LONG BEACH : Report Weighs Quake Risk at College Building

Cal State Long Beach’s tallest building should be strengthened to withstand a major earthquake, but does not pose an immediate safety risk, a state seismic review board has concluded.

“This is in our judgment not an emergency condition,” said Charles Thiel, chairman of the California State University review board. “But it does represent a substantial-enough risk . . . that something should be done about this building.”

If the university does not strengthen the nine-story McIntosh Humanities Building, officials should consider evacuating the structure, the report said. The building, which was constructed in the mid-1960s, houses 130 employees.

University officials requested the report after six employees who work in the building asked to be moved elsewhere until the structure is strengthened. The employees became concerned after learning that an engineering firm had warned in a report last year that the building might collapse during a major quake.

University officials have asked engineers to review the seismic board’s report before deciding what to do with the building and the employees’ request to relocate. --JOHN COX

WHITTIER

Teamsters Picketing

Cemetery Over Salaries

Teamsters Union officials have set up picket lines at a newly unionized cemetery to try to break a contract impasse.

Dozens of protesters have been picketing daily since Friday at various entrances to the 2,600-acre Rose Hills Memorial Park at 3900 S. Workman Mill Road.

A majority of the cemetery’s 62 gravediggers and maintenance workers voted to be represented by the union last December. Union officials and Rose Hills managers have since been negotiating their first contract.

The union and Rose Hills managers have reached agreement on issues including grievance procedures, seniority, job retraining and health benefits but have deadlocked over pay and one other issue. The union is seeking across-the-board pay increases, while cemetery managers want to award raises based on merit. The union also has demanded that all eligible employees be required to join the union, a demand that Rose Hills management calls unfair.