Budget Woes Not Likely to Sway Union Leader

When the Board of Supervisors meets in January to start straightening out Ventura County’s budget mess, one of the first people they’ll have to deal with is Barry Hammitt--the tough, sometimes acerbic chief of the county’s largest labor union.

As head of the 6,500-member Service Employees International Union, Hammitt is one of the most influential men in the county, having built over the past two decades a labor empire that commands the respect of some of the county’s most powerful politicians.

Some critics suggest that he and his union are at least partly to blame for the county’s financial troubles. Trying to curry favor with SEIU led a majority on the Board of Supervisors to embrace the disastrous merger last year of the county’s health and social service agencies, these critics say.

1But the 55-year-old union boss says nothing could be further from the truth. All he has done is represent the best interests of his members. If anyone thinks the union is in any way responsible for the county’s crisis, Hammitt says they’re wrong. And if anyone thinks union members will be willing to listen to talk of pay cuts and layoffs for SEIU members in order to balance the budget, they’d better think again.

“County workers have worked too hard for them to take a step back,” said Hammitt, who last month celebrated his 25th anniversary as the union’s executive director.

“We’d spend whatever resources are necessary to tear the county budget apart and give them a number of alternatives,” he said. “We’d talk to the Board of Supervisors, starting with those who have most at stake come March. We’d take to the street if we have to. We’d do whatever it takes to keep members working and protect their wages and benefits.”

That, in a nutshell, is Barry Hammitt.

Described as hard-edged, scrappy and sometimes downright nasty, Hammitt has guided the local association from a run-of-the-mill labor organization to one of the county’s most effective and influential trade unions.

In addition to the 4,150 county government employees it has under contract, SEIU represents workers in every Ventura County city except Ojai, Camarillo and Fillmore.

The union also represents Harbor Patrol officers in Ventura, wharfingers at the Port of Hueneme and bus drivers for the South Coast Area Transit District.

Bolstered by a reorganization and a concerted membership drive, union membership has doubled in the past four years. And with that has come an increased emphasis on political action to ensure political access.

Today, the union has ready access to elected officials across the county, an open-door policy union leaders cultivate by endorsing candidates and mobilizing as many as 500 members to work on their behalf.

The union flexed its muscle last year when its members lobbied for the merger of the county’s mental health and welfare agencies, a move that triggered a federal investigation that revealed years of erroneous Medicare billing. Those billings, which had no direct connection to the merger, ended up costing the county millions of dollars in fines and penalties.

Most recently, SEIU was highlighted in a scathing six-page letter of resignation tendered by the county’s former chief administrator David Baker just a week after starting the job.

After a 45-minute meeting with Hammitt, Baker wrote that the county’s reports of financial troubles had no credibility with SEIU because of a long history of budget gamesmanship.

That statement--and others regarding employee morale--prompted some to assume that Hammitt had a hand in chasing Baker away.

But like many of the barbs tossed at Hammitt, such talk seems to be based more on speculation than fact. While detractors have plenty to say privately about Hammitt, few have anything bad to say about the man on the record.

“He’s just such a pit bull you don’t want to get on his bad side,” said Helen Boyd, who for more than two decades was director of employee relations at Ventura County Medical Center and now serves as president of its auxiliary.

She remembers a run-in years ago with Hammitt over the money being generated by vending machines installed by SEIU at the county hospital. She asked him where the money was going. He said it was none of her business. That ended the conversation.

“I bowed to his superior nastiness,” said Boyd, adding that she developed a fondness for Hammitt over the years. “He’s an amazing fellow, really. He’s your champion if he’s in your corner, but he goes below the belt if he’s not.”

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury has also butted heads plenty of times with Hammitt. That goes back at least 20 years, when Bradbury was chief assistant in the prosecutor’s office.

Bradbury remembers Hammitt as a tantrum-throwing hothead back then. He said he even threw the labor boss out of his office once.

