With chants and a clanging cowbell, employees of the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey and members of SEIU Local 521 demonstrated outside HACM’s Salinas headquarters on Monday, Aug. 24.
“We are the union!” workers chanted as they marched inside the building on Rossi Street before heading inside a conference room where they lined the walls holding signs that read, “Respect the workers who make it happen,” among others.
The workers’ main complaints include low wages, contending that they themselves qualify for the housing subsidies that HACM is charged with providing to low-income residents. They also claim that management is hiring unqualified supervisors and providing little to no training to workers who are then penalized for not performing their duties as expected.
The result, they say, is a “toxic” environment that translates into poor customer service for clients. On Monday, Housing Specialist Jonathan Stoney told commissioners there was a “gross disregard for the development and retention of high-quality front line workers.”
When Executive Director Zulieka Boykin gave her report to commissioners, she challenged the union’s claim of low pay.
“I did a payroll analysis and this is not true,” she said. To qualify for a voucher, someone must make 50 percent of the area median income, or $54,750, she said. Looking at union worker salaries, she said the average maintenance worker makes $67,649, and the average salary for a housing program specialist is $64,079. She said over 60 percent of HACM’s union workers make more than the area median income for a single person, $77,650.
Boykin says HACM provides classes to new employees, backed up with training software. They also send employees for training to become certified in rules and procedures mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Managers are hired based on whether they meet job description criteria, she says.
As to a toxic work environment, Boykin says the management team is working to find out where the complaint originates.
“I would love for everyone to enjoy coming to work and be a part of the team,” Boykin says.
Negotiations between the union and HACM management continue with a bargaining session on Thursday, Aug. 27.