Solano County public defenders picket as strike for competitive wages reaches third week

FAIRFIELD – Solano County public defenders carried picket signs and chanted union slogans in front of the county administration building Tuesday to mark their third week on strike to secure a contract with competitive pay that they say will keep experienced attorneys from leaving for higher paying counties.    

“The county has been underpaying us for a really long time,” said Mardin Malik, who has been a Solano County public defender for 14 years. He said that the county stepped up in 2022 and agreed to pay wages that kept positions filled. But before that contract stabilized the department, he said, “We weren't able to staff our offices, and it was impacting our ability to represent people who are the most vulnerable in our communities.”

The 2022 contract expired in October and the union members said that the pay the county is offering will lead to another staffing crisis because it is significantly below the rates in neighboring counties.

Costa Kerestenzis with the Teamsters Local 150, which represents the attorneys’ bargaining unit in their contract negotiations with the county, said that the county’s own study shows that current pay for Solano County attorneys is 8% behind the average. 

Kerestenzis said that the study includes counties like San Joaquin, Yolo and Placer in calculating the average. But when compared to just the Bay Area counties, Solano is 20% behind, he said. 

The county’s last offer prior to the breakdown of negotiations that led to the strike was a 6% cost of living adjustment over three years, which would increase the attorneys’ salaries 3% the first year, 2% the second year and 1% the third year. But Kerestenzis said that what Solano County really needs to compete for talent with other counties is an equity adjustment which actually raises salaries instead of just keeping pace with the rising cost of living.

According to Kerestenzis, comparable counties that have completed agreements for upcoming contract periods are expected to increase salaries by 12% on average. 

“We just want to keep up and not fall further behind. So, in three years, we can still say we're 20% behind the Bay Area. At least we're not 30% behind, because that's when we start having problems,” Kerestenzis said.

According to county officials, the 2022 contract with the attorneys’ bargaining unit included a 12% increase intended to keep pace with rising costs that was provided to all county employees during that contract period, as well as an additional 7% equity increase intended to raise salaries beyond rising costs of living. 

“The County’s current proposal builds on that progress and is designed to maintain a competitive total compensation package while responsibly managing public resources,” Solano County spokesperson Matthew Davis said in an email.

The public defenders are part of the same bargaining unit as the county’s prosecuting attorneys and their salaries are set by the same contract. However, the union decided that only the public defenders would strike because the county has certain limitations when it comes to covering prosecutors’ workload.

Solano County Deputy District Attorney Elaine Kuo, who visited the picket line in support, said that the attorneys from her office are also concerned that they will lose skilled prosecutors and face an unmanageable workload if the bargaining unit does not get a fair contract.   

“The reality is that Solano County has a relatively high crime rate compared to a lot of counties surrounding us, and in order for us to properly address the needs of the people in the criminal justice system, we need to be properly staffed,” Kuo said. 

“Both sides have different considerations in how we have approached this issue, but where we stand united is that we're all working as part of a system that's here to serve the community, “ Kuo said. 

The public defenders are taking steps to ensure that the strike does not impact those who need legal services. Although the union’s defense attorneys have not taken on any new cases since the strike began on Feb. 24, the defense attorneys are assisting all of their clients who have pending cases. 

Davis said that in order to ensure the justice system continues to function during the strike, the county refers cases to private counsel so individuals continue to receive constitutionally required legal representation and court proceedings can move forward.

“These operational adjustments require the County to carefully manage available resources and may affect how public safety and justice system resources are allocated during this time,” Davis said.

Many of the public defenders on the picket line said they don’t want to return to the days when the department had staffing problems.

Yisha Fan, a public defender who has been with the county for eight years said, “It's really sad, the people that you see every day, that you work with, that you get advice from, your mentors, your friends, your colleagues – they leave not because they want to, or because they don't enjoy the work or the environment, but because they're not getting paid enough to live in the Bay Area.” 

Angelica Leonardo, a public defender with Solano County for nine years said, “We've lost a lot of our senior attorneys to different counties. In order for us to keep that talent we need to be as competitive as the surrounding counties.”

Fan added to Leonardo’s statement, “It almost feels like we're training people to work at other Bay Area counties, like we develop the talent, we give people the experience they need, only to lose them to another county that pays more.”

Solano County is currently negotiating contracts with over two dozen bargaining units, including the unit for in-home service providers who have been in negotiations with the county for eight months. They also gathered at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to urge the board to raise wages by $1 instead of the 50 cents that the county offered.

“Solano county is an expensive county,” in-home service provider Minerva Peña said. “Napa county makes $20.50 – we are making $18.10 and Yolo makes $19.05. We want to find out why we are not getting a bigger pay raise because 50 cents is not enough.” 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Solano County.