South Bay workers allege unstable workplace, petition to unionize

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Retaliation, discriminatory treatment and job loss: these are the working conditions that employees say they have faced for years in FIRST County 5 Santa Clara.

Now, some workers are pushing to organize to improve these conditions.

“Our turnover rate says it all that we have lost so many incredible talent to the mistreatment that has become rampant,” said Eula Idemoto, Deputy Director of FIRST 5 and a member of the Organizing Workers’ Group. She said that in each of her three years of working with FIRST 5, the turnover rate has increased by 25-30%.

On July 9, a group of 44 workers supported by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 521 filed a petition to unionize with the California Public Employment Relations Board. A worker told San Jos Spotlight that FIRST 5 Santa Clara County employs 54 people.

Workers seeking to organize include directors, assistant directors, program officers, coordinators, specialists and controllers, among others, according to the petition obtained by San Jos Spotlight.

Across the Bay Area, the TOP 5 employees in Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties are all unionized workers, Idemoto said.

For more than two decades, FIRST 5 Santa Clara County has provided services and supported developmental programs for children from prenatal to age five, especially those living in underserved communities.

Employees say the organization’s senior leadership has long abused its power, keeping them out of decision-making processes and creating “unstable working conditions.”

With the retirement of longtime CEO Jolene Smith in June, employees say they now want to have a say in how things are decided under new leadership.

“We are in a transition and a lot of decisions are being made very quickly,” Idemoto said.

Some of them are not consistent with the objectives and missions of FIRST 5, according to other workers.

“The way our organization is structured, the decision-making power is in the hands of only a few people,” FIRST 5 director Zulema Inai told San Jos Spotlight. “(This effort) is to make sure all voices are heard.”

FIRST 5 management did not respond to inquiries about its employees’ allegations and organizing efforts.

FIRST 5 Santa Clara County is one of the first branches of First 5 California, which is primarily funded by tobacco tax revenue through the Children and Families Act. The local organization is run by a commission of nine members appointed by the county supervisory board.

The organization plays a central role in various county youth programs, including the Child Care Program which targets the most vulnerable student populations in the Franklin-McKinley School District and Alum Rock School District. FIRST 5 is also home to a bilingual children’s book series called “Potter the Otter”.

In the past year, the organization served more than 74,000 children, the majority of whom were Latin American or Asian. In the first few months of the pandemic, FIRST 5 shifted from hosting children’s programs to providing free basic supplies such as diapers, wipes and infant formula to families in need. Its budget for last year was around $ 15 million.

A long-standing problem

Inai told San Jos Spotlight that the top 5 employees are the bridges to families and children in underserved communities, but management often ignores their contribution and perspectives.

“We are from these communities and we have lived experiences,” said Inai. “But when you bring perspectives from communities (to FIRST 5), those contributions are rejected… It affects employee morale and performance. “

Employees say that whenever they raise issues or concerns, management responds with resistance and even retaliation.

The organization has also discriminated against some people in the hiring and promotion processes, FIRST 5 coordinator Evelyn Lissete OMarah said in a press release.

“As the longest-serving employee at FIRST 5 and as a woman of color, I have witnessed and faced challenges, and paid for the consequences of discrimination and retaliation from senior management.” , she said. “Over the years, I have learned to stay focused on what I can control in order to keep my job and protect my daughters’ future.”

Ten days after the workers’ group filed the petition to unionize, the county council office confirmed in a letter to the state that the management of FIRST 5 posted a notice of the petition in the office kitchen.

Workers said they were unaware of the notice in the kitchen until San Jos Spotlight told them about it.

Screenshot of a letter from the county council office to the state regarding the petition of the first 5 workers to unionize.

The FIRST 5 office on Moorpark Avenue in San Jose has been closed to the majority of employees due to the pandemic. While some workers come to the office for their responsibilities, Idemoto said “no one is there full time at the moment”. Employees must also obtain permission to enter the workplace, she added.

“The staff want our work to be community-centered,” Idemoto said. “It’s their life’s work to serve… It’s about doing the job with integrity.

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Contact Tran Nguyen at [email protected] or follow @nguyenntrann on Twitter.

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