The union representing in-home care workers alleged Tuesday that Los Angeles County officials violated labor laws during contract talks, while negotiators for the employer said they were bargaining in good faith and ready to move forward.
SEIU Local 2015 claimed it had reached a tentative agreement Friday with the Personal Assistance Services Council, the employer of record for in-home supportive service workers, established by the county to facilitate discussions on wages and benefits. Then the county chief executive officer called and told PASC officials not to sign the deal, according to the union.
“The county overstepped its authority,” said SEIU Local 2015 spokesman Scott Mann. “The county has never stepped in before. We were quite surprised.”
However, PASC Director Greg Thompson said that’s not what happened. He said the two sides were meeting for the first time in person after an earlier 15-minute talk to set ground rules and were only reviewing an initial list of demands and negotiating over language.
“We were still drafting the document,” Thompson told City News Service, adding that he had made clear to the union that the proposal would have to be discussed with the county as a next step, as the PASC doesn’t have insight into county budget constraints or the authority to approve wage levels on its own.
Miscommunication and misinformation brought the meeting to an end, Thompson said, stressing that he was never told to stop negotiating.
The union rallied as many as 200 of the 170,000 workers it represents to attend Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting and express their frustration directly.
Many used their time to ask the board to approve a $15 hourly wage, while a union representative said leadership planned to file a charge with the state Public Employment Relations Board.
Mann says the union is aiming for $1 above minimum wage plus training and basic health and safety supplies for workers, all of which he thought were part of a deal leadership had struck with the PASC.
IHSS caregivers earn $11.18 and have been working without a contract since July 31, according to the union. They provide in-home care services to low-income seniors and people with disabilities, including bathing, meal preparation, transportation, oversight of medications and domestic work.
Mann argues that home care workers are an “economic engine for the county (that) more than pays for itself,” citing a study by Beacon Economics that focused on the leverage effect of federal and state funding on economic output, income generated and jobs created.
The county pays 16.5 cents on the dollar of IHSS workers’ pay, with state and federal agencies making up the rest. But most of the benefit flows to the county, including through tax revenues, according to the Beacon analysis.
The union plans a candlelight vigil and mass at La Placita Church in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night, an action it says is a call for PASC to return to the bargaining table and sign a fair agreement without county interference.
For his part, Thompson said he needs to take the demands to the county and then “we’ll absolutely be ready to go back to the bargaining table.”