LAKE COUNTY – With the union representing local In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers launching a recall effort of four county supervisors, the county is finding itself, in effect, pitted against more than 1,300 of its own employees.
Lake County News reported Monday that California United Homecare Workers (CUHW) plans to unseat Supervisors Anthony Farrington, Rob Brown, Ed Robey and Jeff Smith, claiming the board and the county has failed to react to the needs of IHSS providers.
Saying the union is “not playing this game to lose,” CUHW President Tyrone Freeman guaranteed that the four men will be removed from the board.
“We will do what it takes,” Freeman said. “There will be supervisors recalled in Lake County.”
The newest supervisor, Denise Rushing, will not be a recall target, said Freeman, because she has been more responsive to concerns for IHSS workers, such as wages.
CUHW has represented local IHSS workers since 2005, first through a contract with United Domestic Workers of American, said Freeman. Earlier this year, IHSS workers voted to make CUHW their sole sole union.
The union last week also announced its plans to recall four Imperial County supervisors for reasons similar to pursuing the local recall campaign.
The heart of the conflict
But what's really at the heart of the conflict, which is pitting more than 1,300 IHSS providers against the county, which is responsible for overseeing the IHSS program?
The primary point of disagreement between the union and the county appears to have arisen from the Board of Supervisors' June 5 meeting.
The board voted for a proposal that would place IHSS providers who underwent drug testing and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in a special registry which would qualify them for a $1-an-hour raise.
That proposal accepted by the board also requires that those IHSS workers included in the IHSS Public Authority Registry undergo criminal background checks and complete first aid training. Currently, registry members must provide references, attend a mandatory two-hour orientation/training, meeting with public authority staff for a face-to-face interview and passing a Department of Justice criminal records check.
Before the June 5 meeting, Freeman sent the board a letter demanding that they not take up the proposal because it hadn't been a part of negotiations between CUHW and the county. In that letter, Freeman emphasized that the county couldn't implement the wage changes and drug testing requirements without first conferring with the union.
He also threatened legal action if they moved forward. On June 13, Michelle Dibble, coordinator for the Lake County IHSS Public Authority, was served with a copy of a charge CUHW filed with the state's Public Employee Relations Board, which accused the county of unfair labor practices and breaking good faith negotiations.
Freeman said that he believes that June 5 proposal would base a wage increase not on good performance and quality of care but on drug testing, which has remained the focus of the union's concerns, despite the other issues being discussed.
So, what's the problem with drug testing, especially if so many everyday folks who seek jobs have to take them to get past employment screening processes?
“I'm not opposed to the drug testing,” said Freeman, adding that if it's made a condition of employment, IHSS providers should take the test.
“What I'm opposed to is it isn't clear who pays for it,” he added.
Because the drug tests aren't a condition of employment, Freeman said they don't actually do any good. “If I get a drug test and I don't pass and I'm still working, what's the point of the drug test?” he asked.
Freeman said he's concerned that the “exorbitant” costs of drug testing will be transferred to IHSS providers or their clients.
He said he helped author and sponsor a state bill, SB 868, that prohibits counties from charging IHSS workers and clients for background checks through the Department of Justice. He said he hasn't been able to get support for a similar bill for drug testing costs, because of the huge expense.
At the June 5 board meeting, supervisors did not propose having IHSS worker or providers pay for drug tests. In fact, they repeatedly stated those costs would not be placed on caregivers or their clients.
However, Freeman said the county has been “evasive” about who will bear the costs, and hasn't specified, in writing, where the responsibility ultimately lies.
In a June 8 letter he wrote to county IHSS union members, Freeman stated, “To the credit of our bargaining team which is made up of workers just like you, we have stood strong and opposed any proposal from the county that requires an IHSS provider or consumer to 'pay for a drug test; pay for a criminal background check, and/or pay for mandated training,' as a condition of receiving the proposed wage increase.”
Recall an 'abuse of the political process'
In turn, the county has responded that Freeman is basing this recall campaign on false information in order to manipulate the opinions of IHSS workers and providers, and the general public.
County Counsel Anita Grant said that during its June 5 meeting, the board made very clear that costs for drug testing and background checks wouldn't be passed on to clients or providers.
She encouraged county residents to obtain a DVD copy of the June 5 meeting, available from the Board of Supervisors office, so they could see the discussion for themselves.
Grant also made the county's position clear to Freeman in a June 29 letter, a copy of was obtained by Lake County News.
In it, she called the recall effort an “abuse of the political process to engage in blatant misrepresentation of the facts in order to garner support,” adding that it also amounted to a “serious misuse of your authority and position” as well as his responsibility to union members.
Citing Freeman's claims to union members, Grant wrote, “neither the County of Lake nor the Lake County Public Authority has ever taken the position that the costs of this testing and training should be borne by the providers or the recipients.” She added that the board has been “consistent and unequivocal” on that point.
The board discussed the wage increase proposal, said Grant, because it wanted first to see if the state would positively receive it. If the state gave the idea its approval, Grant said the county fully intended to meet and confer with the union.
“It was further expressly stated that no costs for such testing and training would be borne by the providers or the recipients,” she wrote.
Grant sent along a DVD of the meeting to Freeman, adding at the end of her letter, “Given your previous statements that you are a person of your word and that you fully support testing and training, it is my expectation that, after you review the DVD, you will issue to your membership a full written retraction of the false statements you made in your June 8 letter.”
Grant told Lake County News that the board's June 5 discussion was a way to acknowledge and enhance the qualification of IHSS care providers.
“To my mind there's nothing unusual about that,” she said.
What's next: Lake County News speaks with two IHSS providers on both sides of the issue to see how they feel about the recall effort.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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