Berkeley Day Camp Workers to picket over staff recruitment and retention crisis

BERKELEY, CA – Berkeley Day Camp workers will lead an unfair labor practice strike starting August 8, 2024. Workers say the City has refused to bargain in good faith over pressing recruitment and staff retention issues impacting beloved summer and sports camps across the City of Berkeley. Union leaders say this is the first strike in Berkeley SEIU 1021’s history, and possibly the first at the City of Berkeley.

Berkeley Day Camp is a summer camp for children 5-13 years old that takes place in Shorebird Park (Berkeley Waterfront/Berkeley Nature Center). When the City struggled to hire sufficient staff this year, instead of improving program competitiveness, the City requested that the union agree to allow the City to lower job experience requirements that could potentially endanger campers. As of June 2024, Berkeley Day Camp workers are paid less per hour than the trainees that they supervise. This is because the trainees are given cost of living pay increases indexed to inflation, while lead counselors are not. Since the salary for lead counselors has stagnated as the price of living in the Bay Area increases, many are unable to return year to year. Day Camp is hurt by a lack of returning counselors who know the campers, programming, and more.

In response to the City unilaterally ending negotiations in March, workers are now on strike to demand that the City bargain in good faith with workers to better support kids, parents, and the community.

Berkeley Day Camp worker Cora Harte said “We’re here for the kids and the last thing we want to do is have to go on a strike. That’s hard for us and for the families that depend on us. But if they can’t make it right then we have to stand up for what’s fair and for the kids and families.” 

This strike highlights other workers’ experience that the City is failing to bargain in good faith with workers in other City departments. Approximately 700 Berkeley SEIU 1021 and AFSCME PEU Local One workers–nearly half the City’s workforce–have been working without a union contract since June 26. Despite apparent support from the City’s Mayor and Council for open/joint and transparent bargaining, City Management has refused to meet openly and jointly with both unions since March. Both unions have held multiple strike schools.  

The strike also occurs as the City’s Parks and Recreation Department goes to voters to seek a $3.7 million per year parcel tax to fund parks and recreation programs. 

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What: Berkeley Day Camp Strike

When: August 8, 2024 8:30 AM 

Where: Shorebird Nature Center, 160 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94710

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