.”þþVickery and Selover said they remain hopeful a resolution can be reached.þþ
Source: www.modbee.com