But Bradbury said both he and Hammitt have mellowed over the years.

“We’ve both matured . . . . It’s gotten to the point where we almost get along,” Bradbury said. “I think we kind of put egos aside and tried to work out things in the best interest of our employees. From everything I can see, he’s running a pretty good organization.”

Hammitt doesn’t exactly remember things the same way and has no recollection of being tossed out of Bradbury’s office. He says those who really know him know he’s not the bad guy some people make him out to be.

But he makes no apologies for asking hard questions and being a tough negotiator. As his supporters are quick to say, he runs a labor union, not a Boy Scout troop.

“Yeah, I’m a hard-nosed person. I’m outspoken at times,” he said. “But the question is, if you have to go to war, who do you want fighting for you?”

Supervisor Election Will Test Union’s Clout

To be sure, there are other unions in Ventura County that carry their own kind of weight.

An endorsement from the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn. goes a long way toward boosting a candidate’s election day chances. So does support from various firefighter unions and police officer associations.

But Ellyn Dembowski, SEIU’s deputy director, said there’s no question that the union is gaining political strength and influence.

Ten years ago, when Dembowski started with SEIU, she said union leaders practically had to beg candidates to come in and interview for endorsements.

Now candidates are competing for the union’s stamp of approval, knowing that it brings with it volunteers ready and willing to burn up the telephone lines and go door-to-door to lobby union households on their behalf.

“Lately, it’s begun to carry a lot of pop,” Dembowski said. “We’ve got the people who can walk precincts and make phone calls. We pack them in here every night two months before an election. A lot of times, it provides that little extra help to get them over the hump.”

Most recently, the union put its weight behind two candidates in the race for Ventura City Council. By aggressively lobbying union members, SEIU officials estimate they helped generate nearly one-third of the ballots cast for Ray Di Guilio and Carl Morehouse, both of whom won council seats.

However, it is the upcoming contests for three seats on the Board of Supervisors that could provide the greatest test yet of SEIU’s muscle.

In the 1st District contest to fill the seat being vacated by longtime SEIU supporter Susan Lacey, the union has endorsed former Ventura Councilman Steve Bennett over former Ventura Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures and current Ventura Councilman Jim Monahan.

And in the 3rd District race, the union has again thrown its support behind incumbent Kathy Long, who faces a serious challenge from Camarillo Councilman Michael D. Morgan and Camarillo businessman Jim Shinn.

SEIU has yet to make an endorsement in the 5th District contest, however, concerned about some of the positions recently advocated by incumbent John Flynn, who has won the union’s support in each of his previous six races.

Hammitt said union leaders want to talk to Flynn about several issues, including his recent proposal to put controversial health care chief Pierre Durand--an SEIU nemesis--in charge of leading the county out of its budget crisis.

Flynn said he has no problem answering their questions. And he said he is confident that the union ultimately will support him.

“I’m not an enemy of Barry Hammitt or the union,” Flynn said. “I believe in unionism. I think workers need to be represented; otherwise when things get tough, they are sometimes the first ones to get run over. And I know Barry knows that.”

Truth is, SEIU has parceled out plenty of endorsements for candidates defeated at the polls.

Last year, the union backed a hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful campaign by Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom for Superior Court judge.

And in 1994, SEIU supported the failed bids by former Moorpark Councilman Scott Montgomery and Thousand Oaks attorney Trudi Loh for seats on the Board of Supervisors.

Montgomery lost to Supervisor Judy Mikels, who went on to win the union’s endorsement when she ran for reelection last year. And Loh lost to Supervisor Frank Schillo, who also was reelected last year but did not receive SEIU’s support.

“They’ve never endorsed me and I’ve still won, so I don’t know what all that means,” Schillo said.

Hammitt said all any endorsement does is ensure that union leaders will have access to those candidates they help elect to office. But he said that’s only half the political game.

