Workers in County Health Unit Vote to Change Unions

Employees of the County Health Services Unit voted Tuesday to switch to a new labor organization to represent them in contract talks with the county.

The Health Services Unit, a subdivision of the county Department of Health Services, represents 481 employees, most of whom are aides in the county’s mental health facilities. Of the 285 employees who voted, 78% chose the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 102 over the San Diego County Employees Assn., union officials announced Tuesday.

Eliseo Medina, president of the SEIU, said he has already requested a meeting with representatives of the county Labor Relations Office to begin negotiating for better wages and benefits for the Health Services employees. The existing contract between the County Employees Assn. (CEA) and the county expires Saturday.

Medina said the election was brought about by the workers’ “extreme dissatisfaction” with the representation provided by the County Employees Assn. “They have been losing ground over the last few years,” he said.

Violent Patients

Some employees assigned to work with violent patients were upset about losing additional compensation known as “hazardous duty pay” in recent negotiations with the county, Medina said.

“Also, numerous workers (said) they would call the CEA office with a problem, and never get their calls returned,” Medina said. “Their feeling was, why have these guys represent us if they’re not going to be around when we need them?”

CEA officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Carol McGowan of the county Labor Relations Office said she expects to meet with representatives of the newly selected union soon, but no date for opening negotiations has yet been set.

The employees who will be affected by the union switch represent about 20% of the 2,200 employees of the county Department of Health Services. Employees in the Health Services Unit include child care workers, laboratory aides, vocational nurses, mental health specialists, and occupational and recreational therapy aides.

The majority of them work at the Edgemoor Geriatric Hospital in Santee, the county Mental Health Hospital in Hillcrest and the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services facility in Loma Portal, according to Department of Health Services personnel officer Jim Black.

Other employee units in the Department of Health Services will continue to be represented by CEA or Social Services Local 535, Black said.