Call to Action

Tell Ralph Jimenez that If He Has This Much Disrespect for Homecare Workers, Maybe He's In the Wrong Job.

In a Service Employees International Union Local 250 bargaining session on August 28, Ralph Jimenez, Director of Fresno County Personnel Services, argued that homecare workers just won an 11% wage increase (bringing the wage from $6.75 to just $7.50). Local 250 spokesperson Pam Whalen responded by saying, "The day you make minimum wage, that's the day we'll listen to you when you say 11% is enough!"

Mr. Jimenez gave this angry response:

"That's right, I don't make minimum wage! And you know what? When I was a kid I did make minimum wage cutting melons in the fields. But you know what? I IMPROVED MYSELF. I went to school and I took the civil service exams. I improved myself and you [homecare workers] can improve yourselves, too. They don't have to keep doing homecare work!"

We believe that homecare workers are some of the most "improved" people alive. If anyone is in need of "improvement, it's the Board of Supervisors' spokesman who believes we should leave our clients alone and without care. If someone believes that sacrificing ourselves for the good of others is unworthy dirty labor, maybe that person's ethics are in need of "improvement.." A person who cares about others always remembers where they came from. They don't take pride in forgetting, and they don't take pride in their power to keep others down. Let Mr. Jimenez hear from you. Respectfully tell him what you think about his words and actions.

Ralph Jimenez, Director of Personnel Services
Phone: 559.488.2690
Email: personnel-administration [at] fresno.ca.gov

Please remember that when you call, though, to speak to him with the respect that we wish he and other county staff would offer to us. We must not lose our dignity and self-respect by speaking to them in the way they do to us.