What’s at stake?
The tentative agreement would boost workers’ wages above $18 without slashing members’ union-provided healthcare – a sticking point in negotiations that dragged out for over two years.
SEIU Local 2015 has reached a tentative agreement with Fresno County to boost thousands of home care workers’ wages and benefits, potentially putting a cap on strenuous negotiations that dragged on for over two years.
If approved by union membership and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, the three-year deal would raise hourly wages for the county’s roughly 25,000 In-Home Supportive Services workers from $17.10 to $18.35 as soon as August, SEIU leadership said.
The tentative agreement also increases union-provided healthcare benefits for roughly 2,000 of the 25,000 workers – a major sticking point in negotiations last year, when those benefits were on the chopping block.
IHSS workers provide in-home care for approximately 24,000 elderly folks and people with disabilities throughout Fresno County.
Marcus McRae, an executive vice president for SEIU Local 2015, partially credited the long-awaited agreement to the changes to the Board of Supervisors following the November 2024 election with the arrival of new members.
SEIU Local 2015 backed Supervisors Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez, both of whom ousted incumbents last fall.
“There were serious issues with the previous board depressing wages and benefits,” McRae said, “and it’s not normal that contract bargaining take two years. That’s not what we experience with our members in other counties.”
In an interview with Fresnoland Tuesday, Bredefeld said the agreement signals the IHSS workers “are now and will be” treated with respect in the county.
Chavez told Fresnoland there’s a consensus from the “new cohort” of supervisors to take a “more collaborative approach” with SEIU Local 2015 and other bargaining units now and going forward.
“It’s important to keep that in mind because I think there’s some challenges coming down the pipelines. We don’t know what the federal government’s going to do,” he said, “or even the state government’s going to do.”
IHSS programs across California are jointly funded by county, state and federal governments through a complex formula. The federal share of the cost is typically determined by the Medicaid reimbursement rate.
That reimbursement rate is now a matter of uncertainty with the potential Medicaid cuts coming under a budget proposal from the Trump administration.
McRae said that while the potential Medicaid cuts weren’t a large part of the conversation in negotiations, it is something IHSS programs not only in Fresno County but across the state will have to address if funding changes come to fruition.
“We’re watching it very closely,” McRae said, “and our members are very active in D.C.”
What’s in the tentative agreement?
Fresno County IHSS workers are paid the state or federal minimum wage – whichever is higher at a given point in time – plus a wage supplement.
The county also pays a health benefit contribution for every hour a county caregiver works, which then goes toward union-provided health care for roughly 2,000 of the IHSS workers in Fresno County.
Under the tentative agreement, the wage supplement will increase from 60 cents to $1.85, according to an SEIU news release, bringing the workers’ hourly wages to $18.35.
Chavez had championed a much higher raise for county workers on the campaign trail – $25 to $35 an hour – and doubled down on it when he took office earlier this year.
When asked about that Tuesday, Chavez stressed that the county still has “some ways to go” on compensating IHSS workers fairly.
“I will always advocate for our home care workers having better pay,” he said, “because I really feel that even though we’re making progress towards that, we still have some ways to go to get them to where I believe they need to be.”
The county’s healthcare contribution will also increase under the tentative agreement from 85 cents to $1 – a reversal from the county’s prior proposals to end the healthcare contribution and redirect it toward a higher wage supplement.
The county previously stressed that only about one in 10 IHSS workers received the union-provided benefits and that most of them qualify for Medi-Cal.
Saving that healthcare contribution was a priority for the union, with union leaders arguing the county couldn’t guarantee all workers currently receiving union-provided healthcare would qualify for Medi-Cal.
“Before new supervisors were seated in January, I would characterize the previous as generally feeling like home care workers are poor people that take care of poor people — they’re all eligible for Medicaid or Medi-Cal,” he said, “and that’s really not always the case.
“There is a group of providers that really rely on the healthcare benefits that they receive through the contract,” he added. “We are very happy that the healthcare plan is going to continue.”
County spokesperson Sonja Dosti declined to answer questions about the tentative agreement, stating the county cannot comment until “after the ratification vote has occurred and the new contract goes to the Board for final approval.”
What’s next?
The SEIU membership’s vote on the tentative agreement is already underway and will continue through May 15, McRae said, due to the large volume of care workers with demanding hours.
The Board of Supervisors will also have to approve the contract. McRae expects that to also happen in May.
Due to its joint funding, the agreement must also receive approval from the California Department of Social Services after that.
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