Sonoma County labor advocates redouble push for living wage

Sonoma County labor activists are escalating their fight to persuade the Board of Supervisors to increase wages to $15 per hour for thousands of county contractors and other workers employed by companies that do business with the county.

After repeated unsuccessful attempts over the past year to convince supervisors to adopt a broad living-wage ordinance that would cover an estimated 5,500 county-affiliated employees - including about 5,000 in-home caregivers - living-wage advocates are pivoting to a more visible and vocal approach.

The union representing in-home caregivers jumped into the campaign by staging a demonstration Tuesday outside of the Board of Supervisors chambers in hopes of amassing the political support needed to expand the county’s existing proposal, which excludes in-home caregivers.

“We want the Board of Supervisors to reconsider their living-wage ordinance and include in-home care workers,” said Sean Wherley, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers West. “They are leaving out the people who take care of the most vulnerable seniors and disabled.”

Supporters are seeking to seize on what they called widespread public support across the country to raise pay for low-wage earners. The issue comes amid rising momentum to combat stagnant wages and income inequality by raising the pay floor - a major political talking point at the local, state and national levels.

County supervisors, however, have balked at the broader proposal, put forward last September by North Bay Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor, faith, environmental and community-based organizations. In June, supervisors endorsed a narrower, less expensive plan, put forward by staff and a county consultant, that would immediately set a wage of $15 per hour for employees of about 180 for-profit county contractors. Roughly 920 nonprofit employees would later be phased in. The ordinance is set to be finalized in August.

Supervisors indicated this week that they don’t plan to change their minds.

“I have great respect for the union, but the union is in negotiations right now, and we’re leaving it up to the union negotiations to set wages,” Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Gorin said. “That is one of the strongest reasons we are not considering adding in-home support workers to the living-wage ordinance.”

Other supervisors supported Gorin’s stance.

“Addressing the crisis of low-wage employment has to be focused on growing early education and … promoting higher education at all levels,” Supervisor Efren Carrillo said. “The people staging the protest simply want the board to sign off on their language, but they are out of touch with the county’s priorities in truly addressing poverty in this county.”

Labor advocates said they are sharpening their focus on a living wage in the hopes of making it a major issue in races next year for county supervisor. Three supervisors - Gorin, Shirlee Zane and Efren Carrillo - are up for re-election in 2016.

“One supervisor up for re-election has already claimed victory for passing a living wage, so we’re reminding them that as the ordinance stands, no one should be claiming victory,” said Matt Myers, an activist with North Bay Jobs with Justice. Myers declined to say which supervisor he was referring to while contending the county proposal “falls way too short.”

“These in-home support workers are earning $11.65,” he said. “That’s poverty wages, and you can’t live on that.”

On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of protesters pleaded, at times in tears, with supervisors to raise their pay.

Outside the board chambers, union representatives and in-home caregivers carried signs that read “I can’t survive on $11.65 an hour” and “Living wage for saving lives.”

“This is lots of work for a little pay. … It’s about time to get a raise so we can support our kids and have food on the table,” Angelica Aleman, an in-home support worker from Santa Rosa, said to the board.

“I can barely pay my bills,” said Mary Baumgarten, 72, a caregiver who takes care of her son. “Everything - food, housing … is getting so much more expensive.”

The entreaties came during the open comment period, and the Board of Supervisors was not scheduled to take any action on a proposed ordinance.

The nationwide campaign to boost wages to $15 per hour for fast-food employees, which started in New York in 2012, has now spread to include in-home caregivers, local union officials said. They cited work underway by the National Employment Law Project, a labor advocacy group.

“This is a critical moment in history,” said Benigno Delgado, deputy director of government relations for the SEIU-UHW. “The ‘fight for $15’ is spreading across the nation. We hope you will provide courageous leadership and put yourself on the right side of history by including home care workers in the living-wage ordinance.”

You can reach Staff Writer Angela Hart at 526-8503 or angela.hart@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@ahartreports.