Following a brief discussion on Tuesday morning, the Board of Supervisors — sitting as the In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority Board of Directors — unanimously approved the new memorandum of understanding between the authority and SEIU Local 2015 Union.
In-Home Supportive Services — or IHSS — workers will see their base wages rise by $0.65 an hour over minimum wage, effective Jan. 1.
The contract language said the base wage is the state or federal minimum wage, whichever is higher. At this time, California’s is $14 per hour, while the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
For the rest of 2021, Lake County’s IHSS workers will get $14 an hour. When California’s minimum wage increases to $15 on Jan. 1 — an increase for employers with 25 or more employees — their wages will increase to $15.65.
The agreement went into effect once both parties ratified it. The union approved it on Oct. 15, leaving the board’s action on Tuesday as the final step in the process.
Social Services Director Crystal Markytan said the agreement will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2023.
“These improvements are a huge step toward the $20 wage floor for all long-term care providers,” SEIU Local 2015 President April Verrett said. “The change is a testament to our continued mission behind our Time for $20 campaign. These efforts are propelled by Union members at bargaining tables across the state to raise standards in the industry, including access to health care, professional training, on-the-job safety, and secure retirement.”
The agreement also provides $5,000 annually for a protective personal equipment, or PPE, fund to be managed by the union.
Another $5,000 will be used each year to train IHSS workers. That funding, which also will be managed by SEIU, will include universal precautions, infection control, CPR, basic first aid, proper lifting techniques, symptoms of heart attack, symptoms of stroke, symptoms of diabetic coma, or working with patients who suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s, mental health issues and autism.
Simone Tatman, a Lake County IHSS provider, said both the PPE and training are important right now.
“The only reason I had masks at the beginning of the COVID outbreak is because the union was able to get us some. But it was still hard to find sanitizer. And for providers who have three or four clients, having fresh PPE gets expensive, so this will really help,” Tatman said.
Until the new contract approval, Lake was among the 12 lowest-paid counties for IHSS workers, with providers getting only minimum wage, according to state data. The highest paid IHSS workers in the state are in San Francisco County, where they earn $18 an hour.
SEIU has announced several other new contracts with other counties over the last few months which are increasing pay rates across the state. Lake County’s new agreement will see local wages fall more into a medium statewide pay range for providers.
A large workforce
IHSS workers provide care to the elderly, those who are blind or have disabilities in their homes as an alternative to recipients having to live in more expensive and less comfortable care facilities.
The California Department of Social Services reported there are more than 520,000 IHSS providers currently serving more than 600,500 recipients across the state.
In Lake County alone, the state said there are 2,165 authorized IHSS recipients, with both the union and county officials reporting there are more than 1,800 providers.
SEIU Local 2015 Executive Vice President Arnulfo De La Cruz said IHSS providers are increasingly in need due to the growing senior population.
He said providers don’t just care for day-to-day needs, but they also are often first responders in emergencies.
The union, which represents 400,000 care workers across California, called the agreement a big win for Lake County’s IHSS workers, the majority of whom are women.
The National Direct Care Workforce Resource Center reports that 81% of direct care workers in California are female and 74% are people of color. Specific breakdowns for Lake County were not available from SEIU Local 2015.
Union officials said it’s the Board of Supervisors that’s responsible for setting wages and benefits for IHSS providers.
However, even though the board has that oversight, county officials told Lake County News that IHSS workers are not considered to be county employees but, rather, are employees of the IHSS program recipients themselves.
IHSS program recipients must be income eligible to the program in order to receive benefits by way of payment to their provider. IHSS recipients retain their exclusive right to hire, fire and supervise their providers. The Public Authority, however, conducts fingerprinting, the county reported.
The California Department of Social Services reported that for September, the most recent month for which data is available, Lake County’s 2,165 authorized IHSS recipients were receiving a total of 253,744 hours, an average of 117 hours per recipient.
The program is paid for by federal and state sources. County officials said the state pays 65% of the program’s total cost, and 35% is paid for by Lake County.
To pay its share of the costs, Lake County draws from sources that include 1991 Realignment funds, the same funding source for other Social Services programs such as Foster Care Assistance Payments, Child Welfare Services, the Adoption Assistance Program, CalWORKs, and administration costs for Foster Care, CalFRESH and CalWORKs.
At Tuesday’s board meeting it was reported that Lake County’s total annual portion for the IHSS program ranges between $6.5 million and $7 million.
Years without a contract
During the past year, a number of IHSS workers who are SEIU members appeared at Board of Supervisors meetings to ask for a wage increase. At one point they also rallied outside of the courthouse with signs.
“We’ve had an expired contract,” De La Cruz said.
De La Cruz said the contract expired eight years ago and IHSS providers had gone seven years without raises, other than minimum wage increases.
The closed-door negotiation process that began this year was the fourth time since 2017 that the county and union had attempted to reach a new contract, the county of Lake reported.
While the three earlier attempts had failed, this time there was progress, and the county and the union reached a tentative agreement on Sept. 17 after what the union said were “months of often emotional negotiations.”
“This contract took four years of bargaining with the county,” said Tatman. “It feels good that we were finally heard. We’ve been through a lot, and the pandemic just made it worse.”
De La Cruz said of the contract, “It’s a real economic generator for the largest workforce.”
He added, “There is a crisis of care in Lake County and we want them to put care first.”
Correction: A previous version of this story had reported, based on statements at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Nov. 2, that Lake County’s IHSS workers would get $14.65 an hour for the rest of the year. However, the union clarified that the increase of $15.65 goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, and there is no earlier stepped increase.
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