Union Calls Off County Strikes; New Talks Slated

The leader of Los Angeles County’s largest public employees union announced Thursday that he is suspending scattered strikes launched four days ago and will sit down next week with county negotiators for a new round of intensive contract talks.

Phil Giarrizzo, general manager of Service Employees International Union, Local 660, announced the strike suspension at a news conference at the local’s headquarters. He said the suspension represents a “good-faith” gesture that he hopes will lead to a new contract. He warned, however, that a new wave of limited strikes will resume if there is no progress in the new talks, set to start Tuesday morning.

This week’s limited strikes began Monday when about 3,400 workers stayed off their jobs and peaked Tuesday when more than 4,500 employees failed to show up for work. On Wednesday and Thursday, however, only a few hundred employees participated, and their absence caused no noticeable disruption in routine, county officials said.

Giarrizzo said that more workers would have joined the picket lines today if new talks had not been scheduled.

The union leader told reporters that the new talks were arranged during a series of telephone conversations he initiated with Phil Stone, the county’s chief negotiator. Giarrizzo said that, despite county contentions that the strikes have been illegal, Stone did not condition the new round of talks on a cessation of the work stoppages.

Stone, reached later, confirmed Giarrizzo’s account and said that he has agreed to engage in round-the-clock talks if that is what it takes to hammer out an agreement with Local 660. A veteran county negotiator, Stone said he is hopeful that a settlement can be reached by the end of the week.

“We had a couple of phone calls and agreed to take a shot at intensive bargaining,” Stone said. He added that although he has not directly participated in many of the past bargaining sessions with Local 660, he will now join his negotiating team at the table.

The development came four days after Local 660 launched a series of strikes or sickouts that hit all 32 welfare payment offices, all 91 county libraries--64 of which had to be closed--the county jail system and about 10 other county departments. Thursday’s activity was limited to some clerical workers in a smattering of departments.

Giarrizzo reiterated promises that a general strike by the local--which represents about 40,000 of the county’s 71,000 employees--would not be called unless his union’s membership voted to reject the county’s final offer.

Local 660 is the only county employees union that has not reached at least tentative agreement for a new wage and fringe benefit package to replace the one that expired Aug. 31. More than two dozen other unions are in the process of seeking ratification of their settlements. Members of only two unions, those representing deputy sheriffs and Superior Court clerks, have voted to accept the county’s offer. No union has rejected it.