Strike Possibility Returns to Orange School District

Orange Unified School District, which went through a six-day teacher strike last spring, is threatened with another strike, this time by the non-teaching workers who fear erosion of their health insurance benefits.

District officials, however, said Wednesday that they believe the situation can be resolved amicably. “We’re scheduled to go back to the table Friday, and I think we can find a solution,” said Jack Elsner, personnel services administrator for the school district.

Health Insurance at Issue

At issue is health insurance for about 750 of the school support workers, such as bus drivers, secretaries, cafeteria workers and custodians. Because of ballooning costs of health insurance premiums, the non-teaching workers face possible coverage cuts, said Becky Mayers, president of California School Employees Assn., Orange Chapter 67.

Health insurance costs rose 30% this year, said John Ikerd, superintendent of the school district.

He also noted that the health insurance costs greatly exceed the 4.1% cost-of-living raise the state gave all school districts this year to cover rising expenses.

The union negotiators walked out of talks Tuesday because of anger over the health insurance dispute, Mayers said. The non-teaching workers, who are called “classified employees,” met Wednesday afternoon to discuss the problem.

“This is a strike issue,” she said before the meeting. “This is something very important to our workers.”

Mayers said another meeting of the employees might be called later for a strike authorization vote if the school district “refuses to negotiate on this.”

Mayers said that the cost of health-maintenance organization insurers has not risen as much as for carriers whose clients may use any doctor they choose and that the union has urged the district to pool the savings from HMO-covered school workers and use that money to pay the higher costs of other insurers.

Might Violate Contract

Elsner, who is handling the district’s negotiations, said he is open to the union’s proposal, but he noted that the basic contract signed by the union calls for a ceiling of $3,916 per employee this school year in health insurance coverage.

He said that paying higher insurance costs for some employees might violate that contract but that he nonetheless had not ruled out the possibility.

Ikerd said he believes that the dispute can be resolved, even though the district is strapped financially.

“I’m convinced we can work something out,” he said,