Working for Our Union in Tulare County

Working for Our Union in Tulare County

Local 521 recently opened an office in Visalia to organize workers in the Central Valley. I had the opportunity to work with union organizers and staff, as well as other members, to help Tulare County employees build a stronger union.

With union membership at only 10 percent, Tulare County employees for years had settled for low pay and few benefits while counties nearby earned as much as 26 percent more in salary with stronger contracts. SEIU organizers worked with rank-and-file to form Contract Action Teams (CATs) and together, we successfully grew the union to 40 percent membership!

I visited county employees to get the word out about the tools available to them when they became members. I heard sad stories of how some county employees had children with no health insurance because the costs were too high. Good county workers should have enough take-home pay to cover basic housing, food and medical necessities!

We had a CAT meeting for Tulare County employees on May 7 and discussed ways to increase membership to 60 percent and more. It was thrilling to witness the increasing empowerment of Tulare County employees to bring better wages and benefits for themselves and their families.

You can read about the progress of Tulare County workers as they near the beginning of negotiations for a new contract by clicking the link to the Tulare County worksite page at seiu521.org.

-- Carol Johnson, VMC Steward