Union Declares Impasse With County Over Pay, May Strike

A union representing about 3,600 Ventura County public employees has declared an impasse with county negotiators and is considering a strike.

Representatives of the Service Employees International Union, which is seeking a 4% pay raise for county employees, said Friday that negotiations with personnel administrators have broken down. The union’s contract expired in July.

“They have taken the attitude to everyone employed by the county that they are lucky to have jobs and have no room to complain,” said Barry Hammitt, executive director of SEIU Local 998. “Either we’ll mediate it or we’ll go on strike or get more involved in local politics than we have been and elect some supervisors that take our considerations seriously.”

The county has also gone through difficult negotiations with firefighters and with nurses at Ventura County Medical Center this year. The county imposed a pay-and-benefits package on the nurses in April, but later returned to talks with the California Nurses Assn. and reached an agreement last month. The 380-member Ventura County Professional Firefighters Assn. has been without a contract since July.

Assistant Personnel Director Ed McLean, the county’s primary labor negotiator, was unavailable for comment Friday.

Hammitt said the workers feel they are not appreciated by county leaders.

“I think the position getting articulated to us (by county workers) is that prior to this time, there had been an acceptance that the county was trying to do what was right,” Hammitt said. “The attitude of the county employees is starting to drop.”

Union representatives will meet Tuesday to discuss possible alternatives, Hammitt said.