Some 55,000 nurses, medical personnel and other Los Angeles County workers are set to begin strike authorization votes this week as they bargain for cost-of-living raises, continued full healthcare coverage and an end to job outsourcing.
The employees, represented by the SEIU 721, will begin with in-person voting at LAC+USC Medical Center in Boyle Heights on Wednesday, April 20, followed by online voting through mid-May. Their current contract expired April.
If they vote to authorize a strike and the union’s bargaining team can’t reach an agreement with the county on a new three-year contract, the employees are ready to walk out, the union said.
In a statement issued late Monday, L.A. County said it is “currently engaged in good faith negotiations with its labor partners.”
“We are hopeful that we will reach an agreement soon on a fair contract that is fiscally responsible and recognizes our valued employees’ essential contributions,” the county said.
‘A slap in the face’
SEIU 721 Bargaining Policy Chair Ileana Meza said negotiations with the county have stalled. Specific wage details have not been released, but she described their latest offer as “a slap in the face” given the sacrifices made by frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The workers range from nurses, medical staff and social service employees, to custodians and others employed through the county’s Parks & Recreation Department, the county library system and those working as non-sworn Sheriff’s Department employees.
“The wage compensation issue is of extreme importance, but the employees also want to continue to get full healthcare coverage and help with childcare and elder care costs,” SEIU spokeswoman Roxane Marquez said. “And they don’t want any more outsourcing of county jobs.”
When county jobs are outsourced to private companies to fill staffing gaps, those workers typically receive reduced health benefits and lower wages, she said.
“We proved our heroism throughout the pandemic,” SEIU’s website said. “But L.A. County management still wants to reward us by privatizing as many of our jobs as they can and paying us as little as they can.”
Marquez said the county’s past cost-of-living increases have averaged around 2% a year.
This week’s strike authorization voting comes just two weeks after members of SEIU 721 and other labor unions shut down traffic in downtown L.A. at a “Fight for the Frontline” march and rally that highlighted the need for cost-of-living increases to compensate for inflationary price increases on everything from groceries to gasoline.
Bad faith bargaining
SEIU 721 President David Green said discounted the county’s statement and said the union has accused it of bad faith bargaining and unfair labor practices.
“We have been negotiating in good faith for six months but we’ve seen no progress from their side,” he said. “It has not been uncommon to have the county CEO come to these sessions and be totally disorganized.”
Green said some employees are in dire need of pay increases as inflation eats away at their income.
“We have some employees who can’t afford gas to get to work,” he said.
Inflation throughout the U.S. reached 8.5% in March — the highest it’s been in 40 years.
Gas price increases have been especially painful for employees who have to commute to work. On Monday, data from AAA showed L.A. County’s average price for regular unleaded gasoline was $5.80 a gallon, up $1.79 from the same time a year ago.
Green said workers are prepared to take action if a strike vote is authorized and no progress is made at the bargaining table.
“We’re ready to strike,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen … but we have prepared our members that it could happen.”