REGION: In-home caregivers protest for higher pay

Negotiations between union, county officials stall

By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Tuesday, September 16, 2008 7:53 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Larry Spiler of Rancho Penasquitos suffers from epilepsy and relies on an in-home care provider to help him eat, visit the doctor and administer his medicine.

He was one of more than 500 people taking part in a rally Tuesday outside the San Diego County Administration Center asking the supervisors to increase pay for those who help provide health care for the elderly and disabled.

For more than nine months, union leaders and county administrators have been at odds over the workers' pay.

About 22,000 people are paid $9.25 an hour by the county to help people such as Spiler. The workers are considered independent contractors and are not part of the 17,000 employees who make up the county's work force.

United Domestic Workers of America President Laura Reyes, who represents the workers, said the union is asking for a $1.50 increase over three years. The county's last offer was a 44-cent raise spread over three years.

"We're going to keep putting pressure," said Reyes, who cares for her 17-year-old son who suffers from cerebral palsy. "For us, it's a moral issue."

County officials say they don't have the money. They say they'd have to take funding away from child protective services to increase the $38 million they already spend on the in-home care program.

County officials also say the state is responsible for the program and should cough up more money.

"They are asking for more than we can provide," said county Chief Administrator Walt Ekard.

The two sides had a mediation session Monday that ended without an agreement.

Reyes said that San Diego County pays its in-home care providers less than Imperial County, which pays $11 an hour.

"It's really hard to understand why a county like San Diego, with an unrestricted general fund of more than $1 billion, refuses to pay its home care providers a living wage," she said.

Spiler, who addressed the crowd outside the county building from a wheelchair, said the workers are underappreciated by county officials. He said the workers are saving the government money by keeping people from having to stay in more expensive health care facilities.

"Caregivers do some of the toughest, dirtiest jobs that I can imagine," Spiler said.

His wife, Marie Spiler, said she has to look after him around the clock, which means she is unable to work outside the home. She said she spent her birthday recently at an emergency room for eight hours.

"You can't plan anything," Marie Spiler said.

Sitting next to her at outside the county administration building, her husband agreed. He said being an home care provider is a much tougher job than most kinds of work.

"You never know when the next seizure is going to happen," Marie Spiler said. "If you're asleep, you have to get up."

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.