65% of Workers at Gas Company Join Walkout

About 65% of Ventura County’s 190 Southern California Gas Co. employees joined a one-day union strike against the company Friday, leaving management to answer telephones, make service calls and mend leaks, company officials said.

Members of the Utility Workers of America, Local 132, marched in picket lines chanting slogans at service bases in Simi Valley and Oxnard early Friday morning.

About 40 strikers moved from the base offices to the Oxnard payment office on B Street when it opened at 8:30 a.m. Most then headed south to join the company-wide protest in downtown Los Angeles.

The union called for the work stoppage to protest the lack of a labor contract and the company’s plan to cut staff and hire independent contractors.

Union workers said public safety would suffer because the contract workers will not have the same level of training that staff employees have.

“They’re looking for people with no training,” said Joe Saenz, 40, a serviceman with the company. “If a guy is only going to be around for six months, who cares about safety?”

Marty de los Cobos, a company spokesman, said management was able to handle all the high-priority calls Friday. Routine calls for service were delayed until next week.

Company officials were pleased, he said, that so many employees showed up for work Friday. The company had anticipated that 75% of employees would participate in the strike, he said.

“It shows a lot of commitment from these employees,” De los Cobos said. “They see the need of maintaining the service to customers.”

But he praised the union members for their orderly picket lines and “professional” manner. There were no incidents of violence or harassment of employees or customers who crossed picket lines, he said.

Under the company plan to reduce staff, about 20 people, or 10% of the company’s county work force, would lose their jobs, he said. Company-wide, the staff would be reduced from 9,200 to 9,000, he said.