Countywide : Deputies’ Vote Expected to OK Strike for Pay Hike

County sheriff’s deputies will vote today and Friday on whether to authorize their union to strike against the county if they do not receive a pay raise, a union official said Wednesday.

Robert McLeod, general manager of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, said the union’s 1,100 members will vote on the strike at 6 p.m. today and at 9 a.m. Friday.

The association, which represents deputies, sergeants and investigators, has asked the county Board of Supervisors for a 12% pay raise this year. The county has offered no raise. Negotiations have been at an impasse, and no new talks are scheduled, McLeod said.

Currently, deputies with six years of law enforcement experience earn $35,615 a year and sergeants earn $43,995 a year.

McLeod said that he expects the membership to authorize a strike but that he did not know when the union leadership might issue the call.

The union has been without a contract since July 2, and negotiations with a mediator have not produced results. McLeod said the county has funds to give sheriff’s deputies a pay raise.

“What they are telling us is, ‘Our spending priorities do not include a pay raise for employees.’ ”