OAKLAND — Nearly a hundred home care workers rallied Tuesday to protest proposed health care cuts by the county during negotiations for a new contract.

The workers are some of the county's 15,000 In-Home Supportive Services caregivers — members of the United Long-Term Care Workers' Union — who have been without a contract since September.

According to Benigno Delgado, spokesman for the union negotiating team, the union and county are in a stalemate about higher co-pays and other health care increases county negotiators are asking for in concessions.

Delgado said the union has already agreed to a multitude of cuts, but the county's proposal to increase the hours employees must work — from 45 hours to 80 hours a month — to be eligible for health care is unacceptable and would cut in half the number of members receiving health care benefits.

"We understand these are difficult times," Delgado said, adding that the two sides last met early last week. "But there is only so much you can give."

Sylvia Soublet, spokeswoman for the county's Social Services Agency, said it is important to remember with the governor's new budget proposal that there is a 10-percent cut across the board on social service programs.

"The county is making a good faith effort in these negotiations," Soublet said. "We're very sympathetic to the needs of the people involved in IHSS. However, there are budget constraints."

Soublet

said she believed both sides could come to a deal that would make sense for all parties.

"These are negotiations," she said. "They are not always easy."

Reach Chris Metinko at 510-763-5418 or cmetinko@bayareanewsgroup.com.