Oakland City Workers Fight To Fill 600 Vacant Positions
Over 400 Oakland City workers picketed outside City Hall on
September 25. A sea of purple and blue shirts united in the
streets as union members of SEIU Local 1021 and IFPTE Local 21
stopped traffic to send a message to the Mayor.
Oakland is facing a crisis and residents are being starved of
city services.
“We’re severely understaffed, and have more than 600 vacant
positions. That’s 600 people who are not filling Oakland’s
potholes, preventing residents from getting evicted, paving
streets, or helping our homeless population. We’re doing the work
of 2 to 3 people, sometimes 4 or 5. And we’re underpaid. But we
stay because we love Oakland,” said Felipe Cuevas, City of
Oakland heavy equipment mechanic and SEIU 1021 Oakland Chapter
President.
SEIU 1021 President Joseph Bryant reflected on another side of
the vacancies. He told the story of Davin Barnett Jr.
who was born and raised in Oakland and was
homeless before being hired as a city worker. “Now he’s
gainfully employed, he loves his job, he loves serving the City
of Oakland,” Bryant said, “and there are 600 other opportunities
that could have the same impact on somebody’s life.”
Davin Barnett Jr. works in the Oakland’s Illegal Dumping
Department picking up trash and servicing homeless
encampments.
“At one point in time I was homeless. I was sleeping in the back
of 1999 Honda Accord, said Barnett. “I did everything possible
and followed all the procedures to get this job. If Oakland has
hella (600) jobs, then Oakland should hire hella people.”
The union and employer start the fact-finding process with a hearing before a neutral third party. The hearing starts Oct. 2 and is slated to wrap up next week.