85 Drywall Workers Plead Guilty : Courts: Those arrested in O.C. strike incident reverse their stand, admit to lesser charges and are given no time in jail.

After threatening to seriously clog Orange County’s criminal justice system, 85 striking drywall workers reversed their positions Monday and pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace during a labor demonstration three weeks ago at a construction site.

The plea agreement between the defendants and the district attorney’s office concludes a contentious legal case involving one of the largest mass arrests in county history.

“This is a victory,” said Nativo Lopez, national co-director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an immigrant rights organization. “You have to remember that the original charges against these men involved felony conspiracy to kidnap.”

Many of the drywall workers, their leaders and supporters said they won’t quit the fight for higher wages and plan to continue staging protests at construction sites around Southern California. But they stressed that the demonstrations will be peaceful.

Now in its seventh week, the strike has hurt the building industry. About 1,000 strikers in Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties have demanded a union and higher wages, complaining that their pay hasn’t risen in 10 years. With the real estate downturn in recent years, workers say they now get as little as $300 a week.

“It’s back to the barricades,” Lopez said, speaking for many of the drywall workers as they walked out of the Municipal Court building in Laguna Niguel. “They’re going straight back out in the streets to stop construction by the builders.”

The legal battle began to unfold on July 2 as 153 drywall workers were arrested by sheriff’s deputies at a Mission Viejo construction site. Authorities said the men were trespassing and had also forced six non-striking drywall workers off the site.

In the days that followed, the arrested workers refused to negotiate with authorities and demanded immediate trials. Meanwhile, their families and supporters held demonstrations outside the County Jail and Courthouse, drawing attention to the plight of the strikers and their efforts to form a union.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said charges against 26 men were dismissed, while another 48 pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace, including nine misdemeanors and 39 infractions that are the equivalent of traffic tickets. Charges against 42 men were dropped at a hearing two weeks ago.

Eight other defendants pleaded guilty Monday to assault or battery and received two years’ probation and no fines, Wade said. Three pleaded guilty to trespassing and received sentences of one to two years’ probation, he added.

Because of scheduling difficulties, the dispositions for 19 drywall workers are still pending, but those defendants will receive the same plea-bargain offer, Wade said. The remainder of those arrested are still in jail, but for cases unrelated to the demonstration, he said.

Wade said he received assurances from defense attorneys that their clients understand the role of law enforcement and restrictions involving future protests.

“The thing we were most concerned about is that we do not have a repeat of this,” Wade said, adding that he had been “assured by the lawyers that their clients won’t trespass.”

The drywall workers said they reversed themselves on Monday as part of a collective effort to ensure that those facing serious allegations would also be allowed to plead guilty to reduced charges.

For example, about a dozen strikers were singled out by authorities after they were identified by victims who were forced from their jobs during the demonstration, officials said. The men could have faced felony charges and state prison, but instead pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor assault or battery, said Miguel G. Caballero, legal director for the California Immigrant Workers Assn. in Los Angeles.

“These men are looking at a sentence of no additional jail time, no fine, and up to three years’ probation,” said Caballero, who has been monitoring the progress of the legal cases.

But for some of the workers, the stakes remain high. Many of those arrested were screened by immigration authorities and kept in custody. Already, 25 strikers have opted to let authorities return them to Mexico, while 24 have requested formal deportation hearings that are pending, Caballero said.

Many drywall workers had mixed emotions about accepting the plea bargains.

Alverto Garcia of Fullerton said he pleaded guilty Monday to help the others. “There are guys still inside the jail, and this is a way to clear everyone and have a sense of unity. We’re protecting them,” Garcia said.

Maria Segura, the wife of Pedro Vasquez Segura, 37, of Fullerton, said her husband was angered at the guilty plea. “He didn’t have any alternative. He’s not guilty of anything. But it was done to help free the others inside the jail,” she said.

“They weren’t happy with it,” Caballero said. “But there was a big concern that the district attorney could put a case together against those with more serious charges and, in an unfriendly county, the D.A. could have gotten them found guilty. These were high stakes.”

Prosecutors, meanwhile, were pleased with the negotiated plea bargains. “We were successful,” Wade said. “We separated those who were caught up in it from those more active in hustling workers off the scene.”

Labor organizers vowed that protests will continue at construction sites. A rally has been planned for today at 5 p.m. in the Plaza of the Flags at Santa Ana Civic Center.

“This is your typical David and Goliath fight,” Lopez said. “These drywall workers are aligning themselves against the contractors, builders, sheriff’s office, D.A.’s office and immigration services, and through it all they’re not intimidated. They’re ready to go back to the picket lines.”