Santa Clara Co. Workers Resume Strike A Day After Offer By County

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Santa Clara County employees with Service Employees International Union Local 521 are back on the picket lines Wednesday, a day after the county made another offer to try to come to an agreement with the union.

Workers from several county departments planned to join the picket lines Wednesday morning in the eighth day of a strike that started earlier this month and then was put on hold last week amid PG&E's widespread Public Safety Power Shutoff.

The county on Tuesday offered the workers a 3 percent general wage increase, with another 3 percent wage increase each year for the next four years, while removing a previous request for union workers to contribute 2 percent of their premiums toward health care costs.

Janet Diaz, union chapter president for SEIU Local 521, said in response to the proposal that it is "not by any means a tentative agreement on behalf of the workers of Santa Clara County," instead calling it "an attempt to force its employees to accept the same proposal put forth months ago."

SEIU Local 521 represents about 12,000 public sector workers across Santa Clara County.