ORANGE : School Employees Threaten to Strike

Classified employees in the Orange Unified School District are threatening to strike following a school board vote approving a new contract.

The contract cuts health benefits, imposes furloughs and empowers the district to unilaterally force layoffs and hour reductions without negotiating with the union.

Union employees vow they will continue picketing district headquarters until April 7, when the membership is expected to reject the contract. At the same meeting, the union’s 1,160 members will decide whether to strike.

Union President Becky Mayers called the contract “ludicrous” and said a strike is likely unless the district modifies the contract. The union is made up of the district’s non-teaching employees, including bus drivers and maintenance, food service and clerical workers.

At a jampacked meeting last week, the school board voted 6 to 1 to impose a new contract concluding 11 months of labor negotiations between the district and the classified employees’ union. The contract requires employees to take three furlough days and to pay more money to maintain current levels of health benefits for themselves and dependents. The contract will save the district $484,113.

Union officials are particularly angry over a contract provision absolving the district from negotiating “either the decision or the impact of a layoff or reduction in hours.”