Maintenance Workers Approve New Union

City maintenance workers voted this week to secede from the union that represented them for years and formed an independent employees association.

On a 33-16 vote Monday, with one voting for no union at all, the employees created the Orange Maintenance and Crafts Employees Assn., a new union that will represent them during labor negotiations with the city.

The majority of the employees, including street sweeper operators, painters, mechanics and park maintenance workers, wanted the new representation because of a dispute over a retirement option, said John Adams, of the Adams & Associates consulting firm in Lake Forest.

Adams said he was hired by the employees to advise them on the process to create a new union.

He said the old union, which had represented the workers for at least two decades, had failed to negotiate an early retirement option requested by the workers.

Officials with Service Employees International Union, Local 787, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Through the new union, the employees will be allowed to vote on an early retirement plan, which would eventually be presented to the city during labor negotiations, Adams said. That vote is expected in about two weeks, he said.