Union Leaders Warned to Call Off DWP Strike : Labor: Leadership of the electrical workers local faces contempt of court charges if it fails to comply with judge’s back-to-work order. Officials say the walkout will continue.

As the Department of Water and Power strike stretched into its third day Friday, a Superior Court judge warned that union leaders could be found in contempt of court if they do not comply with his order to end the walkout.

City officials had tried in vain to serve Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien’s temporary restraining order on the leadership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18. O’Brien said Friday that the leadership knows about the ruling anyway and must comply.

The order requires that the union--to preserve public health and safety--notify the news media that the strike has been canceled and mail similar statements to the homes of the 7,500 members of the electrical workers local. About 2,500 other DWP employees who are members of the Engineers and Architects Assn. also are observing the strike but are not mentioned in the court order.

Union leaders denied that they intentionally avoided city officials but would not disclose their next step. They said that the strike against the giant utility will continue until they announce otherwise. About 2,000 of the DWP’s 11,000 employees, most of whom are not union members, reported for work on Friday, slightly more than on Thursday.

O’Brien rejected the union’s motion to require only a limited number of essential personnel to return to work, saying that the union has so far ignored the order he issued Wednesday.

If the judge finds the union in contempt, it could be fined or its leaders could be jailed. During a similar strike at the DWP in 1980, the same electrical workers union was fined several thousand dollars for continuing its picketing after a temporary restraining order was issued, DWP officials said.

Tensions remained high at many area picket lines, and DWP officials added security guards at the department’s downtown headquarters and began videotaping the strikers out front.

Meanwhile, a state mediator was scheduled to reconvene the talks over the weekend between city negotiators and the two unions representing striking workers. There was no word on whether the parties had moved closer to an agreement on a salary increase.

The unions are seeking the same 3.25% annual increase granted to workers at private utilities, but the city has offered 9% over four years. Facing a severe budget crunch, city negotiators argue that granting the DWP employees more money would necessitate raises for tens of thousands of other city employees. The union responds that the quasi-independent DWP is financially healthy and can afford the raise.

There have been minimal interruptions in water and power service for the DWP’s 1.3 million customers, although officials continued to warn of potential power outages or water shortages as long as the bulk of the work force remains off the job.

“Through the grace of God or whatever, we’ve had a pretty fortunate time,” said Robert Simmons, the DWP’s assistant engineer in charge of water operations.

Power had been restored to all residents, the DWP said. A water main break Friday briefly affected about 10 customers in the Encino area. A leak in the Mt. Washington area left 100 customers without water for part of the day.

“There’ll be a lot of suffering people if we don’t get the water moving in a steady, reliable flow,” Assistant City Atty. Terso Rosales said after the judge’s ruling. “Those are the real losers. Those are the ones who get hurt: the customers.”

DWP officials accused the union of playing a game of hide-and-seek earlier in the week to avoid officially receiving the court order.

When a city official tried to put the court order in the mail slot at the union’s Koreatown headquarters, a woman blocked the slot with her hand and said the leadership was not inside. Later, the mail slot was taped shut.

The home of one union official had three guard dogs at the front door, according to court documents. The wife of another union leader took the papers, but said she had no idea when she would see her husband.

The downtown Hilton Hotel, the site of the negotiations, was deemed neutral turf by both sides so that negotiations could proceed without fear of the court documents being served there.

The city did serve court papers on more than 200 rank-and-file union members, requiring them to return their jobs. Most have complied, DWP officials said.