County Employees Call Strike

After a raucous final day of talks and demonstrations, the union representing more than half of the Ventura County government work force called Tuesday for a two-day strike starting this morning, followed by several short strikes in coming weeks.

Union leaders said they had no choice but to strike after county officials failed to give sufficient guarantees that they would boost their members’ retirement benefits. Government officials said they were making a good-faith effort to consider the request, but weren’t yet sure they could afford it.

The 4,200 members of the Service Employees International Union Local 998 hold positions ranging from hospital and welfare workers to safety inspectors. Their members include 62-year-old Patricia Connor, a clerk in the auditor’s office, who asked the Board of Supervisors during its meeting at the County Government Center: “Do you want to see me working at K mart in five years?”

The union’s contract expired last month, and demands for a new contract center on raises that would give workers parity with their counterparts throughout Southern California, and annual 3% cost-of-living adjustments that would allow their pensions to keep up with inflation.

The county was prepared to sign off on salary increases expected to place most workers on par with other government employees in the region. But the union refused to agree to a deal that did not also include guarantees that employee pensions would get a significant boost.

The county declined to guarantee that by 2004 it would implement inflationary adjustments to employee pensions, which is estimated would cost $108 million initially and more down the road.

Instead, the county offered to hire a consultant, undertake a detailed financial study and revisit the issue in several months.

“They should have come with something we could hold on to, not something that could slip through our fingers like fool’s gold,” said union chief Barry Hammitt. “There was no substance to what the county offered, just puff and rhetoric.”

“We weren’t saying no forever,” countered Human Resources Director Barbara Journet, who has been negotiating on behalf of the county. “We just needed more time, and that was something they just weren’t willing to grant us. There was no compromise. They basically threw the gauntlet down.”

County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston, who assumed his post in April, said union officials distrust county administrators and haven’t known him long enough to take his word for anything.

“They don’t trust me, and why should they? They don’t know me, and apparently there’s a history of being put off or misled,” he said.

First Organized Strike in History

Although the union staged a limited walkout in 1989, this would be the first organized strike in county history, Journet said.

Hammitt said there were two reasons for opting for several short strikes rather than a prolonged one. The first is to limit the financial burden to striking workers, who earn on average $29,000 per year. The second was to keep the county off guard. “Strategically,” he said, “a long protracted strike gives the county the ability to manage it.”

Meanwhile, lawyers for the county were preparing to go to court this morning to keep as many as 900 public health and safety workers--including staff members at the county hospital--from walking off the job. But County Counsel Frank Sieh said a judge was more likely to prohibit only a fraction of those workers from striking.

If a full strike goes off as promised, it could affect county services across the board, from the issuance of marriage licenses and property records, to the inspections that keep restaurants safe and allow builders to pour concrete.

“There could be long waits, and perhaps some people won’t be served the day they come,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said.

Hammitt was more forceful on the issue: “Restaurants won’t be inspected, so you might want to be careful where you go to eat.”

Journet said each county department had prepared a contingency plan for this scenario and hoped to have the situation under control. “Two days might not be as difficult as employees would imagine,” she said. “A prolonged strike is a different story.”

Mikels and Supervisor Frank Schillo said they were surprised the union had decided to strike.

“I thought what we had done was a good plan that would get them where they wanted to be, but clearly it’s a knotty problem,” Schillo said. “From our standpoint, you just can’t find this money overnight.”

Said Mikels: “I’m terribly disappointed because I think the board has been very upfront, and I don’t think it’s good for anyone in the county to go on strike,” she said. “But that’s their decision.”

Stronger Assurances Needed, Flynn Says

Supervisor John K. Flynn said he blames his colleagues for not agreeing to stronger assurances. “I think the language needed to be firmer,” he said. “If they’re going to wait for something, they needed pretty good language to give them an assurance they were going to get what they were waiting for.”

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Times staff writer Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this story.