Workers Upset at Plan to Ease Parking Woes : Congestion: County social service employees are protesting a proposal to stagger work starting times. The move would make more parking spaces available to the public.

The reaction has been angry to a proposal to solve a severe parking problem at the local Los Angeles County Social Services office by forcing employees to start work early in the morning or accept a shift that ends late at night.

The staggered shifts would make more parking available to the public in the lot that adjoins the county building at 2040 W. Holt Ave., near the Corona Expressway.

The proposed solution--which has yet to receive final approval from the head of the county Department of Public Social Services--would be at the expense of employees, said Gilbert Cedillo, general manager of Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union.

“It’s very callous, cruel and shows no consideration for the workers,” he said.

Cedillo on Thursday joined about 75 county workers who used their lunch hour to picket in front of the office.

The demonstrators chanted: “They say night shift; we say hell no,” and carried signs calling the proposal unsafe and a hardship on workers with families.

Karen Hanson, 31, an eligibility supervisor, said the neighborhood around the office is infested with gangs, making it unsafe to work late at night. She added that she has an 18-month-old son and a husband who works nights so such an assignment would be unworkable.

“This is destructive to my whole life,” she said.

Employees were informed last week that the two-shift plan is tentatively set to take effect Feb. 18. The first shift would run from 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the second from 2 to 10:30 p.m.

Employees now work shifts of varying hours, some starting before 6 a.m. But they do not work late in the evening.

The office is currently open to the public from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., with employees staying later to do clerical work.

Under the staggered shifts, the building would be open for cases involving the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program from 6 to 11 a.m. and for other programs, including Medi-Cal and general relief, from 2 to 7 p.m.

Some workers said the late hours would attract general relief clients from throughout the Southland, because they can apply for benefits at any office, regardless of the city or county in which they live.

The Pomona office would be the only Los Angeles County welfare office open to the public in the evenings.

Employees submitted a petition to management last week, suggesting a variety of alternatives, such as building more parking, moving to a larger office with more parking space or providing a shuttle service from a park-and-ride lot.

John Zarcone, director of the bureau of administrative services for the county Department of Public Social Services, said the alternatives would cost money that the county does not have.

Zarcone said the Pomona office has 300 employees and serves 700 to 800 clients a day, but has only 200 parking spaces. As a result, some clients park illegally at a small shopping center across from the office, and jaywalk across busy Holt Avenue. Others park on the street, adding to the congestion and inconveniencing residents and property owners.

The caseload has become so heavy during the recession that clients have been lining up in front of the building, often 20 or 30 deep, making the sidewalk as congested as the parking lot and streets.

Pomona officials have been pressuring the county for months to provide more parking.

The city stepped up the effort when a 3-year-old girl was killed in front of the office last month. The girl’s uncle parked in the shopping center across the street after letting her mother out at the county office. The girl was running across Holt to join her mother when she was hit by a truck.

Mayor Donna Smith said the city owns land next to the office that could be used for parking, or the county could reduce the Pomona caseload by opening another office. Either solution would be better than staggered shifts, which would just extend the congestion over longer hours, she said.

Smith has sent urgent letters to county officials and threatened to ask the city attorney to file a nuisance abatement suit to force the county to provide parking, but she said county officials have not responded.

“I’m amazed, astonished and shocked that the county would ignore the problem,” she said.

But Zarcone said the county has tried to deal with the problem through the staggered shift plan and that the move should vastly increase the amount of public parking.

Zarcone acknowledged that changing the work hours would be a hardship for some workers. He said the county would allow employees to work the most convenient shift for them when possible. If neither the early-morning nor late-night shift is convenient, he said, some workers might be able to transfer to other offices.

Zarcone said the decision to put employees on staggered shifts is still tentative. Before the plan is final, he said, the head of the department will consult with county Supervisor Gloria Molina, who represents Pomona. An aide to Molina said the proposal has not yet been submitted to her.

The employees’ union has demanded a meeting with county officials. Cedillo said that putting employees on staggered shifts violates the county’s labor contract, because it addresses an employee transportation problem on which the county has agreed to cooperate with workers.

The issue involves South Coast Air Quality Management District regulations requiring employers to encourage workers to car-pool and take buses.

Zarcone said building more parking would encourage employee dependence on cars, contrary to county policy.

Cedillo said the county had agreed in the labor contract to work with employees on the transportation issue and not act unilaterally.

Zarcone said the plan for staggered shifts does not violate the contract, because the proposal is intended to provide parking for the public, not to solve the employee parking issue.