Drywall Workers Accuse Sheriff in $6.5-Million Strikebreaking Claim

About 130 drywall workers filed a $6.5-million claim against Orange County on Monday, saying that the Sheriff’s Department tried to break up their strike in July by arresting them on bogus charges.

Some of the men ran onto a Mission Viejo construction site and forced several strikebreakers to leave with them. The strikebreakers were released unharmed when sheriff’s deputies stopped the strikers’ trucks shortly afterward. In all, 150 strikers demanded to be arrested and were taken to jail.

Each man is asking $50,000 for pain and suffering during the mass arrest, the largest in recent memory in Orange County. Felony kidnaping charges against many of the men were later dropped, and in most other cases the charges were reduced. A few pleaded guilty to assault and other charges and were given probation.

The men--most of them Mexican immigrants--later won their unusual five-month strike against drywall subcontractors. Drywall workers put up sheets of plaster to form the inner walls of buildings.

If county supervisors don’t acquiesce to their demand for compensation, the men’s lawyers say, they will sue the Sheriff’s Department in federal court. The claim is brought by Los Angeles’ Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, a prominent human rights group.

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said it is against county policy to respond in matters where litigation may result. But he said: “It’s safe to say the county will deny this claim.”