State Workers’ Union Drops Strike OK

The largest union of California state workers has voted to rescind its strike authorization and to oust the leader who advocated a walkout over pay issues, union officials said Monday.

Directors of the California State Employees Assn., representing more than 80,000 active civil servants, plus thousands more retirees and employees at state universities, met in a closed session Friday and voted to revoke the strike authorization.

On Monday, the two factions hurled charges at one another and predicted that the internal battle was headed for a court fight. For now, the union’s board of directors seems to have the upper hand.

The feud stems from a Jan. 23 vote by leaders of the union’s largest single unit--the about 80,000 civil service employees--to authorize a strike if Gov. Gray Davis does not grant state workers a significant pay raise.

However, the union’s full board of directors Friday concluded that the civil service employees’ action violated the union’s internal rules. A majority of the civil service unit’s leaders supported a strike, but the rules require a two-thirds majority.

Marty Morganstern, Davis’ chief labor negotiator, welcomed Friday’s action. “We like a positive attitude,” Morganstern said Monday.

But Morganstern also took pains to avoid commenting on the fight within the union. “I have zero desire to be involved in their internal situation,” he said.

The internal struggle emerged as unions representing about 150,000 state workers opened talks last week with the Davis administration by demanding raises of 6% this year and 6% next year--at a cost to the state of more than $1 billion a year.

Morganstern has not responded with a counterproposal.

Davis, who was elected with strong union backing, angered many state workers when he cited a $2-billion budget shortfall as an obstacle in granting significant pay hikes. He proposed raises of only 2% next year. Most state workers have not had raises in four years.

Perry Kenny, president of the California State Employees Assn. board of directors and an opponent of the strike talk, predicted Monday that negotiations would go well.

“We have faith in Gray Davis, or we wouldn’t have voted this guy into office,” said Kenny, who was on Davis’ transition team. “We intend to go to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith. In fact, we expect good things out of this relationship.”

In addition to rescinding the strike authorization, Kenny and the union board voted to call on Jim Hard, president of the civil service unit, to resign from the board and give up his union membership. Hard leads the more radical, pro-strike faction.

Hard vowed to fight, saying Monday: “I’m not working on my resignation letter.”

Hard also said the directors’ decision to revoke the strike authorization “makes it much more difficult for our bargaining teams to come to best terms. We have a CSEA president [Kenny] undermining the tough stance.”

“Our members are impatient and they are demanding action,” Hard said.

Neither Hard nor Kenny offered predictions on the outcome of the struggle.

“It remains to be seen what happens next,” Kenny said. “We’ve never been here before.”