Union Says Its Talks With City Are at Impasse

The union that represents half of the municipal employees in San Fernando has declared an impasse after three months of contract talks with the city.

Major disagreements remain between Local 690 of the California League of City Employees Assn. and the city of San Fernando over working conditions for five police dispatchers and salaries for all union members, union representative Dora Saenz said.

The union represents about 60 of the city’s 115 employees, including lower-level city service employees. The union does not represent the city’s 30 police officers or city management employees.

The two sides began meeting in April to negotiate a new contract to succeed the three-year agreement that expired June 30, said James Hansen, mayor pro tem of San Fernando. Talks broke down July 31 after about six bargaining sessions.

The union sent the city a letter July 31 declaring that it would not be able to settle its differences with the city’s bargaining team, Saenz said.

The city has called for a final meeting with the union this week, Hansen said. If the two sides agree then that their differences are irreconcilable, he said, the City Council will be asked to impose the city’s final contract offer on the CLOCEA members for one year. He refused to disclose terms of that final offer.

During that year the two sides would negotiate a longer contract, Hansen said.

Saenz said the union would attend the Aug. 20 council meeting to give the City Council its view of unsettled issues. Saenz said the union opposes the imposition of a one-year contract but declined to say what steps the union members might take if the council does impose it.

San Fernando declared an impasse last year in negotiations with its 30-member police union, and the City Council voted Aug. 23, 1989, to impose a one-year contract on the officers. The city and the police union signed a new three-year contract July 1, Hansen said.