Home care workers camp outside Sacramento County Board chambers for higher pay

Caretakers for elderly and disabled people in Sacramento are calling on the county to raise their wages and extend health care benefits for more people.

About a dozen caretakers with the Service Employees International Union 2015 union camped outside the county administration building in downtown Sacramento Monday night, and plan to stay there until Wednesday.

“This is exactly where people are headed if you don't lead and actually invest more in these workers right now,” said Executive Vice President of SEIU Local 2015 Kim Evon, gesturing to the blue tents set up across the pavilion during a candlelight vigil Monday evening. 

Evon said the union represents about 30,000 Sacramento caretakers with the state’s In-Home Supportive Services program, or IHSS, who currently make $16.50 an hour. Their last contract expired at the end of 2022, and they’ve been in negotiations with the county for nine months to hammer out a new agreement. 

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At issue is cents per hour: the union says they want wages to be increased to $18.15 per hour; the county proposes increasing pay to $17.50. A state minimum wage increase that goes into effect in 2024 would raise any base pay up by 50 cents.

The union is also asking for people who are currently waiting to receive health benefits to get those benefits — they say about 1,100 qualified people are waiting, because there’s not enough money in the health plan. 

One of those people is Sabrina Pike. For five years, she’s been caring for her friend, a diabetic amputee, and her friend’s elderly mother. The three women live together in a two-bedroom apartment in Carmichael, the only way Pike said they can pay rent. She said she got on the waitlist for health care three years ago and has hovered around 700th in line since then. 

Caregiver Sabrina Pike stands in front of a tent before camping out in front of the county administration building in downtown Sacramento on Sept. 25, 2023.Kate Wolffe / CapRadio

During the pandemic, Pike was making little enough to qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, and has stayed enrolled. However, after years of pandemic protections, Medicaid across the country is checking eligibility again, and Pike makes over the qualifying limit, $1,676 per month. She said she will need health insurance soon and can’t pay out of pocket. 

“It’s really sad because we do work hard and we do a good job,” she said. “And without us, seniors and disabled people would be in nursing homes, and the county would end up paying for that." 

The county says only approximately 11% of caregivers currently use the health care benefits. 

The county’s bargaining team has proposed moving the money they pay into the health care plan into caregivers’ base pay. 

“The [IHSS] Public Authority is committed to reaching a mutually beneficial agreement that balances the needs of the workers with the economic reality of the overall budget,” said county spokesperson Janna Hayes.

At the campout Monday night, Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela told the crowd it was egregious that supervisors approved a recent 36% raise for themselves and wouldn’t provide a living wage for IHSS workers. 

“They find money to give themselves 36% pay raises,” she said. “So it’s insulting because honestly, I'm not even going to say $20 is what you deserve. Frankly, I think you all deserve a lot more than that. $20 an hour is just what you need to survive here.”

An effort to have IHSS workers eventually negotiate with the state instead of with the county is underway. Legislators approved a stakeholder work group that is slated to provide recommendations to the governor in 2025.