It’s true that last week’s Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting was standing-room only, largely because of a controversial agenda item, R4, regarding a Second Amendment resolution sponsored by gun-seller and Dist. 4 board chair Patrick Jones.
But another large group of people — Shasta County employees and their supporters — attended the county’s first night meeting of the year for an entirely different reason: They were there to share their concerns and implore supervisors to grant their contract requests. (Their previous contract expired in December.)
Many of the employees stood out from the crowd because of their orange shirts adorned with their union name and number: United Public Employees of California (UPEC) LiUNA Local 792.
The biggest part of the impasse is regarding pay. Employees request a 15% pay increase. Shasta County has offered 7% over three years.
Many Shasta County employees/UPEC members showed up to speak during the public comment period. But because of how far down on the agenda chair Jones shoved the open comment period, UPEC members were forced to waited hour upon hour upon hour for their turn to speak. Most of the audience left after Jones’ Second Amendment resolution agenda item was finished (including this reporter). Still, the UPEC employees waited patiently. By the time they were finally allowed to speak, the board chambers were nearly empty. They’d been there for more than five hours. It was past 10 p.m.
Shasta County employee Benjamin Nowain, who was among those who attended the meeting to discuss labor negotiations, expressed outrage at how long the employees were required to wait to speak.
“First off I am appalled that we had to wait over five hours to reach public comment,” Nowain said. “I believe it to be a tactic to bury us in so many items that either the majority of us would leave, or there wouldn’t be anyone in the public to hear it. Whatever happened to public comment being up front?”
Nowain and his remaining fellow UPEC employees spoke anyway, hoping their words would inspire the supervisors to reconsider their previous stance and break the impasse.
For those who missed hearing the UPEC employees speak, here are YouTube videos of those county employees and their comments.
UPEC representatives will meet with the supervisors to discuss the impasse during closed session at the Tues. Feb. 28 board meeting
Jenny, Shasta County resident/supporter of UPEC employees:
Shasta County employee Twyla:
Shasta County employee Mary:
Shasta County employee Jamie:
Shasta County employee Benjamin:
Shasta County employee Brian:
Best of luck to all Shasta County employees. Thank you for your service, especially during some of the most trying and demanding times ever experienced by county employees, a time when so many county positions remain unfilled, and you are required to go the extra mile to compensate for those vacancies.
