Fresno County, CA—Today, Fresno In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) home care providers—members of SEIU Local 2015, the nation’s largest long-term care union, and California’s largest labor union representing more than 470,000 nursing home workers and home care providers— rallied at the Fresno Board of Supervisors office to demand livable wages and comprehensive healthcare benefits.
The county’s current IHSS wage is only $16.60 an hour with a $0.85 health benefit contribution. The board threatens to completely remove healthcare coverage in order to bring their shockingly lowball offer of a 15 cent raise up to 85 cents. Currently, the county proposes to take healthcare away from 2,000 Fresno County IHSS care providers in order to transfer those funds to cover a small wage increase. Care providers and allies in the community insist that this is unacceptable.
GVWire.com: Fresno Home Care Workers Threaten Civil Disobedience Over Low Pay
Home care workers say they will resort to civil disobedience if pay negotiations with Fresno County supervisors don’t progress. 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. Read full article here online.