Sickout Ties Up Orange School Area : Non-Teaching Staff’s Job Action Protests Stalled Wage Talks

The administration of the Orange Unified School District came to a virtual standstill today as most of the district’s support staff staged a sickout to protest stalled wage negotiations.

About 70% to 80% of the district’s 1,200 non-teaching employees refused to come to work this morning in the first action of its type the California School Employees Assn. has taken against Orange Unified.

The sickout sent district officials scrambling to fill vacant positions with teachers, students, administrators, private bus companies, parents and staff from other school districts.

One CSEA official described the district’s headquarters, which houses the superintendent’s office, as a “graveyard,” where everyone was answering their own telephones.

Private Bus Companies

“Our main concern is clerical staff which is responsible for answering phones to daily business,” said Orange Unified spokesman Tom Neill. “Most of them have called in sick. A lot of our management staff has gone out to try to cover their jobs.”

Neill said the district has minimized some of the impact by hiring private bus companies to transport children, reassigning positions and preparing lunches for the school’s cafeterias a day in advance.

Custodial services, he said, are a low priority, but principals and teachers have been told to keep the grounds as clean as possible. Virtually all the district’s child care workers stayed off the job.

Members of the California School Employees Assn., which represents Orange Unified’s support staff, threatened the sickout Thursday after declaring a deadlock in negotiations for a new labor contract.

Strikes Prohibited

The support staff’s contract prohibits strikes, work slowdowns or stoppages, and district officials warned employees Thursday that disciplinary actions could result. Union officials said they will deal with disciplinary procedures if the need arises.

“This is our first sickout,” said Bill Heath, an association attorney. “We do not do something lightly. Our employees would not be in this business if they were not dedicated to the kids. I think the whole thing is symptomatic of yesterday’s bargaining session.”

Neill said negotiations broke down in a disagreement over compensation. Employees, he said, want a 14 1/2% increase in pay and benefits while the district has offered 10%. The district wants employees to agree to pay more for their health benefits.