LAKE COUNTY – An effort by In Home Support Service”s (IHSS) labor union is underway to recall four of the county”s elected supervisors. And according to union president Tyrone Freeman, the statewide union is prepared to spend between $1.5 and $2 million to that end.
Freeman said 95 percent of the union”s voting membership is in favor of the recall effort. With a reported 1,379 members in the county, and 42 percent of them returning authorization cards sent out June 8 to garner financial support for the effort, that puts the number of IHSS union members in favor of the recall at 551, rounding up.
The movement was apparently spurred by a June 5 Board of Supervisors decision to seek support from the California Department of Social Services for what washes as a $1 raise for the county”s IHSS providers.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors sits as the board of directors to the county”s Public Authority (PA), which has been in negotiations with California United Healthcare Workers (CUHW) to establish a contract outlining wages, benefits and training for going on four years.
CUHW President Freeman called on union members to recall “specific members of the County Board of Supervisors” in a June 8 letter to his union members. The recall effort will target supervisors Rob Brown, Anthony Farrington, Ed Robey and Jeff Smith.
Included with the letter were authorization cards mailed to each member asking them to authorize the union to take $5 out of their pay checks every month for six months to be used toward the recall. That would make a grand total of $16,530 over six months available from local union members.
To set a precedent, Freeman explained. He said in a recent interview with the Record-Bee that the Board of Supervisors has not been clear about who would pay for the drug testing, criminal background checks and CPR and first aid training the board wants to set as conditions of being on the county”s registry of providers.
The sore spot is that the county”s proposed $1 raise, if approved, would be for those IHSS workers who are on the county”s registry.
Freeman said he”s in favor of those conditions, and that his concern is who will pay for them. “I support fingerprinting and the whole nine yards,” said Freeman. “I”m not opposed to drug testing; what I”m opposed to is drug testing being tied to raises and workers having to pay for it, because you”ll have to give your pay raise back.”
Dist. 1 Supervisor Ed Robey begged to differ, saying the question was raised in the June 5 meeting, and that the county had offered to foot the bill for those requirements.
“We said we”d pay for it and we”ve always said we”d pay for it,” said Robey. “We”ve never said otherwise. What he”s (Freeman) done is created a phantom issue.”
“We have stood strong and opposed any proposal from the County that requires an IHSS provider or consumer to ”pay for a drug test; pay for a criminal background check, and/or pay for mandated training,” as a condition of receiving the proposed wage increase,” states Freeman”s June 8 letter.
“He”s a liar,” said Dist. 5 Supervisor Brown in a recent response. “If he”s going to use that letter as a means of fraudulently generating money from IHSS workers in Lake County, then he”s a liar. That may be the value of his word and his bond in L.A., but we play it differently here in Lake County.”
County Counsel Anita Grant also referred to a misrepresentation of facts in a letter she sent June 29 in response to Freeman”s June 8 letter. “While is is certainly your right to encourage political action, I strongly suggest that it is an abuse of the political process to engage in blatant misrepresentation of the facts in order to garner support,” writes Grant.
She goes on to state that neither the county nor the PA has ever said the costs for criminal background checks, drug testing or CPR and first aid training should be paid by IHSS providers or recipients.
Grant explains in the letter that while the wage rate change for IHSS providers on the county”s registry proposed June 5 would require random drug testing, criminal background checks and CPR and first aid training, “it was expressly and repeatedly stated that this was only an inquiry to determine whether the State would participate in the funding of such a proposal and that, if the proposal received a positive response from the State, meet and confer would occur with the union.”
Grant goes on to ask that Freeman review an enclosed copy of the DVD recording of the June 5 meeting, and that he issue a full written retraction to the union membership.
Another point of contention, said Freeman, is that the Board of Supervisors took what he said should have been a private discussion to the public in its June 5 meeting. “They”re trying to set up a situation where it looks like the union won”t take a dollar,” said Freeman. He added that CUHW”s counter proposal – which he said should have been included in the county”s proposal to the state – included a $1 raise for IHSS providers every year for three years.
Freeman summed up his concerns this way: “By not increasing workers” wages you jeopardize the quality of care provided to seniors and disabled in this community.”
“Make no mistake that the only body advocating for our seniors and disabled populations is our county Board of Supervisors,” said Dist. 4 Supervisor Farrington in a recent interview with the Record-Bee.
“The union is advocating for a wage increase; they”re only looking out for providers. They”re not looking for providing safe and clean quality care for seniors and the disabled. That”s what we”re advocating for,” he said
Farrington”s view echoed concerns expressed by two of his fellow board members under fire. “This is why I feel the Board of Supervisors is doing the right thing,” said Brown. “How can it be wrong to expect people to take drug tests and background checks and have basic training in CPR and first aid that are going into the homes of the elderly, and be rewarded for it at no expense to them?”
But Freeman is expansive in his reasoning for the recall, saying the effort would include broader issues.
“The most important thing is that from the organization I represent and the members I represent, this recall campaign is a lot more than just who pays for drug tests and wages and hours for providers. It”s going to be about issues in the community of Lake that people want to see responsiveness from the board to. That”s important. That”s what”s driving this campaign,” he said.
Such issues might include environmental concerns, public safety, traffic congestion and even the fact that the supervisors meet during working hours, said Freeman.
As to where the money for the campaign will come from, Freeman pointed to not only his presiding role over CUHW, but to his position as vice president of Service Employees International Union. “I represent over 200,000 men and woman in long-term care statewide and we have the resources,” Freeman said.
He said CUHW”s next step is to generate newspaper, television and radio ads and go through the steps necessary to get the issue on a ballot for Lake County”s voters to decide.
Dist. 3 Supervisor Rushing had no comment on the matter, nor did Dist. 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
