A charge has been filed with the California Public Employment Relations Board regarding the failure of EHSD's administrators to meet and confer with AFSCME Local 512.

Judy Dias, the  Department's HR Director, advised a few 512 members in casual conversation on or about February 16, 2010 that it had hired 81 County temps as Eligibility Workers. Proper notice was not given to the Union, nor was a Meet and Confer opportunity extended. The temps began arriving on February 22 and were assigned to various EW Supervisors before they were interviewed, fingerprinted or trained. The EW Supervisor's workload had been the subject of a recent sideletter. The Department's action in hiring the temps served only to INCREASE the workload.

Some of the issues that the EHSD failed to iron out with the Union prior to the hiring were:

• increase in the EW Supervisor's workload.
• pay for working out of class for EW Supervisors that were expected to train the temps.
• safety issues, since no background checks were made.
• discrimination in hiring/nepotism, as only a chosen few EHSD employees were given job applications to dispense to their family & friends.

The educational level/literacy of the temps is also an issue. According to one EW Supervisor, the temp assigned to her unit literally did not know how to address an envelope.

Some brainiac(s) assigned these temps to Intake, Expedited Food Stamps and Minor Consent Medi-Cal. Apparently, administrators didn't learn anything from the Lugo lawsuit.

512 went one step further.  PERB was asked to seek a court injunction (Injunctive Relief) to bar the EHSD from employing the temp EWs unless and until the Department meets and confers on these issues and makes a REASONABLE plan that will not cause our members - EW Supervisors and Clerical Supervisors - to be disadvantaged, with possible physical harm resulting.

PERB has until 3/18/10 to respond to the request for Injunctive Relief.

Please help spread the word that 512 is not going to accept this outrageous conduct by EHSD administrators and tune in next Thursday for a status update!

Each member of the Board of Supervisors, as well as the elected officials of Contra Costa County, have accepted a pay cut. Everyone accepted a 2.31% cut, except for the District Attorney. DA Robert Kochly voluntarily took a 10% decrease some weeks ago, leading by example.
 

Thank you one and all for joining us in the fight to get the County back on an even keel with regard to its finances.

For an explanation from the Auditor as to how ATA - Agreed-Upon Temporary Absences - works, go to "Downloads" and click on "How ATA Works."