Friday, February 13, SEIU Local 1021 members working at Solano County delivered hundreds of Valentine’s Day-themed petitions to the Solano County Board of Supervisors.

Dressed as cupids, members marched to the sixth floor of 675 Texas St, Fairfield — home to the Board’s offices — where they chanted, gave speeches, and hand-delivered petitions demanding action.

While cupids traditionally celebrate love, SEIU 1021 members say their “Broken Hearts Club” is protesting the County’s neglect of critical public services.

• Sheriff dispatch is down 6 positions, meaning when the public calls for help, they are left waiting longer, right when it’s needed the most: break-ins, children at risk, crashes and accidents, and violence.
• Solano County’s Health & Social Services (HSS) are dangerously understaffed. Right now, more than 200 full-time positions sit vacant, and over the past five fiscal years, the County has underspent its HSS staffing budget by an average of $32.2 million! This directly leads to delays. Even when Solano’s most vulnerable do get an appointment, there are longer and longer waits to receive Medi-Cal and SNAP benefits. These delays can be life-or-death — the difference between a child having a home or facing eviction and adding to food insecurity. 
• County therapists and mental-health clinicians are also severely understaffed. According to a March 2024 external review commissioned by the California Department of Health Care Services, for a third year in a row the County has failed to provide adequate timely psychiatric care to children and youth in foster care by state standard. It’s almost impossible for new patients to get an appointment. That means self-harm will increase and the continued possibility of danger and violence on our streets.

“We’re here to show the heartbreak our community is feeling,” said SEIU 1021 North Central Regional Vice President Elizabeth Harrison. “When the Solano County Board of Supervisors refuses to bargain in good faith, public services suffer, and ultimately our Solano community suffers.”

The Valentine’s Day action follows a two-day unfair labor practice strike on January 12–13, when thousands of members of a coalition of four county unions — SEIU 1021, IFPTE 21, IUOE 39, and UAPD — walked off the job to demand fair bargaining and adequate staffing.