Park rangers, lifeguards and other East Bay Regional Park District workers will decide this coming weekend whether to strike, said the group People for East Bay Park Workers on Monday.
The 600 workers are demanding “more respect and fair wages.” Results of the vote on whether to strike will be announced Aug. 30.
East Bay park workers make 10 percent less than people in comparable jobs in the Bay Area, according to a report. If the workers authorize a strike, it would be the first in nearly 50 years.
Advocates for the park workers said to avoid a strike, the board of directors of the park district must call a special meeting.
Worker advocates said the district has reserves of $140 million and last year had a surplus of $26 million. If workers are paid more, they will buy products and services in the region, thus benefiting the economy, advocates said.
The East Bay Regional Park District consists of 73 parks in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Give them the money.At least they are working for a paycheck.They aren’t sitting at home on the porch waiting for the handout.All the immigrants are getting money food and medical for free and let’s throw in the ones to lazy to work.Support the hard working American that was born and raised in this country.It’s time we start taking care of the rare breed that we are.
I couldn’t tell if I would support the EBRPD employees’ grievance because I don’t know what “10% less than people in comparable jobs” means. Is that 10% less than too much? I have the same indifferent response when teachers are striking. They say they don’t make enough. But they never want to tell how much they DO make. It’s a little hard to muster the thumb strength to toot your horn at picketers when many of them are making twice what you make. 3 or 4 times for nurses. About 30 years ago the Albany Police were picketing, because they were the lowest paid cops in the Bay Area, by their account. They didn’t say they believed all cops should be paid the same, so it begged the question, who SHOULD be the lowest paid? Apparently not Albany, so WHO? Name the department. Sorry for the ramble, there’s actually way more, but the point is, unless we’re discussing actual dollar amounts, we’re not really having a conversation about appropriate compensation.
Having said all that, I visit many EBRPD parks regularly, and am consistently impressed by the work ethic and professionalism exhibited by the maintenance workers.
FYI, teachers make approx $35-40k/yr. working 50-60 hrs/week, weekends, holidays, summers, etc. So, teachers at least have a legitimate grievance.
Hey Jazzman
not sure where you get your numbers from …. but MDUSD has a website that shows a range of $53,339 to $98,346 (2019-2020 salary schedule). They also receives bonuses depending on Advanced degrees and languages etc …
$33 hours in the the certified rate.
Your numbers are WAY off … WAY off …
Utter nonsense that teachers in MDUSD or any district in the Bay Area or most if not all of CA make $35-$40K. Besides making a decent salary, MDUSD teachers gave great benefits of which they contribute very little, including their generous/unsustainable pensions. Between family, friends, acquaintances through kids school/sports, I know probably at least 30 teachers/counselors/principals, and many are honest and basically brag about only working 9-10 months of the year…I also call BS on the “50-60 hrs/week”, for most of the ones I know there’s no way in hell they’re putting in 50+ hours.
Now shall we discuss how stridently MDUSD teachers pushed to keep kids out of the classroom all last year, and still today are mask nazis even though the SCIENCE doesn’t support masking kids in school.
… I want to know how much they make first… on the teachers and of MDUSD, just read the auditors report – they are paid well over the norm of what is called for.. this is by an independent auditor – it’s public record
According to the Ed Join website, teachers are paid 53,000 to 103,000 depending on experience. First years make the bottom rung, naturally. My daughter wants to be a teacher and she said just to see the kids faces light up when they learn something new is worth it. Nice parents are great (The punishing parents and administrators, not so much) Park Rangers are part police, they run into all kinds of freaks.
Let them strike, and replace them. Finding someone qualified to open a gate and close a gate shouldn’t be that hard. When you throw in the cool Ranger Rick uniform and the hat, people will be lining up to take those cushy government jobs.
More respect and fair wages wanted what kind of joke is that they’re lucky to have damn jobs at all.
They don’t like their jobs for whatever reason go find a different one.
Bunch of union crybabies..
