LAKE COUNTY – Days after launching a recall effort of four Imperial County supervisors, the California United Homecare Workers announced it was going after four Lake County supervisors as well.
California United Homecare Workers, based in San Bernardino, is the union that represents Lake County's In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers who serve disabled and elderly clients.
Union President Tyrone Freeman confirmed the local recall plan in an interview with Lake County News.
As Lake County News reported last month, Freeman sent a letter dated June 8 to the more than 1,300 local IHSS providers, asking them to vote on whether or not to pursue the recall.
Freeman said the recall was triggered by the Board of Supervisors' June 5 meeting, at which they voted to forward a proposal to the state that would give IHSS workers who underwent drug tests a $1 an hour raise.
That proposal wasn't discussed in negotiations, he said, and therefore represents a failure of the county to bargain in good faith with California United Homecare Workers.
At last count, said Freeman, there were 1,379 IHSS workers in Lake County. Of those, he said, 584 voted on the recall issue, with 540 – or 95 percent – voting for it, and 44 voting against it.
That vote, said Freeman, is setting in motion the union's attempt to recall four county supervisors – Ed Robey, Anthony Farrington, Jeff Smith and Rob Brown.
“I'm excited about it,” Freeman said. “I didn't know how it was going to go.”
Supervisor Denise Rushing, elected last November and the newest board member, isn't a target, Freeman said, because she's been “responsive to the issues.”
Freeman said, in his view, incumbency goes hand in hand with a lack of response to issues. “The incumbents are the ones who have some serious problems to worry about in Lake County,” he said.
This type of approach by the union isn't limited to Lake County. The union is going after Imperial's board of supervisors, save one, also claiming they've failed to work to raise IHSS wages, which also are minimum wage, and not addressing other concerns related to water and the environment.
“Imperial County is our first official campaign in recalling a Board of Supervisors with our community coalition,” said Freeman.
Freeman said the union has the resources to carry out the recall. “We believe that we will be more than successful in Lake County.”
To fund the recall Freeman estimates he'll need between $1.5 million and $2 million. “I've got that money right now.”
Union members who approved the recall effort also pledged to pay an extra $30 over the rest of the year, said Freeman. With 540 IHSS providers voting for it, that amounts to $16,200.
That money, said Freeman, is “just an expression of their commitment” and won't be used as a resource for the recall campaign.
The county is being guarded with its response to the recall effort. Speaking on behalf of the supervisors, County Counsel Anita Grant previously told Lake County News that the county believed issues of wages and benefits should not be played out in the public but in closed negotiations.
Her statements on this latest news about the recall effort were consistent with those she gave previously to Lake County News.
As to what the county might do, Grant said, “We should have a better idea of that in the next few weeks.”
Any action would likely be discussed in closed session, but Grant said she couldn't guess exactly when that would be scheduled.
Grant told Lake County News in a previous interview that, in the many years she's represented the county in negotiations with employee associations, she's never confronted a situation where a union has planned to try to unseat the board.
The union is hitting the county on the legal front as well. Freeman provided Lake County News with a copy of an unfair labor practice charge it filed with the state's Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) on June 13.
The charge, which was served on Lake County IHSS Public Authority Coordinator Michelle Dibble on June 13, alleges that the county failed to meet and confer in good faith with the union. It also seeks an order requiring the county to extend the wage increase to all IHSS employees, cease making unilateral changes and meet and confer in good faith on employment terms and conditions.
Freeman said that's the required first step before the action goes further, possibly to court.
“They have filed a charge which at this point only means that PERB will review the allegations they have made,” said Grant.
She added, “The fact that they can file a charge doesn't prove the truth of anything, it just proves they know how to file one.”
Tomorrow, Lake County News will explore the issues the union says led to the recall and the county's response to the union's recall campaign.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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