Santa Clara Co. Workers Authorize Strike

LOS GATOS, CA — Ninety-seven percent of the more than 11,000 Santa Clara County workers have voted to authorize their bargaining team to strike if a contract settlement can't be reached, a union spokesman said Saturday.

Key union demands include higher wages and creation of a fund, taken out of the county budget, from which union employees could draw to help pay for health and child care.

"We hope to reach an agreement that respects our workers by addressing the housing and child care crisis and invests in vital services our Santa Clara County community depends on," Service Employees International Union Local 521's Andrew Baker said Saturday in a statement.

Local 521's four-year agreement with the county expired June 16.

That agreement covered social workers, eligibility workers, health care workers, clerical staff and others working in Santa Clara County hospitals, jails, maintenance yards, offices, private homes and other places.

Those workers have voted over the past 16 days -- those ballots were counted on Friday - to authorize their contract negotiation team to call a strike "if we do not see significant movement from the county," Saturday's statement said.

About half of Local 521's members submitted ballots, said Mullissa Willette, first vice president of Local 521 and an employee of the Santa Clara County Assessor's Office.

Willette said Saturday that two negotiation sessions are scheduled for this week.

"We've offered to meet on other days, too, and nights, but so far (the county) has refused," Willette said.

—Bay City News