Hey workers, if it’s true that “East Bay park workers make 10 percent less than people in comparable jobs in the Bay Area,” then go get one of those comparable jobs, if you can. If you can’t, then that’s the reason your not worth the extra 10%.
Problem solved.
Union strong!
Unions suck….period..
Yeah, I want more respect and more pay in my job too. WAAAHHHHH!
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Respect? Oh puh-lease.
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Get back to work.
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If the Parks District is not having trouble finding qualified people to fill open jobs based on the current salary and benefits being offered, then I don’t see a reason for a salary increase. I would let them strike, if they go two weeks without a paycheck, most will come back.
@ JazzMan. In principle, I am very pro-union, because I know labor history, and American history. Myself and perhaps most workers, are indebted to the brave activists that sometimes gave their lives to secure many of the workplace norms that we now take for granted.
However, in PRACTICE, it has been my anecdotal experience that unions today are little more than a parasite on the “working man”, taking their cut from every check, year after year, and providing DIDDLY SQUAT in return. Again, just my personal experience.
I am currently passing my twilight years with my first ever government job. It’s an insanely easy job and it pays my monthly bills. I’m old and I can handle it. Our union actually negotiated a rate that was LESS THAN MINIMUM. Not sure if that’s legal, but the job is so easy I actually accept the situation. I feel bad for my younger coworkers. They usually quit to go work at McDonald’s or DoorDash.
When I was a child our firefighters were picketing. My father engaged with them, and listened to their grievances. He played along, being very sympathetic. Then he said, “that’s terrible! You know what you should do? You should quit! I wouldn’t put up with that!” I don’t think they took his advice, but I did. I don’t think that was the intention, but the lesson was learned. I’ve quit jobs, sometimes on the spot, if I wasn’t being treated right. Sometimes I put an employer “on probation”, tell them these things need to change. And if they don’t? You walk. No two weeks. They don’t give two weeks if they end the relationship, why should the employee? You don’t need a union to stand up for your rights, you need self respect. If you’re a good worker, if you have a skill set, you will find work. At least in the Bay Area. There is an embarrassment of opportunity around here.
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2020/east-bay-regional-park-district/
It would appear that even those workers with modest pay receive tremendous benefits and accumulate some serious overtime pay.
thanks for the link… after looking at this – I want one of those jobs! …forget the 10% increase & I’ll give you the same respect you give us.
Thx addledata. Data is good. So the blue collar type of jobs that I’m familiar with, I don’t have knowledge enough to have an opinion on cops and finance workers, but the types of work I’ve done , you can cut some of those salaries 20-50%. Fire and replace.
This is a bit misleading, since top paying jobs are upper management, police and firefighters. An average park ranger seems to be getting about $60K/year plus $25-30K in benefits. Some of them seem to be getting a lot of overtime (pension spiking?).
It’s not an unreasonable salary for a job that requires nothing more than a GED.
But in any case, the real sign of whether the job is paying market rate wages is not so much the salary/total benefits reported by Transparent California, but the difficulty of hiring (or lack thereof). East Bay Park District has 7 job openings including one for a student aide. This is not a lot for an employer of ~1,000 employees, so their salaries are very much market rate.
They’re going to need a raise in order to pay for the Biden-Harris inflation thats coming!
Certainly the salary a police officer make, is warranted, and the $200.000 dollar range probably include a fair amount of overtime. They often work week-ends and Holidays, who of you would want to go to work everyday with the possibility that some deranged person or idiot wants to shoot at you??
When was the last time a Concord Police officer lost his life in the line of duty?
Park rangers are already so overpaid. You give nature hikes, take away kids alcohol on mt Diablo and lock trail gates. BFD You’re no sheriff even tho they think they are.
+1
EBRPD Park Rangers are NOT law enforcement, and Mt. Diablo is a State (not Regional) Park. Also, the EBRPD Police Officers go through the same academy and get the same training as Sherriff’s Deputies. So you really have no idea what you’re talking about.
Most fair workers make about $11 – $12 per hour…. fair wages aren’t as much as the park guys make… are they?
I mean if that’s a step up, I guess they have a point demanding more.