County Braces for Walkouts at Medical Facilities

Talks to end the 23-day-old transit strike continued Sunday with little progress in sight, as Los Angeles officials braced for planned walkouts at county health facilities Tuesday, and the threat of an indefinite strike by 47,000 county workers beginning Wednesday.

The MTA presented the United Transportation Union with a new proposal in a meeting Sunday, and the union talked with state mediators, said MTA spokesman Jose Ubaldo. Talks are to resume today at 11 a.m.

Meanwhile, dozens of striking county workers staged an informational picket at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Sunday, passing out leaflets that urged the public to call their supervisors and “insist they give us a fair wage increase and sit down and bargain,” said Mark Tarnawsky, a spokesman for Local 660.

Tarnawsky, whose union represents the 47,000 county workers and 19,000 of 23,000 county health workers, from clerical and custodial employees to registered nurses, said the walkout Tuesday would involve the giant County-USC Medical Center, the High Desert Hospital in Antelope Valley, Olive View Hospital in the San Fernando Valley and Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey. The entire northeast cluster of 15 county clinics and comprehensive health clinics would also be affected, he said.

“If we don’t have a deal by Wednesday, these people will stay out,” he said. “We need to sit down and negotiate to avoid a countywide strike, which will happen on Wednesday if we have no agreement.”

The strike would involve 47,000 county workers in every county department, from animal control to beaches and harbors to the registrar/recorder’s office and county services, Tarnawsky said.

Judy Hammond, spokesperson for the county, said David Janssen, the county chief administrative officer, has been involved in behind-the-scenes meetings with union leadership to find a resolution that would avoid a general strike. She said those talks were to continue over the weekend but said she had no details.

“Neither side wants to have the general strike,” she said. “They’re hoping to resolve it.”

The county has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the Employee Relations Commission that will be heard Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. The county has asked the commission to order employees back to work, saying the strike is illegal and that talks were in progress when workers left the table 10 days ago. Hammond said an impasse must be declared and a mediator brought in to resolve the issues before workers strike.

The supervisors have an executive session Tuesday at 9 a.m. to discuss the issue.