Union workers vote to authorize walkout after noontime rally at
Morgan Hill headquarters
n By Katie Niekerk Staff Writer

Union employees of Community Solutions are set to strike beginning Feb. 11 amid continuing negotiations with agency management.

The decision was reached Monday after an hour-long union employee rally outside the human services agency’s main office at 16264 Church St. in Morgan Hill.

Union spokesman Andrew Hagelshaw said the biggest point of contention is the agency’s proposal of a two-tier system where current and new employees would not receive health care coverage for spouses and dependents. Currently, Community Solutions provides complete coverage for employees, spouses and dependents, with no limit on the number of dependents.

Additionally, Hagelshaw said, management is offering no wage increases for 2005 and 2006, with the first proposal to re-open wage negotiations in 2007. Union employees’ annual salaries range from $25,000 to $45,000, the lowest paid being janitors and maintenance workers and the highest paid being counselors and therapists. The salaries of all other positions, including case managers, administrative support and program coordinators, range between $35,000 and $40,000.

Lastly is the issue of seniority. Agency management wants to be able to lay off employees by seniority only if their skills, qualifications and abilities are equal, Hagelshaw said, so a veteran employee could be laid off before a recent hire who has more education, even if the education is not a requirement for the job.

Erin O’Brien, CEO of Community Solutions, said the reality of the economic climate has forced the agency to look at cutting costs, and the agency wants to keep communication with its employees open and honest.

“We really value our staff, and we firmly believe our mission applies to our employees just as it does to our clients,” she said. “I’m regretful the process is as divisive as it is.”

The most recent contract between union employees, represented by Service Employees International Union Local 715, and agency management was negotiated in October 2003 and expired Monday. This is the first time in Community Solutions’ roughly 30-year history that union employees have given notice to strike, O’Brien said.

“If we can’t take care of our families, we can’t take care of the community, and that’s what we’re here to do,” said Kathy Lawrence, a Gilroy resident and Community Solutions administrative assistant.

Negotiations began Dec. 13, broke for the holidays and resumed Jan. 10. Negotiators have been meeting biweekly and held meetings through the weekend that stretched to 1am Monday, said Linda Jordan, Community Solutions chief operating officer and lead negotiator for agency management.

Jordan said management has been forthcoming with union employees regarding the agency’s budget, which has become especially tight over the past three years due to deep funding cuts from Santa Clara County. The county has guaranteed a $700,000 cut for 2005-06, Jordan said. The agency also receives state and federal funding as well as private donations.

“We’ve been very creative over the past few years so we didn’t have to implement lay offs,” Jordan said. “Now we’re getting to the point of not just containing costs, but cutting costs.”

Community Solutions pays an average of $9,000 per year per employee in health coverage, Jordan said. The agency last year absorbed an 80-percent increase in insurance costs from Kaiser and a 42-percent increase from Blue Cross and Blue Shield, both for the same levels of coverage.

But like many union employees, Lawrence said it’s simply unfair to make workers pay out-of-pocket costs for coverage for their spouses and children.

Gilroy Dispatch reporter Katie Niekerk can be reached at [email protected] or 847-7097.

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A staff member wrote, edited or posted this article, which may include information provided by one or more third parties.

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