Compass Health says its mental health services will continue today, despite an expected one-day strike by union employees.
Compass will use contract and on-call staff to ensure there is some staffing at each site, said Rochelle Clogston, chief administrative officer.
The nonprofit mental health organization has 195 employees in Snohomish County represented by the Service Employees International Union local 1199.
Compass also provides mental health services in Skagit, Island and San Juan counties, with a total of 318 unionized workers, she said.
Clogston said she did not know exactly how many employees had indicated they would not show up for work. Union organizers say several hundred Compass Health employees are expected to participate in the one-day strike and demonstration.
The union represents a variety of mental health workers, including case managers, counselors and mental health technicians.
Compass employees are scheduled to join community mental health workers from throughout the Puget Sound region today for a rally in Olympia. It’s part of the efforts by union members to get increased state funding for mental health workers.
“It’s education, to let our representatives and state senators know that we’re in a crisis, we’ve been in a crisis with funding and it’s getting worse,” said Gloria Pashinski, a social worker who said she will participate in the rally even though it means a day without pay.
She works at Compass Health’s Mukilteo facility, where up to 16 people are housed short-term who have been involuntarily placed in the mental health system.
Pashinski said she is paid $15.38 an hour, one example of what she said is the low pay throughout the system of community mental health services.
Among other duties, Pashinski helps clients find housing once they leave the Compass facility.
She said she isn’t concerned about missing a day of work because Compass has made arrangements for services to be provided to patients.
“In the long run, the biggest problem is people leaving the profession,” she said, noting that about a third of mental health workers leave their jobs every year.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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