Home care workers say they will resort to civil disobedience if pay negotiations with Fresno County supervisors don’t progress.

Home care workers in the In-Home Supportive Services program make $16.60 an hour, said Ua Lugo, regional coordinator for the Service Employees International Union 2015. Negotiations started in February 2023, making it one of the longest negotiated contracts for Fresno County, Lugo said. Most Fresno County labor negotiations last three to six months, she said.

The last contract negotiation for IHSS took four years, Lugo said. The most recent offer for a $1 raise came at the cost of workers’ health insurance, she said.

And as a majority of home care providers care for family members, friends, and neighbors, workers cannot go on strike. Lugo said during the last negotiation, workers locked arms and blocked entrances, calling for supervisors to decide on the contract.

“If negotiation does come to a halt that means we will be moving to doing a possible civil disobedience because we want to make sure that the board hears us loud and clear that we want to get these folks paid properly and get them the benefits that they deserve,” Lugo said.

As Home Care Worker Pay Increased 4.6%, Supervisor Pay Rose 31.3%

Funding for home care workers comes from federal and state governments, as well as the county. The workers often care for people with mental disabilities, Alzheimer’s, and other ailments that prevent people from caring for themselves.

Lugo said the program saves the county and state money by training people to care for different ailments instead of putting a patient in a long-term care facility.

For example, Martha Valladarez, regional vice president for SEIU 2015, cares for her 39-year-old daughter with Down syndrome.

“Crystal can’t bathe herself and she doesn’t talk much anymore. She used to talk a lot when she was younger,” said Valladarez. “And if she walks away, she just keeps on walking and she doesn’t know her way  back home.”

Valladarez said home care workers have to leave their jobs to care for patients.

While worker pay has only increased 4.6% in the last nine years, supervisor pay has increased 31.3% in the same period, to $188,272 a year. Supervisor Buddy Mendes declined to comment as negotiations are ongoing. Supervisor Sal Quintero said supervisor pay tracks that of judges.

Valladarez pointed out that fast-food workers make at least $20 an hour.

“Their request for us to eliminate the health care for these health care workers is ridiculous and unacceptable, but they’re not willing to eliminate those things for themselves,” Lugo said about the Board of Supervisors.

Quintero Says He Needs Two More Votes

Quintero says coming from a union family, he is on the side of workers.

“My support for labor, our county workforce, has always been there. That’s one thing that I don’t ignore,” Quintero said.

While he supports workers, he says he needs other supervisors to back him. A call by GV Wire to Supervisor Brian Pacheco seeking comment on home care workers’ pay was not returned.

Related Story: Supervisors Call Out Health Care Workers Union For Aggressive Tactics

“Why should I vote to support you when I’ll be the lone vote and then I’m going to need other votes for my district to get stuff done, and let’s say they don’t want to support me because of that,” Quintero said.

After SEIU members posted flyers near supervisors homes and engaged in protests near the homes of supervisors Nathan Magsig and Steve Brandau, that complicated negotiations, Quintero said.

“They did something they hadn’t done before, they went out at night and put up signs around houses of some of the supervisors, SEIU signs, and that didn’t sit too well,” Quintero said.