LOS ANGELES—The County’s largest labor union is holding a strike for child safety on Thursday, December 5 starting at 10 a.m.
SEIU 721, a local labor union representing over 55,000 Los Angeles Countyworkers, announced that “thousands of LA County social workers” would be gathering in strike picket lines across the county “to protest unfair labor practices committed by LA County management that put children at risk.”
SEIU 721 union leaders were authorized by members early November to escalate actions after negotiating teams repeatedly failed to reach an agreement with Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors over a new labor contract, which expired on October 1.
SEIU Local 721 is now calling its represented social workers, civic and faith leaders and concerned community members to rally after contract negotiations with the county fell flat once again “because the Board of Supervisors is refusing to take child safety seriously.” It will be the first time LA County’s 4,000 Children’s Social Workers will go on strike in more than a decade.
“We’ve done everything we can to convince LA County leaders to pay attention to child safety, but they’ve flat-out refused,” said Chychy Ekeochah, a Children’s Social Worker and chair of the CSW bargaining team. “They may have given up on the County’s most vulnerable children, but we haven’t. We’re going to keep advocating for these kids. They deserve the best possible care and service—and we want to be able to provide it.”
The county workers’ are demanding “commonsense reforms” of working conditions for children’s social workers. The requests include reducing the amount of children per social worker and hiring more trained social workers. The union claims these reforms would better protect kids by allowing more specialized care for children that are often victims of abuse and neglect.
SEIU 721 also cites the County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is in violation of the state’s child safety guidelines with the current social worker-to-child ratios and filed a lawsuit against the DCFS on November 5.
A press conference, rally and central strike picket line will be held outside the Department of Children and Family Services’ Metro North Office, located at 1933 S. Broadway in Los Angeles.
