County employees press supervisors over stalled contract, withheld health‑plan increases

Dozens of county employees and union representatives told the Solano County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 27 that understaffing and stalled contract talks are producing dangerous delays in care and forcing workers to shoulder higher health‑care costs.

"We will not be able to provide adequate care as long as we experience understaffing and high turnover," said Sarah, a mental‑health clinician in Family Health Services, describing five‑ to six‑month waits for referrals that she said lead to emergency‑room visits, arrests and worsened outcomes. "You deserve and are entitled to better."

The speakers — including clinicians, social‑services eligibility workers and home‑supportive‑services providers — pressed the board to negotiate pay and restore health‑plan increases they say the county withheld for 2026. Several said employees are covering roughly $200 per month in additional premiums after the county moved to pay 80 percent of 2025 plan costs rather than the higher 2026 level staff expected.

"You're withholding the 2026 healthcare increases from employee checks that you'd already planned to give us," one speaker said during the comment period. "Families are having to pay an additional $200 per month — they can't afford it."

Speakers described a range of operational harms they attribute to the staffing squeeze: long waitlists for therapy and specialty referrals, delays in child‑welfare case processing, and shortages in HIV case management. Amber Searcy, a 20‑year Family Health Services employee, said her HIV unit has been short two positions for three years and the remaining two staff cannot manage an assigned caseload of more than 225 patients.

Several union representatives framed the board’s actions as a bargaining tactic intended to force concessions. Moe Kashmiri, speaking for SEIU affiliates, told the board the unions went on an unfair‑labor‑practice strike earlier this month and urged supervisors to empower negotiators to settle a fair contract.

Other commenters questioned county priorities. Carl Vinson, a former caregiver and member of a county advisory committee, cited an 18 percent raise the board approved for itself in 2025 and said it contrasted sharply with continuing underfunding for caregivers and IHSS providers.

Board members acknowledged the urgency of staffing and service gaps and said they would continue discussions. The board then recessed into closed session on labor negotiations under Government Code section 54957.6, where county negotiators and employee organizations will confer; county counsel said there will be no report out from closed session.

What happens next: the board listed labor negotiations as the closed‑session topic; no public vote or contract was taken in open session on Jan. 27. The unions and employees present urged supervisors to resume in‑person bargaining, return withheld benefits, and adopt pay adjustments to retain staff and maintain services.