SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KCBS RADIO) – A number of services in the city of Santa Cruz will not be operating this week as city employees are going on strike.
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A tentative agreement was made earlier this month with the city. But 80% of the workers with SEIU 521, the union representing them, rejected the agreement.
One of the main issues is what workers are alleging are hazardous working conditions.
According to Juan Molina, a city wastewater collection employee, part of that issue is having to clear homeless encampments.
"I remember when I started working for the city, they were like, 'Oh, it's optional,'" he said. "But now it's mandatory."
"It's completely mandatory, they make these people go in there," he said.
But Santa Cruz Deputy City Manager Lisa Murphy has said that they have been working on that issue for a while.
"The city has proactively added new positions," she said. "That are specific to homeless encampment cleanup and homeless response, and we are filling those positions now in response to the employees' requests for specified positions that solely handle that."
Workers will be picketing Santa Cruz City Hall starting Monday. Other picketing locations include the city corporation yard, the wastewater collection site, the wharf, and the water plant.
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