Some Census Workers Hint Job Action

A decision by the U.S. Census Bureau to exclude clerks and other office workers from a $1.50-an-hour pay raise given field workers prompted scattered grumbling, and threats of sickouts and work slowdowns Thursday among census employees in Orange County.

If such labor problems materialized, they could slow the pace of the count, which is already lagging behind the national average in some areas of the county. “I just feel very strongly that this is not very fair,” said Peggy Barry, a clerk in the Census Bureau’s Fullerton office. “We’re not going to get one more red cent, and we’re working our tails off.”

Census officials in Washington said they decided to raise salaries for enumerators in selected areas of the country, including Southern California, because of concerns that the count was being slowed by attrition and other problems.

At the Irvine district office, for example, nearly one of every two field enumerators quit soon after they began work, forcing census officials to scramble to train new employees. The enumerators go out into the community to count households that have not responded to the census questionnaire that was mailed out in late March.

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, the salaries of enumerators rose from $7.50 to $9 an hour this week. They also gained a $1.50 bonus for every household they visit.

As word of the salary boost spread, some census office workers reacted by complaining to their managers, according to Michael Weiler, assistant regional census manager for operations in Southern California. Census office workers in San Bernardino walked out on Wednesday but were back on the job Thursday, he said.

In Orange County, several office workers talked briefly of conducting sickouts or work slowdowns. But officials at the county’s four census offices said there have been no indications that any sort of labor action has been undertaken by the workers, who are hired on a temporary basis for jobs that last from a few weeks to several months.

One employee in the Irvine district office said more than a dozen computer key-punch operators were planning to transfer to jobs as field enumerators to reap the new pay raise. The employee, who asked that his name not be used, suggested that the district’s efforts would be undermined by the transfers as officials hurried to train new workers and fill the slots.

But local officials said they expected few problems to crop up because of the pay issue. William Bellamy, district director in Irvine, said he talked with key-punch operators, clerks and other office personnel about the reasoning behind the salary increase for enumerators.

“There were a few that still requested to be enumerators, but quite a few that withdrew their requests,” he said. “I see no indication of any problems. Quite frankly, I would be talking to them right quick if I thought that any problems were occurring.”

Bellamy and several other local census officials said, however, that they felt the salary hike seemed unfair to the estimated several hundred office workers who didn’t get it.

“It’s unfortunate that there was nothing comparable for the office staff,” said Joe Montes, manager of the Fullerton census office. “I would expect that we’re going to get some grumbling.