On Tuesday, April 2, SEIU 1021 members working for City of San Rafael – including childcare providers, street maintenance workers, librarians, and administrative staff – confronted San Rafael City Council over the public staffing crisis that is unnecessarily putting San Rafael’s children and families at risk.  

Trish Cerutti-Saylors, a San Rafael childcare director, explained: “At my center, I’ve become the only full-time childcare provider. We’re so understaffed that we’ve had to bring on 10 temporary part-time providers to assist me, most of whom are in high school. The staffing crisis is a snowball effect – the stress from our chronic understaffing leads more and more childcare providers to quit. Ultimately, the staffing crisis harms San Rafael’s families and children.” 

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

Kenneth Gatlin, a San Rafael street maintenance worker, observed, “Due to San Rafael’s staffing crisis, we have roads crumbling, drainage failing, and an inability to keep up with complaints from the public. We are spread far too thin.”  

Jana Blunt, an SEIU 1021 field representative representing San Rafael workers, remarked, “San Rafael cannot hold onto code enforcement employees. In the upcoming months, the City’s number of code enforcement employees may very well fall to zero.” 

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.