Strike Strategy to Be Decided at Meeting of 5 County Unions

Five unions representing Orange County workers are planning to meet Monday and discuss the possibility of a combined strike, union officials said Wednesday.

Fred Lowe, director of Service Employees International Union, went so far as to say that the unions have already agreed to strike and that the meeting was scheduled only to pick a date for the walkout to begin.

“My understanding is that we are getting together to pick a date that would have the most impact,” Lowe said. “People have done all the slowdowns and sickouts that they can.”

But there was some indication that the unions--which include the sheriff’s deputies and county firefighters--are not entirely united. Some union officials said they have not yet agreed to a combined strike, but they said it would be a topic at the meeting.

“When they meet again, it appears there would be strike action discussed,” said Mary Yunt, secretary-treasurer of the Orange County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “I can’t say what will come out of that meeting, but I would think there would be some kind of plan for a (job) action.”

After four of the unions have already staged work slowdowns or sickouts without any effect on the county’s negotiators, Yunt and other union officials said they believe that a drastic job action is the only option left to them.

All of the unions except the sheriff’s deputies are members of the Central Labor Council. Yunt has worked to keep the unions communicating with each other and to coordinate several joint meetings of the different groups.

The five unions represent only about 2,800 of the county’s 14,000 employees, but most of their workers are in key positions.

In addition to the sheriff’s deputies and firefighters, the unions involved represent welfare clerks, heavy machinery operators, road repair crews, landfill technicians, mechanics and maintenance workers responsible for some of the county’s sewage plants, as well as the heating and cooling systems in county buildings.

If the International Union of Operating Engineers went on strike, for example, director Joseph Wetzler said the county would have to evacuate the jail because it would not have adequate temperature control or plumbing. That could be at a time when the sheriff’s deputies, who guard the jail, are also on strike, he said.

Yunt said that if there is a combined strike, the AFL-CIO would seek help from any other union that does business with the county. She said she would expect all AFL-CIO unions in Orange County to join the action and that the Teamsters Union would likely participate.

Robert MacLeod, general manager of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, declined to comment Wednesday on the possibility of a combined strike. The sheriff’s deputies union is scheduled to meet tonight and Friday with its members to discuss the possibility of a strike.

The firefighters are scheduled to meet with county negotiators today. Union officials were unavailable Wednesday to talk about the possibility of the firefighters participating in a combined strike.

John Sibley, county director of employee relations, said Wednesday that a combined strike would not force any change in the county’s bargaining.

“They’re simply operating on greed right now,” Sibley said. “I think they’re caught up in their own rhetoric. Why they’re doing what they’re doing at this point is beyond me.”

The Orange County Employees Assn., which represents about 6,500 county workers, most of them in clerical positions, has declined to participate in the joint action because its leaders believe that a strike would be counterproductive.

Instead, OCEA has staged a series of work slowdowns among county construction inspectors where it would have the most impact, officials said. By doing their jobs precisely by the book, OCEA General Manager John Sawyer said, the inspectors will slow the construction of new homes and roads.

The slowdown was scheduled to be expanded today to the inspectors responsible for monitoring construction of roads and bridges. Most of those inspectors staged a sickout Tuesday without authorization by the union leadership.

There are eight unions representing county employees who have been working without contracts since early July. Those unions represent about 12,000 county employees.

The county contends that in one of its toughest budget years ever, it is unable to significantly raise workers’ salaries.

Four of the five unions participating in the joint meeting have already received strike authorization votes from their memberships. Officials from the fifth union said they are certain their members would also agree.

“That’s not a problem,” said Ann Imparato, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “The mood of the employees is such that they would do it.”

The unions agreed to meet Monday because recently they have each concluded from their separate negotiations that the county is not going budge from its latest offers, Yunt said.

“I think it’s clear now that without some major actions that are publicly seen . . . the county seems unwilling to address the issues,” Imparato said. “Before there was some perception that there were some things the county was going to bend on. That no longer is the case.”