Tomorrow, DCFS members will move from their picket locations to the Board of Supervisors’ field offices. Monday, December 9, 2013 | Please be on your strike line by 8:30 a.m.
Organizers and leaders will direct you to transportation to the field sites. Also tomorrow, DPSS workers will join The Strike for Child Safety. They’ll picket at DPSS locations across the County. That means THOUSANDS more County workers will be walking strike lines for child safety and no one will be able to ignore our message.
Where can I go tomorrow to participate in strike? What is address?
You do mean Monday dec 9th right? Want to make sure the information is correct in regards to members being transported from their respective offices.
What specific offers did the county negotiators remove from the table?
despicable using Child Safety to get attention. You’re supposed to help the children especially during the holiday season when they need you the most! We know what this is all about, money! Just another example of how unions hurt our already depressed economy. You should be happy you have a job.
We feel mislead, union reps did not tell DPSS workers that today’s strike was in support to DCFS and child safety! Please clarify!!!! And why isn’t the reasons that union reps gave us on the 721 website???
We were almost united today…however some of our co workers decided to take the easy road while we were striking making personal sacrifices for their gain and ours. now we were told that the strike is official and we will be expected on the picket line outside the office Tuesday at 830am…please talk to your fellow county workers and explain to them that we ALL need to make this sacrifice that it will be a shared burden and a shared benefit if EVERY one strikes and not a few…obviously will put more pressure on the supervisors to sign the contract sooner than later which is not unreasonable….we are only asking for a fair share of what they have already helped themselves to at our, the community and the tax payers expense SHARE THE BONUSES and lower the caseloads is a common theme.
ATTENTION ALL ELIGIBILITY WORKERS!!!! Today strike was based on our contract not be settled. LA County declared impasse because we would not agree with management adding an addition language in our contract called Task Base Assignments and our work is governed by case load and we have case load language in our contract. This is just another way to give management the rights to discipline us if our performance is not good enough for the task and with case load language they can’t discipline us if we our over our MOUs. LA County DPSS also wants to add additional language on our work schedule to include evenings, nights, and weekends. Mr. Ansel himself said out his mouth “eventually all DPSS office will be 24 hours facilities…”WHAT!!! Something don’t sound right in this picture..what welfare office in the US is open late at night and why would we want the children all in the buildings late at night..and what about SAFETY!! for us staff and the communities we serve…So all Eligibility Workers we need you to get on the bus tomorrow at your offices and go to the Board Of Supervisors and demand for them to respect our intelligence and to give us a fair contract..
In Solidarity,
Tracey Boykins EW ll
Co-chair BU 731
Thousands to join LA county social workers’ strike
The Associated Press
POSTED: 12/09/2013 12:34:03 AM PST
UPDATED: 12/09/2013 12:34:03 AM PST
LOS ANGELES—A strike by Los Angeles County children’s social workers will expand Monday as thousands more county workers join the picket line, a union spokesman said.
Up to 10,000 Department of Public Social Services workers will strike in support of about 3,600 Department of Children and Family Services workers who walked off the job last week, Ian Thompson, a spokesman with the Service Employees International Union Local 721 said.
The children’s social workers began the first county strike in more than a decade Thursday after contract talks broke down over the timing of a pay raise and the number of caseloads the workers must handle. The workers want the county to reduce their caseloads by hiring 35 more workers per month for 17 months.
The DPSS workers provide support for working-class families transitioning from welfare to work, Thompson said.
“We serve these same families and help get them back on their feet. This is our struggle too,” DPSS supervisor Frank Pineda said in a statement. “That’s why we’re out there on the picket lines—for child safety and family security.”
We need DPSS Union Reps to go and inform us on this matter and not just pass it on word of mouth. If we need to strike say IT!! Dont just say in support of DCFS we are striking, DPSS needs to know is for our department as well
I read the article and yes we are telling the press that we are fighting for child safety, family security, and a fair contract. If we get into all the details of our fight based on task base work and the additional language management wants add to our work schedules this would be lost in translation. The media and the community would not understand are specific fight. They would say the old usual “those greedy county workers are complaining again and they should be happy to have a job” so there have to be tactics on how to win our fight and sometimes we don’t agree with those tactics but that’s how we get sympathy to our cause…Once again I want to give a shout to all eligibility workers tomorrow ,12/10/13, get on the bus to let the Board Of Supervisors know we deserve a fair contract. Our contract is not settled and LA County has declare impasse on us since we will not agree to their proposals. Also la county employee stop crossing picket lines we are suppose be in solidarity regardless of our feelings. Also other bargainings units please don’t talk about eligibility workers/eligibility supervisors contracts to others like it’s your contract..we respect yours and don’t butt into your business, therefore, we want the same respect. We have enough problems with incorrect information going out to eligibility workers already and we don’t need anymore problems. If anyone have a question on BU 731 contract, the chair is Janice Netterville and the co-chair is Tracey Boykins. Thank you
I want to add one more comment that I left out the chair for BU 732 Eligibility Supervisors is Ruby Dye. Thank you
What’s the deal for Tuesday December10th? An SEIU update would be nice. Ate we still striking? Are we not striking? Please advise.
Would someone please give us an official update for Tuesday? The strike was originally called for three days. I am striking.
The common feeling amongst DPSS employees is that they feel lied to and mislead by the union reps. This strike info has not been properly given to our offices and it’s been an unorganized mess. We need one specific day for the union to give us and say, Dpss is striking today for OUR contract. The information needs to be given to all the offices talents one day in advance because we can’t go based on random scattered information. Pick a date, get all DPSS offices informed and let’s get a unified strike for DPSS.
Dear Local 721,
The lack of information, tranparency, and organization has been an ongoing problem. Your restless members are starting to feel as though there is some hidden agenda that we are not privi to. If you want us to unite then start sharing some specific pertinent information on a daily basis. We did not vote YES to strike for political reasons. You are starting to dissapoint more and more of your striking members. At the very least let us know as much in advance what is going on for the following day and a day’s summary would be helpful in promoting a sense of professionalism and in your words “solidarity”.
-disgruntled SEIU 721 STRIKE supporter and member!
I agree with SREYES!! I did not go to work on Monday and was willing to stay out more days. I can’t afford to but I believe in Unity. Some reps are saying 1 day strike and others didn’t even know we were on strike. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m still very confused. Local 721…..please get it together!!! How can we be united when we can’t even get basic information. If DPSS is on strike……it should be in banner form when clicking into this website. Instead we get a calendar of events that have nothing to do with the strike.
Educate yourself on the issue before you hurt our cause. Our Union has a strategy for success
As a 15 year member of SEIU I am very disappointed in our union leaders. I have been to many rallies in the past and they have been very effective. This years contract we have been trying to settle has been a challenge. The union has failed as negotiators and organizers. The purpose of the strike was to unite all of SEIU 721 members to send a message to management, the Board of Supervisors and the County to negotiate and settle on a fair contract. Due to the lack of communication and proper direction from the union it caused confusion which led to a lack of participation on Monday and Tuesday. For those that did participate the information was not disseminated in a timely manner. As a result, the members have expressed the lack of confidence in the union. How can we come together as an organization when the people representing us cannot get it together.
P.S. Perhaps we should think of the Teamsters as a replacement.