Mental health workers are striking around western Massachusetts this week to protest a contract impasse over pay and productivity.

About 20 workers from Clinical and Support Options picketed in front of the agency’s Springfield office.

The mental health nonprofit treats about 14,000 people each year.

Mitch Pine says he’s been a licensed counselor there for six years, and, with a Master’s Degree, makes between about $30,000 and $45,000, depending on his caseload. Pine says counselors often leave the organization over pay and conditions.

“Clients are having to get people reassigned every, sometimes once a month, because of turnover,” he says, “so it’s just a lack of consistency, and I don’t know, the agency just seems to be OK with that.”

But Karin Jeffers, CEO of Clinical and Support Options, says the agency has little power to retain workers through higher pay.

“We have a turnover rate that is not higher than the industry,” she says. “That said, I think our industry does suffer in general from higher turnover rates because it is not very well funded, and workers in the field can go and work for the state and other schools and private companies and be able to make more because they’re funded at better levels.”

Although union workers object to increasing their caseloads, as management wants, Jeffers says the agency is near the bottom of the productivity scale nationwide.

As for the effect of the strike, she says, “At this point, it looks like only about 22 percent of our staff decided to strike,” and so most services have not been disrupted. A union spokesperson, however, says he believes a higher percentage are striking.

The union says it will end the current strike Friday afternoon, contract or not.