LA County leaders have turned their backs on abused and neglected children and refused commonsense reforms that would protect kids.
As of Thursday, Dec. 5, LA County’s 4,000 children’s social workers are on strike for the first time in more than a decade. They are protesting unfair labor practices committed by LA County management that put children at risk.
We encourage all SEIU 721 members to honor the strike lines.
For a list of strike locations, click here.
“We’ve done everything we can to convince LA County leaders to pay attention to child safety, but they’ve flat-out refused. 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.”
-Chychy Ekeochah, LA County Children’s Social Worker and Chair of the CSW Bargaining Team
“Our members are putting it on the line because they need to be able to do their jobs right. They want to help kids who need it. The County needs to get its priorities straight and put child safety first. With so many kids’ lives on the line, the Supervisors should be putting every available resource into social services.”
-SEIU 721 President Bob Schoonover
Contract negotiations with the County ground to a halt this week because the Board of Supervisors is refusing to take child safety seriously. County negotiators have acted in bad faith by unilaterally withdrawing their own proposals and failing to consider proposals made by children’s social workers. The social workers are asking for simple, commonsense reforms to DCFS that would greatly improve their ability to protect children in need.
Reforms Proposed by Social Workers
Reduce social worker-to-child ratios so that social workers can spend more time caring for each abused and neglected child.
- Right now, many DCFS social workers carry 40-50 cases–some even have 60!
- That’s far higher than the social worker-to-child ratios negotiated in the last contract and dozens more than the 14 cases that the State of California recommends for each social worker.
- Last month, children’s social workers filed a lawsuit to force the County to abide by an arbitrator’s decision directing DCFS to lower social worker-to-child ratios.
Hire and train more social workers, allowing the County to meet state child safety guidelines.
- Social workers proposed hiring a modest 35 more social workers each month for 17 months for a total of 595.
- On Dec. 3, Supervisor Mike Antonovich said that the County had allocated money to hire 500 new social workers, but it hasn’t happened. Fewer social workers are serving LA County kids this year than last.
Download a fact sheet to get the whole truth about social work in LA County.
Check back regularly for updates or call the SEIU 721 Member Connection: (877) 721-4968.