Strike Cripples Services at Schools in O.C. : Labor: Transportation and child care are snarled as 400 Orange district employees leave jobs.

More than 400 non-teaching employees of the Orange Unified School District staged a first-ever strike Monday, crippling after-class child-care and bus service so that hundreds of parents had no choice but to pick up their children from school.

Of the district’s 26,000 students, about 7,000 depend on bus service. But on Monday, only about 10 of 71 buses operated during the day, although union and district officials dispute the exact number.

What buses remained were restricted to special education students, which forced hundreds of angry parents to wind through jammed parking lots, past dozens of union pickets, at each of the district’s 37 schools. The district serves areas of Orange, Villa Park, Anaheim, Garden Grove, Silverado and Santa Ana.

“It took damn near a half-hour to get in and out of this parking lot this morning,” said Don Patterson, looking out at the backed-up parking lot at the Crescent Elementary and Intermediate schools, which his two children attend. “It’s just been chaos. . . . The Orange Unified District is screwed up.”

The walkout was staged by the district’s classified employees union, whose ranks include bus drivers and maintenance, food service and clerical workers. The workers have not had a pay raise since 1988, and took a 2.59% pay cut last year.

Monday’s job action was the first strike to hit Orange Unified since a six-day teachers’ walkout in the spring of 1988. Classified workers also threatened to strike that year over health benefits, but stopped short of walking out.

With exact numbers in dispute, Monday’s strike also appears to have shut down more than half of the district’s 24 child-care centers. Dave Geer left his towing company about 1:30 p.m. to retrieve his second- and sixth-grade daughters, who go to the Crescent schools.

“This is a big inconvenience,” said Geer, who will try to arrange a car pool with other parents during the strike. “I just don’t think it’s fair that kids should have to suffer because the adults can’t settle things.”

There seemed little hope Monday that the stand-off between representatives of the California School Employees Assn., Chapter 67, and district officials would be resolved soon. The union represents 1,160 workers, but only about 600 are dues-paying members.

Union officials pledged Monday to stay on strike as long as necessary to pressure the district into renegotiating a contract that cuts health benefits, imposes furloughs and empowers the district to lay off and reduce the hours of workers without notice. Union leaders have denounced the contract, which went into effect April 10, as “union-busting.”

“We will be out until we get this resolved,” union President Becky Mayers said. “I guess we need to show them we are essential employees after all.”

On the other hand, district officials maintain that contract negotiations with the union are over, and vow that schools will remain open during the strike. The district is urging parents to arrange for their children’s transportation and not to rely on school child care during the strike.

The district has established a strike hot line for parents to call. The number is (714) 532-6987.

District officials conceded that the strike caused logistic and administrative headaches Monday, but said classrooms experienced few if any substantial disruptions.

“The kids are in class and that is our No. 1 priority,” said Assistant Supt. Gretchen Hanson, who assumed duties of superintendent Friday. “The school system is functioning fine because this is not a classroom strike.”

District officials defended their decision not to reopen contract talks with union representatives Monday. They said the contract saves the district $485,000 and is crucial in offsetting a $2.2-million shortfall in its $107-million budget this year.

“We are not negotiating,” said Jack Elsner, head of district’s personnel department. “The board’s position is firm on that.”

District officials, however, said Monday that they are willing to discuss charges of unfair labor practices recently leveled by union officials. The district has denied charges of unfair negotiating during nearly a year of talks.

Union President Mayers said workers have refused to sign the contract that district officials have offered: “What we object to is that (the district board) implemented their proposal. They think it’s a contract, and we don’t. It’s a proposal.”

“We are willing to resolve the charges,” said Elsner. “But we have to have something specific and concrete to work with.”

Union members voted 338-50 on April 7 to authorize leaders to call for a job action. The strike on Monday followed a sickout last Tuesday in which an estimated 900 workers called in ill. Monday’s walkout was triggered by a canceled meeting Friday with district officials regarding the unfair labor practices.

In addition to the anger over the contract, union workers who picketed throughout the district Monday explained that they went on strike because they were directed to take three mandatory furlough days and a cut in benefits. The contract deducts up to $80 per paycheck in some cases for workers to maintain their current level of health coverage.

“We aren’t asking for more, we are just trying to keep what we have,” said Don Davis, a district maintenance worker for 35 years.

Francis Baker, a district secretary for 16 years, agreed.

“This was a terrible decision to have to make, we have never been out on strike before,” she said. “But this contract is really hitting our pocket books hard.”

A pivotal issue for union representatives is a contract clause that gives the school district authority to lay off union employees or cut their hours without notice. Union officials fear the district will try to save on health benefits by laying off full-time employees and hiring part-time workers to replace them.

“If we don’t fight over this this year,” Mayers said, “there won’t be anything to fight over next year.”

But school officials say union fears that the district will use the clause to arbitrarily dismiss workers are exaggerated.

“That’s not the intent,” board President Maureen Aschoff asserted.

Aschoff said the clause gives the board “more flexibility” in resolving future budget shortfalls and would allow the district to avoid imposing layoffs by reducing workers’ hours instead.

“It’s really an advantage for them,” said Aschoff. “But I know they have a different perspective.”

Monday’s strike piqued the moral conscience of many teachers and principals, who grappled with crossing picket lines. Dave Reger, president of the teachers union, sacrificed a day’s wage Monday to honor the lines.

“It’s a matter of conscience,” said Reger, who joined a knot of pickets in front of district headquarters Monday morning. “I believe in the union concept. I won’t cross the line.”

But most teachers and principals reluctantly crossed picket lines.

“It’s a hard thing to see employees on the street and you have to cross their lines to get in to the job you have to do,” said Cheryl Cohen, principal at Crescent Intermediate.

Also, because of the strike, many school cafeterias experienced delays in serving food, which was cold Monday, rather than hot. For some students it was an unwelcome change.

“They usually don’t have such good food regularly,” said David Aminzadeh, a fifth-grader at Crescent Intermediate. “But the sub sandwiches today were terrible, so hardly anybody bought them.

“I went hungry,” added the 10-year-old.