While San Mateo County supervisors were meeting Tuesday in their County Center chamber, “extra help” workers were rallying outside with demands for a fair contract.
“As extra help employees, we are often overlooked, but the fact is, we do the exact same jobs as our permanent colleagues and worked shoulder to shoulder through the pandemic. We have the same issues at work and we should bargain our contracts together at the same time,” Gabe Maldonado, a bargaining team member, said in a press release announcing the rally.
Both permanent and extra help employees are part of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 829 union. But extra help employees are typically hired to fill temporary vacancies and leaves of absence. The group now estimates they make up about 20% of the county’s workforce and are filling positions for years but receive fewer benefits, such as being left out of the county’s retirement plans and no hours for paid time off.
Extra help workers, or flex workers, are seeking to rectify the gaps in benefits with four key terms as part of their negotiations. They’d like their contract to be negotiated at the same time as permanent employees, a path to permanent status, paid time off and increased sick leave, and the same $2,000 COVID bonus offered to permanent employees.
Tuesday’s rally could be heard from inside the chamber throughout the meeting and some flex workers also shared their concerns during the public comment period. Following public comment, board President Dave Pine said the issue would be addressed during the contract negotiations with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and Service Employees International Union representatives. Supervisors convened to closed session to discuss the negotiations but did not report out.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.