Union Ends Strike in Orange School District : Walkout: Leaders say progress in meeting to settle differences prompted decision to get non-teaching employees back on job Monday.

After meeting with school officials for the first time since the walkout by more than 400 non-teaching employees, union leaders Friday declared an end to the 10-day strike.

The announcement comes as welcome news to parents, teachers and administrators in the district of 26,000 students, which was severely strained by the walkout. The strike virtually shut down the Orange Unified School District’s bus and child-care services, and even prompted hundreds of students to leave campus in protest.

“There’s a sense of relief,” said Becky Mayers, president of the California Employees Assn., Chapter 67, which represents about 1,160 classified employees including clerical, custodial and food service workers as well as bus drivers. “I just hope we can finish up Monday and get on with the normal things of life.”

Union officials made the decision to return to work Monday because “there has been significant movement” with district negotiators in settling sharp differences over a controversial school board-imposed contract, Mayers said. For the first time since the strike began, district and union leaders met face-to-face Friday.

“We had some good verbal discussions today,” said Jack Elsner, head of the district’s personnel department. “We still have some brainstorming to do on a few final matters.”

The two sides said they will probably finalize an agreement Monday.

In that meeting, district and union officials are expected to approve switching health insurance companies, a move that would reduce insurance costs for classified workers and retirees from $4.8 million to $4.5 million a year.

The meeting is also expected to yield some revision of a hotly disputed clause that currently empowers the district to lay off or reduce the hours of workers without notice. Union leaders have denounced the clause as “union-busting.”

A closed-door school board meeting Thursday night paved the way for Friday’s progress. At that four-hour meeting, trustees voted 4-3 to authorize face-to-face talks between the district and the union.

Trustees have explained that the contract was necessary to balance the district’s $107-million budget. The contract, which took effect April 10, saved the school district $484,000 and helped offset a $2.2-million shortfall.

Though they did not report to work Friday, strikers ceased picketing at district headquarters and more than 30 schools in the sprawling school system.

Because the strike eliminated bus service to an estimated 7,000 students, parents were forced to battle through jammed school parking lots every day to drop off and pick up their children.