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Public-sector workers across Northern California are facing staffing and retention issues, which in turn are impacting the important services they provide. Now, in partnership with IFPTE 21, our members in Solano County are calling attention to the ways that understaffing hurts us all, and in particular the most vulnerable members of our communities.

Dear SEIU 1021 Member:
 
Last week a difficult week for Alameda Health System, as two workers there passed away: Maria Tran, a psychiatric nurse at John George, and Dr. Jing Mai, a physician resident intern at Highland. These untimely deaths are terribly sad, and while we may never fully understand why tragedies like these occur, we know the effects will be felt in our workplaces and in our communities for a long time.
 

SEIU 1021 members working in San Francisco’s nonprofits provide a range of important services. They work for social services organizations, supportive housing nonprofits, museums, and more. They help feed, educate, heal, and house people. They are there for some of our city’s most vulnerable residents at their most difficult moments—and this year, they’ve shown how belonging to SEIU 1021 allows them to do this life-changing work without being taken advantage of by their employers.

In a year where many SEIU 1021 chapters have been negotiating new contracts, the North Coast region from Marin County to Del Norte County has been scoring some important wins.

For example, the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) bargaining team, with the help of members’ advocacy and activism, won an impressive 24% wage increase over three years (8% per year starting July 1, 2022), in addition to one-time hazard pay bonuses of $750-1500 and improvements in contract language around non-discrimination, working conditions, layoffs, and more.

When a mass movement of workers comes together, nothing is impossible. Assembly Bill 257, the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, or FAST Recovery Act, passed the California State Senate last Monday, August 29, 2022. The next day, the California State Assembly re-approved the bill.

A huge victory for community clinic workers! For the first time in our state’s history, all community clinic workers will receive $1,000 retention bonuses.

This victory wouldn’t have been possible without the participation and leadership of SEIU clinic workers across California. By uniting and bringing lawmakers’ attention to the struggles we face, we were able to secure this historic investment in workers.

You can check out a list of common questions and answers about the bonuses by clicking here.

On Thursday, August 25, SEIU 1021 joined US Senator Alex Padilla and San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, along with officials from the California Department of Public Health and San Francisco Department of Public Health, at a press conference to discuss the growing monkeypox outbreak.

Padilla toured San Francisco’s main monkeypox vaccine site at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital as California surpasses 3,000 cases statewide. After the tour, local and state leaders advocated for additional vaccines and equitable distribution throughout California.

Emily Flores works at Oakland’s Highland Hospital as a community health outreach worker in the Care Transitions Program. She helps identify the patients who are most at risk and most in need of help navigating our healthcare system and helps them find resources, programs, and tools to assist them in taking better care of their health. Last week, she got the news that President Joe Biden had taken bold action to address our nation’s student debt crisis.