TUSTIN : Officials Want to Bill U.S. for Strike Patrol

The city has spent $4,000 to patrol construction sites in the wake of explosive confrontations between striking drywall workers and construction crews--a bill that local officials maintain should be passed on to the federal government.

The officials charge that since a portion of the strikers are undocumented workers, the federal government is to blame for the standoff due to its failure to “enforce the border.”

Police Capt. Steve Forster estimates that the city has spent $4,000 on extra patrols to help control the strike situation. He said that officers and detectives have been pulled from their assigned departments to perform strike patrol and that on several occasions the city has had to seek help from outside agencies, including the Irvine, Orange and Santa Ana police departments and the Sheriff’s Department.

“It depends on the level of activity out there,” Forster said. “When we had a lot of activity we pretty much had officers stationed out there early in the morning.”

Drywall workers went on strike about 10 weeks ago to protest their low wages. About 1,100 drywall workers are participating in the strike, which has affected construction sites in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties.

Tustin has been hit particularly hard by the strike because of the the large Tustin Ranch development project underway on the northern end of town. Strikers have targeted the development because of its size and the number of drywall workers it employs.

On Wednesday, as many as 40 strikers spent about an hour outside the Tustin Ranch construction site with picket signs, Forster said.

“We are spending hundreds of dollars in police time and hours to basically baby-sit this strike action,” said Councilman Jim Potts, who is pushing for more federal responsibility in controlling such situations.

Potts, with backing from Councilman Jeffrey Thomas, said he intends to write a letter to Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) outlining the problem and asking for support in urging the federal government to provide funds to local authorities.

Potts, a sergeant with the Irvine Police Department, said the strike is a result of poor immigration enforcement, which is putting an overall drain on county jobs and public services.

“We need help from the INS if these are in fact undocumented workers,” Potts said. “The federal government is ignoring the problem. If they are not going to help enforce the border give us the money.”