Amid contract negotiations, workers are spotlighting the growing opioid and mental health crisis and demanding action on telework, flexible schedules, and training investments, proven to retain and recruit experts who know how to tackle the crisis.
Modesto, CA — Stanislaus County homelessness, mental health, substance use disorder experts and social workers represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521, will hold a series of protests at the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors evening meeting on Tuesday, October 21. Through bargaining for better working conditions, workers are demanding that the county address burnout, high case loads, and understaffing as core issues in meeting the community crises.
The rally will also launch the first step to gauge the readiness of a strike and to convey the urgency of the service gaps workers see that too many vulnerable families fall into. Workers are demanding improvements in telework, flexible schedules, and training investments to boost recruitment and retention of experts who are on the frontline in keeping families healthy, safe, and stable.
During the press conference, workers are sounding the alarm that:
- 1 in 6 county residents need mental health or substance abuse care, but do not receive it.
- The suicide rate in Stanislaus is 9% higher than the state average
- In 2022, the rate of opioid overdoses in the county was 2.67 times higher than the state average
- On average, it takes 400+ days to fill a vacant Stanislaus County positionÂ
- While staffing has grown slightly in recent years, Stanislaus still hasn’t caught up to pre–Great Recession levels.
WHERE: Stanislaus County Government Services, 1010 10th Street, Modesto, in the Courtyard
WHO: Stanislaus County mental health experts, social workers, and various county workers will take a series of actions and protest poor working conditions that impact the thinning safety net
WHEN: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
5:30 pm – Informational protest in the courtyard
6:00 pm – Press Conference and Remarks
6:10 pm – Informational protest in the courtyard
6:30 pm – Enter County chambers for public comment action
VISUALS: Protest picket signs, purple SEIU flag on a pole, bull horns, county workers in purple union shirts, marching around the courtyard.
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Service Employees International Union, Local 521 represents 73,000 public- and nonprofit, private-sector workers in California’s Bay Area, the Central Coast, and in the Central Valley. Under a Community First vision, we are committed to making sure the needs of our community, and the vital services we provide our community, come first. We believe our communities thrive when residents, leaders and workers recognize that we are all in this together when it comes to our safety, health, and well-being.
