Deputies Criticized Over Drywall Strike

The head of the California Immigrant Workers Assn. on Wednesday accused Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies of an indiscriminate “arrest-now-and-ask-questions-later” approach in dealing with protesting drywall workers in Palmdale and other Southern California areas.

Jose De Paz, the group’s executive director, said deputies have arrested protesters on “exaggerated charges,” such as kidnaping and conspiracy, and that any “commotion that occurred during picket line demonstrations has been the direct result of unnecessary and unwarranted actions by either sheriffs, police or immigration agents.”

Deputy Ron Weber, a sheriff’s spokesman, denied the charges, saying deputies have remained neutral in the dispute, which began June 1 and has been centered in Palmdale for the past three weeks.

“In labor disputes, the role of the Sheriff’s Department is a neutral one and our presence is to ensure the safety and rights of everyone involved,” Weber said.

“It should be noted that this strike activity has been ongoing for three weeks and there have been only three occasions when police action was necessary due to criminal acts committed by the demonstrators.

“Our department will continue to pursue its neutral maintenance of the peace in these and other demonstrations, and we are satisfied that actions of our personnel have been appropriate.”

De Paz, whose group is not a union but is coordinating the legal defense of arrested drywall workers, said about 600 people have been arrested throughout Southern California since the start of the strike, which is entering its fifth month. However, he said, charges were dropped against most of them and only about 150 people are facing prosecution.

De Paz said law enforcement is engaging in a “transparent tactic to break the will and spirit of the drywallers.”

In addition to accusing deputies of simply arresting people to disrupt picket lines, De Paz said deputies are charging workers with exaggerated offenses to set high bail to keep them in jail.

Weber said bail is set according to schedules established by the courts, not by the Sheriff’s Department. Stephen Cooley, head of the district attorney’s office in the Antelope Valley, confirmed that statement, adding that in some cases bail for arrested drywallers was reduced after a review hearing.

Cooley said that in three separate demonstrations in Palmdale, 27 people were arrested on various felony and misdemeanor charges. Charges against seven--all arrested on suspicion of failure to disperse--have been dropped, he said.

Cooley said the remaining 20 defendants in eight cases face felony and misdemeanor charges ranging from kidnaping and aggravated assault to misdemeanor petty theft.

Cooley said the kidnaping allegation involves nine defendants accused of being part of a larger group of strikers who surrounded seven working drywallers and forced them to another site where the workers were threatened with violence if they returned to their jobs.

About 4,000 drywall workers are striking for higher wages and agreement by contractors that they can be represented by the carpenters union.

De Paz said negotiations with contractors representing about 75% of the industry in Southern California are continuing.

However, he said, none of the contractors from Palmdale are involved in the talks.

Currently, working drywallers have no union representation, or are represented by a union based in Northern California.