Protecting your happy

UPE met with the department regarding proposed changes in duties for GA HSS. The department is still insisting on HSS staff taking on the work of the now vacant GA HSQR. We proposed a differential for all staff who would be asked to do the out-of-class duties, which the department declined. They agreed to meet with us again after we requested additional information about sanction imposition, training modules & workflows related to sanctions. Once we review and meet again, we

Your 008 negotiation team met with the department again regarding the work number being a mandatory addition to the eligibility process. Your team came up with a list of non-mandatory duties the department has been requiring due to first contact resolution. We have proposed extending intake slots multiple times, and the department continues to deny this. After presenting a reduction in duties, management said they did not have the authority to make decisions. They committed t

UPE met and conferred with the County and DHS regarding updates to the Health Education class series. UPE represents the Health Education Assistant classification in the series. The class specifications have not been updated since the early 1990s. UPE reviewed the proposed class specifications and found them to reflect the duties of the classification now accurately. UPE did make a couple of proposals to modify the language to capture better the distinction between the Health

UPE met and conferred again on October 1, 2026, with representatives from DHA regarding changes to the handling of WTW sanctions. Under the state mandate, all sanctions must be cured on intake (if there has been a 30-day break in aid), during recertification, and now during continuing contacts where clients express a desire to cure the sanction and an intent to participate in WTW activities. The state promised a change to CAL-SAWs that would automatically cure the sanctions a

Greetings, Union Family, On October 7, 2026, your 008 governing board met with DHA management to discuss changes to Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) eligibility. The state extended RCA eligibility from 4 months to 8 months. The automation for sending NOA’s has not been completed in CalSAWS, so staff are having to send out manual NOA’s. We asked that the department create a general functioning guide showing staff how to create a NOA for any program, and to hyperlink that guide w

Greetings Union Family, On September 30, 2026, your 008 governing board met with DHA management for the second time to discuss the volume of Medi-Cal/CalFresh intakes and a streamlined process for rescheduling intakes when requested by a worker. We spent hours explaining to management that workers do not have enough time to complete intakes. If the department is not going to extend intake slot times, then they need to allow and respect worker discretion for rescheduling when