On Monday, May 20, members of SEIU 1021 employed by the City of San Rafael – including childcare providers, street maintenance workers, and administrative staff – raised the alarm at the San Rafael City Council meeting. They alerted the council that their staffing crisis is unnecessarily endangering San Rafael’s children and families. 

Trish Cerutti-Saylors, a San Rafael childcare director, explains, “The City of San Rafael cannot retain childcare workers. As a result, childcare workers are worn out; angry parents can’t find the care they need for their children; and San Rafael’s children are being left behind. This cannot continue.” 

Cerutto-Saylors has become the only full-time childcare provider at her center. The City has compensated their short-staffing by hiring 10 temporary part-time providers to assist her. Most of these part-time providers are high school students. 

The center that Cerutti-Saylors oversees currently has a waitlist of 50 children.

The solution to San Rafael’s public staffing crisis is clear. The City of San Rafael must bargain in good faith with its employees and become an employer capable of attracting safe levels of public staff. Otherwise, the City is making the choice to put San Rafael’s children, families, and the broader public at risk.