Sacramento County employee union could soon strike, demanding higher wages
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- Sacramento County workers issued a 10-day strike notice over wage disputes.
- Employees, led by United Public Employees, seek up to 5% in raises.
- Fifteen negotiation rounds failed to resolve pay and working condition concerns.
Sacramento County workers on Tuesday sent a 10-day notice to strike, urging the Board of Supervisors to approve demands of increase wages. This decision by county employee follows months long negotiations, where union members also allege dangerous working conditions.
Employees represented by United Public Employees have been in negotiations with the county since December 2024, said Ted Somera, the union’s executive director. County employees are seeking a 4% to 5% pay raise to match the increased cost of living, according to past Bee reporting.
Somera’s union represents one-third of county workers, which includes employees of Sacramento County’s Department of Child, Family and Adult Services. Somera said the 10-day notice is required by the National Labor Relations Act to allow the county to respond.
Seth Alexander, the union’s chief negotiator, said the union and Sacramento County have a “philosophical disagreement” on wages, which is why the two parties did not meet an agreement after 15 rounds of negotiations. Alexander said employees and the county remain “very far apart.”
“The county is not valuing its employees, the ones that run the county, sufficiently,” Alexander said. “The county is not taking the steps necessary to help them the cost of living.”
Sacramento County did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
James Starr, who has worked for the county’s Department of Human Assistance for 40 years, said working conditions have gotten worse. He said that he and his fellow union members are “tired of being treated disrespectfully.”
“As a very senior county worker, I am tired of it now,” Starr told the Board of Supervisors. “It seems we have to fight. Get ready.”
