HUNTINGTON BEACH : Teachers Vote Strike if Summer Talks Fail

Ocean View School District teachers, who this week will finish the 1989-90 school year without a contract, have voted not to show up for classes when school resumes this fall unless a settlement is reached by then, union leaders said Tuesday.

At a union membership meeting late Monday, about 275 of the district’s 400 teachers agreed to begin 1990-91 on strike unless the district meets their demands for higher pay and better medical benefits, union president Carol Halbach said.

Some teachers called for an immediate walkout amid graduations and final exams this week, but most agreed to delay a strike until arbitration efforts have concluded, Halbach said.

Walking out before that process is complete would constitute an illegal strike, she said.

“Very simply, the teachers are saying: No contract, no work,” said Jim Harlan, executive director of West Orange County United Teachers, which includes the Ocean View Teachers Assn.

A walkout in September would be the district’s first since a one-day strike in 1974, two years before the state’s current collective-bargaining process was instituted.

Ocean View, whose teachers have been in negotiations for 13 months, is the only county district that is still without a contract.

Teachers, already frustrated by the prolonged talks, became irate last week after the school board responded to parents’ pleas by voting not to close three elementary schools. Closing the schools could have saved the district about $750,000, which teachers argue could have helped boost their pay and benefits.

Supt. Monte McMurray, who in his first year on the job is presiding over a district faced with a budget deficit estimated at $1.3 million to $1.8 million, said Tuesday that he is not surprised by the strike vote.

“I can understand their frustration,” he said. “Both sides are frustrated and want this resolved as soon as possible.”

McMurray said he remains hopeful that a scheduled June 20 meeting among union leaders, district officials and a state-recommended arbitrator will produce a settlement.

But union leaders are less optimistic, pointing to spending cuts that board members already have to make to balance the budget by September.