Deputies Vow to Escalate Job Action; Courts Feel Slowdown

Battling for higher wages, the union representing Orange County sheriff’s deputies threatened Wednesday to escalate a 2-day-old job action that has clogged the county’s court system.

In its first two days, the job action took the form of a work slowdown by the 48 Sheriff’s Department employees responsible for transporting prisoners between the county’s jails and its courthouses.

Municipal and Superior court officials reported delays of up to half a day in some criminal trials Wednesday as attorneys, judges and court employees sat in empty courtrooms, waiting for the deputies to deliver prisoners.

The deputies’ union is only one of eight groups involved in labor negotiations with the county. A union representing heavy machinery operators, mechanics and landfill technicians was planning Wednesday to begin a selective sickout today. Sources said workers responsible for repairing county vehicles and maintaining streets would not report to work.

Another union, representing more than 500 welfare and clerical workers, also cut off talks with the county Wednesday and was considering an emergency meeting of its membership this week to request strike authorization.

‘Going to Take a While’

“I wish I had a crystal ball,” said John W. Sibley, county director of employee relations. “I personally think there is enough money to get contracts with all of our unions. It’s just going to take a while.”

Superior Court Executive Officer Alan Slater said that, because of the job action by the sheriff’s deputies, up to a dozen criminal trials scheduled for Wednesday morning did not get under way until afternoon.

“The trial court time is unrecoverable,” Slater said. “That backs up everything else.”

Municipal Court administrators also reported delays, but many said they were able to rearrange schedules to minimize the impact.

“At this point . . . what it will do is inconvenience our lawyers,” said Joyce Ziegler, assistant administrator in South Orange County Municipal Court.

Robert B. Kuhel, administrator for the busy Central Municipal Court, said prisoners were arriving about three hours behind schedule, but “we’ve been able to accommodate our needs.”

The deputies say the slowdown is a direct result of paying strict attention to rules that are usually ignored, such as the number of times an inmate is required to be searched. Normally, the sheriffs use their discretion to determine when there is a safety risk.

Union officials, who represent about 1,100 employees of the Sheriff’s Department, declined to reveal their plans to escalate the job action today.

“We want to try and resolve things at the lowest level we can, but we’re going to start to escalate things at a rapid rate,” said Robert MacLeod, general manager of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs.

“We began with something small, something that wouldn’t hurt the public,” MacLeod said. “But just because we aren’t screaming and yelling doesn’t mean we can’t get hairy.”

The Sheriff’s Department was running into possible legal problems because of the job action on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lt. Richard J. Olson said a federal court order requires that prisoners get eight hours of sleep before a court appearance and that the deputies provide transportation for inmates needing medical attention.

Three Hours Behind

Olson said the department was having trouble Wednesday meeting both requirements.

To assure eight hours of sleep, Olson said, the buses returning inmates to jail from a court must arrive by 9 p.m. But Tuesday there were six prisoners who arrived at the jail after 9 p.m., about three hours behind the normal schedule.

Olson said the department was checking whether those inmates had court dates the following day.

There also were 11 inmates who had non-emergency medical appointments scheduled for Wednesday, but Olson said he was uncertain whether buses would be available to transport them.

“It all totally throws the schedule off,” Olson said. “All these things you have to comply with--it kind of puts you on the fence.”

Olson said the first buses usually leave the main jail in Santa Ana for the county’s courthouses at 6:30 a.m., but Wednesday they left at 8:30 a.m. The first bus did not arrive at Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach until 11:07 a.m., he said.

399 Prisoners Transported

The deputies transported a total of 399 prisoners on Wednesday.

The deputies’ union met with the county Monday and was offered a 12.5% wage increase over three years. MacLeod said the union asked for 16% over three years but also wanted more of the raise in the first year. The county plan would only give 2% of the raise in the fiscal year ending June 30.

Sibley said the 12.5% package would cost the county about $4 million over the three years of the contract.

County officials say little money is available for raises this year. Later this month, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to adopt a $1.7-billion budget under which as many as 100 county jobs will be lost and up to 45 employees will be laid off.

In negotiations with the mechanics’ and welfare employees’ unions, the county also has offered multiyear contracts with only small increases the first year.

The American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees, representing welfare and clerical workers, turned down a 7% raise over two years that it was offered Wednesday, said union spokeswoman Ann Imparata. Two percent of the increase was in the first year.

Fourth at an Impasse

Imparata said an emergency meeting of the union membership may be called later this week to discuss a job action against the county. It was the fourth union to reach an impasse in its negotiations with the county. The other three are the deputies’ union, the International Union of Operating Engineers, representing about 100 county employees, and the Service Employees International Union.

The service employee union, representing the mechanics, walked out of negotiations Tuesday after the county offered only a 2% increase in the first year of a two-year contract.

Sources said the union would start a sickout today at the county’s central garage, where county and sheriff’s vehicles are repaired, and at the Katella Yard, where street maintenance crews work.

The county has meetings scheduled for later this week with the Orange County Employees Assn., representing 6,500 clerical workers, and the International Assn. of Firefighters.

In all, the eight unions currently involved in negotiations with the county represent about 12,000 of the county’s 14,000 employees.