700 SEIU employees’ pay cut by 12.5%
By Tiffany Revelle/The Ukiah Daily Journal
Booing, hissing and a chant of “recall” met the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous vote to cut about 700 of its employees’ pay by 12.5 percent as roughly 200 members of its largest bargaining union left the meeting Tuesday.
More than a year of fruitless labor negotiations between Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 and the county came to an angry head with the vote.
“Shame on you” read the signs several black-clad employees carried as they filled the seats and stood in the aisles and in the hallway outside the Board of Supervisors chambers to speak to the board and hear the decision. Some wore purple, the union’s signature color, and one member was seen wearing a Grim Reaper mask.
The “shame on you” signs also featured an angry face with two down-pointing thumbs on their reverse sides.