“Then it becomes incumbent upon us to be able to make the correct argument, and support it with the right amount of data, to make sure they advocate and support the issues we are concerned about,” Hammitt said.

Citizen activist Jere Robings worries that there could be something more nefarious at work.

Consider the county’s bungled merger of health and social services agencies spearheaded by Lacey, he said.

Although the reorganization was reversed nine months after it was approved, it set off a series of investigations revealing fraudulent billing practices dating back to 1990.

Penalties and payouts stemming from those practices cost the county $11 million this fiscal year and are largely to blame for the county’s current financial troubles, officials acknowledge.

Robings contends that Lacey was fronting for the county employees union, whose members wanted to get out from under the supervision of Durand. Although Lacey and union officials acknowledge they pushed for the merger, believing it would be best for clients, they say there is no truth to Robings’ assertions.

Robings said he is bothered by the influence the union wields over county leaders. He said there’s an inherent conflict of interest when union leaders support candidates, then sit across from them at the bargaining table.

“It’s almost necessary for a candidate for county office to get the union’s support if they want to run a strong campaign,” Robings said. “That puts them in conflict. It’s darn near impossible to take their money during the campaign and reject their demands later on.”

Union Affiliation Began in College

Union leaders say such speculation gives SEIU too much credit and county leaders not enough. But perhaps it speaks volumes about how far the union has come since its creation in 1942.

Back then it was a labor association for about 500 county employees. In 1969, it became the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County and started representing city workers. The union affiliated with SEIU in 1986 in an effort to boost its political clout.

Hammitt came on board in 1974, taking over as executive director for Ventura defense attorney Jim Farley, who was leaving for private practice.

Born in Oklahoma and raised in San Diego, Hammitt earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in public administration from San Diego State University.

He started working for a machinist union while still in college and later landed work with an independent union representing city and county employees.

That’s where he was when Farley gave him a call--a time when his hair and beard were jet black, compared with the stark silver it is today.

“His reputation was very good,” said Farley, who still serves as SEIU’s chief counsel.

“Barry is not what his public image appears to be,” Farley said. “He’s a decent human being and good man who cares deeply about this union. I’ll tell you, the best thing that ever happened to employees in this county is me leaving and Barry coming in.”

Hammitt, who earns nearly $87,000 a year, said there have been plenty of tough battles along the way. And the union has taken some tough losses.

An example is when nurses at Ventura County Medical Center voted in 1992 to abandon the local organization and join a statewide nurses association. The move was prompted by a the nurses’ desire to be represented by members of their own profession. But it was also brought on by frustration over Hammitt’s bare-knuckle management style.

Still, at least some nurses believe the move was a mistake, noting that they’ve lost money and clout in the time they’ve been away from SEIU.

“Barry is an acerbic, pushy, mean sort of fellow,” said Greg Thayer, a registered nurse with the county for 25 years. “But the bottom line is he gets the job done.”

More than anything else, that’s what Hammitt prides himself on. Let people say what they want, Hammitt says: He knows he works hard for those he represents. And it’s only because of them that he has any influence at all.

So come January, he’ll be ready to ask hard questions of county leaders.

If they want to get rid of vacant positions, he doesn’t have much problem with the concept as long as it doesn’t include the elimination of critical ones, such as the 17 vacant psychiatric social worker slots currently on the books.

If they start to talk about pay cuts or layoffs, he’ll ask why supervisors aren’t reducing their staffs or why the Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office aren’t taking the same hit.

And if they want to talk about the lingering impact of the current troubles on future budgets, he’ll remind them that the county has weathered these “Chicken Little” forecasts before and that county leaders have always found a way to keep things running.

“I don’t know if our union is the most powerful or the most influential, but it’s probably the most effective,” Hammitt said.

“Whatever strengths this organization has, whatever ability we have to move an agenda, is based upon two things: the integrity of the organization and the willingness of members to make a commitment to pursue their goals,” he said.

“I don’t know if you would call that power or hard work. I guess one begets the other.”