Workers at Welfare Office Angry Over Shift Proposal

The reaction has been angry to a proposal to solve a severe parking problem at a Los Angeles County welfare 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. in Pomona, 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 last week 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 to 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.

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 at night.

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 at night.

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 as many as 30 clients have been lining up in front of the building, making the sidewalk congested too.

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.