LAKE COUNTY — Head Start Child Development Program staff in Lake and Mendocino counties are in the process of unionizing after a majority of workers contacted by a weighty labor union expressed a desire to organize.
Head Start is a state and federally-funded preschool program and child care service for low-income families, and operates locally under the umbrella of North Coast Opportunities (NCO), a private nonprofit corporation that provides a myriad of supportive services to the community.
Head Start staff has contacted Service Employees International Union (SEIU) several times over the past 10 years, according to SEIU Local 707 Organizer Lynda McClure, and can now go forward with the effort.
“At this point in time we were able to put the time and resources into contacting all the people,” said McClure.
The contact base included approximately half of the 98 Head Start workers, who then spread the word to the rest, said McClure.
SEIU is the largest labor union in the United States, and “the fastest-growing union in North America, with 1.8 million members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico,” according to its Web site.
Problem areas identified by Head Start staff included “short staffing, lack of and confusing communication from the head office to the sites, lack of needed supplies, increased health insurance costs, and job security,” according to a recent SEIU press release.
SEIU Local 707 recently contacted nonsupervisory staff for 11 Head Start locations in Lake and Mendocino counties and filed cards Sept. 12 which were signed by a majority of the workers with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
McClure explained Wednesday that the percentage of Head Start workers who signed cards could not be disclosed, but the cards represented a majority of the staff.
“Thirty percent is acceptable by the NLRB,” said McClure on Wednesday. “We want well over 50 percent. If the staff wants to take on the process of organizing into a union, then we want them to succeed. So we wouldn”t file for an election unless we had a very strong majority. These folks are putting themselves out there.”
Family support specialist Mary Adams, who works at an Upper Lake center, said she is very much in favor of the unionization. Adams cited a need for uniformity among the centers which, she said, is lacking because often site supervisors set up the class sites. “We find that doesn”t offer a uniform program to families from site to site,” she said.
She also noted that employee morale has suffered when employees were transferred to different sites without requesting a transfer and when job descriptions have varied between job sites.
“This isn”t about strong-arming NCO. It”s about credibility in the community and accountability to the employees that work for this service. We work hard, and we sometimes don”t feel valued as employees. I don”t think they understand that,” said Adams.
“A number of employees who do hands-on work with families and children don”t have enough input into the programs,” said Adams. Referring to Head Start”s central Ukiah office, Adams said, “Central does not actually hear what we”re saying when we say we need support and why and how.”
The Upper Lake Site, said Adams, has not had outdoor playground equipment since she started working there four years ago. The teachers constructed a makeshift sandbox out of a race car toddler bed and a tarp and put up picnic tables under sun shades for the children to do outdoor arts and crafts, said Adams.
Also in that time, Adams said she has seen four site supervisors and three lead teachers come and go, highlighting the high turnover rate among Head Start staff.
An NLRB hearing officer conducted hearings in Ukiah Wednesday and Thursday to decide whether or not lead teachers will be included in the effort to organize.
After Wed-nesday”s hearing, McClure noted that NCO wants lead teachers excluded from the unionization effort on the basis that they may be counted as supervisors.
If lead teachers are excluded, support for unionization could potentially suffer a 22-percent reduction, as 22 of the total 98 Head Start staff in the region are lead teachers.
The effort includes teacher”s aides, family support and resource specialists and cooks, and may include teachers, depending on the NLRB decision. McClure explained that once the hearings are over, NLRB will take the testimonies from teachers and other Head Start staff subpoenaed by both SEIU and NCO back to the San Francisco regional office.
Joseph Norelli, regional director at the NLRB San Francisco office, said Thursday that he is the ultimate decision-maker in the approximate two-week process of determining whether the lead teachers will be excluded from the union.
Norelli explained that the burden of proof is on the NCO employers to prove that lead teachers are supervisors and should be excluded. “If they are found to be supervisors, these people are going to be deprived of the rights that are given to employees under the National Relations Act. Therefore it”s a heavy burden on employers to prove that they are supervisors and should not have rights under the statutes,” he said.
“NCO is saying lead teachers should not be included in the union because they are supervisors,” said McClure. “They are not supervisors within what the legal definition of supervisors” is.”
Norelli explained that there are a number or criteria defining what a supervisor is, including whether or not a staff member may hire and fire or effectively recommend hiring and firing and whether they independently discipline employees.
After the decision is made, NLRB will direct the parties to set a date and discuss the process for a secret ballot election that will determine whether or not Head Start will unionize based on a majority vote.
Lead teacher Lilia Moreno of the Lakeport Head Start school said Wednesday that she has chosen not to be part of the unionization at this point, but acknowledged a need for more information on the issue.
“I chose not to because I”m pretty much content with the decisions made here. We have good supervisors, and personally I haven”t had issues where I”ve felt we need a union,” said Moreno.
When asked about the problem areas identified by Head Start staff in Lake and Mendocino counties, Moreno acknowledged a need for additional staffing at the Lakeport location and a desire to be more of a part of the decision-making process regarding policies and procedures that affect the staff.
Formerly the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) for Lake and Mendocino counties, NCO now provides volunteer programs for seniors, child care for low-income families, business support services, community action facilitation, support services for adult care providers, the Foster Grandparent Program, and Rural Communities Child care along with the Head Start Program.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
