RIVERSIDE – (INT) - The union that represents many Riverside County government workers is deploring the “last, best and final” offer from county supervisors to settle a labor disagreement.

In a statement issued Tuesday, SEIU Local 721 President Bob Schoonover said “In the short term, it’s going to affect everyone that receives county services and the people who provide them. In the long term, it has the potential to embroil the county even deeper into a long and costly legal fight”.

Schoonover warned that “systemic issues in Riverside County haven’t gone away. The county is still facing critical staffing shortages and safety issues in our hospitals and more than two dozen unfair labor practice charges that remain to be ruled on.”

Unfair labor practice charges have yet to be ruled on. “That could easily invalidate this entire imposition, forcing the County to go back and make every worker affected financially whole – with interest,” Schoonover said.

Supervisors' Chairman Chuck Washington pointed out that "The decision to impose the County of Riverside’s Last, Best, and Final Offer on SEIU comes after more than two years of intense negotiations, including 39 meetings and multiple attempts at compromise".

Story Date: December 13, 2018