The majority of 721 Santa Barbara county members work in Social Services, we saw firsthand that the economy was in a freefall and more people not less needed our services.  We told the county that furloughs in our department would hurt the most vulnerable in our community and the dept could lose funds but the county chose not to listen. 

After months of negotiations, the membership voted to accept 80-hours of furlough in order to save 19 jobs.  The results of this mandated furlough included the loss of $1.2 million in matching funds, overtime pay and the hiring of 50 temporary workers in Social Services to process benefit claims in the mandated timeframe. 

There is still so much uncertainty about the state budget but for a second year in a row, Santa Barbara County is asking for cuts from all employees.  This shows poor fiscal judgment by the County's CEO who won't touch reserve "rainy day" funds to help vulnerable children yet he'll exempt certain departments such as the District Attorney from furloughs or cuts. 

We may not be able to stop county officials from making another bad decision.  But SEIU members will continue to stand up for the most vulnerable families and children in Santa Barbara and just maybe this time the county will listen and think about the children who will get hurt.