**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR WED. 9/17**

Contact: Jennie Smith-Camejo, jennie.smith-camejo@seiu1021.org, (510) 710-0201

After months of often tense contract negotiations and a rally where Catholic Charities of San Francisco’s workers called public attention to the contrast between their poverty wages and the average 36% raise top executives gave themselves — including a 28% raise for CEO Ellen Hammerle, whose compensation topped $336,000 in 2023 — management signed off on an agreement establishing a $25/hour minimum wage for employees, along with other improvements. Yet several days after signing the agreement, Catholic Charities management came back requesting to replace the wage scale they had already signed off on with a different one with substantially lower wages.

Wednesday, outraged workers will hold a rally outside Catholic Charities headquarters to protest management’s apparent refusal to honor the agreement, which workers ratified by an overwhelming 95% last week.

What: Rally to protest Catholic Charities management’s refusal to honor signed agreement
Who: Catholic Charities SF employees
When: Wednesday, September 17, 3:30-5 p.m.
Where: Catholic Charities headquarters, 990 Eddy St., SF

“It is mind-blowing that a so-called ‘charitable organization’ would treat its own staff this way, going back not just on their word but on an agreement that they signed,” said Sasha Sommer, a program coordinator at Catholic Charities SF and member of the union contract negotiations team. “We reached an agreement that promised significant improvements for employees to address high turnover, short staffing, and the skyrocketing cost of living in the Bay Area for staff who dedicate so much time and energy to this organization. And what we’re getting in return is a slap in the face. They admit they agreed to it and yet refuse to commit to actually paying us what they said they would. Is this what donors and the City — which provides substantial funding — expect from a charity?”

Management has admitted that they did indeed agree to and sign off on the wage table that union members ratified last week, but claim that they had not “fully internally reviewed” the agreement — despite nearly a week lapsing between reaching the agreement at the bargaining table and management returning the signed agreement to the union. Yet they refuse to commit to honoring the agreement they signed, insisting on replacing the agreed-upon wage table containing a $25/hour minimum wage with one where wages start at $20.19/hour.

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SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 60,000 employees in local governments, nonprofit agencies, health care programs, courts, and schools throughout Northern California, including seven private colleges and numerous community colleges. SEIU Local 1021 is a diverse, member-driven organization with members who work to make our cities, schools, colleges, counties, and special districts safe and healthy places to live and raise our families.