County to Expedite New Labor Talks

Concerned that a workers’ strike is threatening public safety and the economy, Ventura County officials have called an emergency meeting to expedite a new round of talks with labor negotiators.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Frank Schillo said he has scheduled a 7:30 a.m. closed-door meeting Monday at the county Government Center. Schillo said he hopes the board can come up with a more attractive pension benefits plan to offer the 4,200-member union.

“We have to have a position as quickly as possible, a new position,” Schillo said. “We owe it to these employees to get this resolved as quickly as we can, so I’m acting as quickly as I can.”

Supervisor John Flynn said he had been lobbying Schillo to call a meeting since the strike began.

“They really have made their point,” Flynn said of the union. “They’ve made a good case for themselves.”

Although the strike is to continue Monday, Barry Hammitt,executive director of the Service Employees International Union, Local 998, said he is pleased that the board is seeking a speedy end to the labor dispute.

“I think it shows some responsible leadership on the part of the Board of Supervisors. I tend to think if I were in [Schillo’s] shoes, I’d be asking questions like, ‘What options do we have to make this a party, rather than a lynching?’ ”

As the strike moved into its third day Friday, Schillo and other officials became increasingly concerned about the effect on public safety and the local economy.

Fruit fly traps continue to go unchecked in a county with a $1-billion agricultural industry. Large shipments of citrus to Asia and trees to Northern California are stalled because of a lack of inspectors. Air and water pollution samplings are halted.

Most workers who administer child support payments and check on abused children were at home. And while Ventura County Medical Center was open and functioning, some services weren’t available and at least one patient had to be sent elsewhere for treatment.

Problems are expected to worsen next week if the strike continues.

On the picket lines Friday, workers such as office assistant Susanne Perez said they were determined to stick to their demands. Perez marched outside the Downtown Oxnard Job and Career Center in a group that blew whistles and elicited honks from passing cars.

As a single mother, Perez said she has so much trouble making ends meet that she sometimes feeds her two children at a food pantry. Her 7-year-old daughter was beside her on the picket line, she said, because she can’t afford a baby-sitter.

County departments that typically see long lines on Fridays, such as the marriage license division of the clerk’s office, were largely deserted. Many residents steered clear of the Government Center, either because they were sympathetic to workers, intimidated by picketers, or they simply decided to postpone their errands until the dispute was over.

But others had no choice. They had business that couldn’t wait. And not all empathized with the workers’ cause.

Process server Andrew Shuey, 23, expressed his frustration with the striking workers as he entered the Government Center.

“Personally, I think this is all a bunch of B.S.,” he said. “They’re blocking traffic, they’re hurting other people. They want increases in their retirement? These people are so spoiled.”

County Treasurer and Tax Collector Hal Pittman said he believed enthusiasm for the strike was waning among union members, too.

“This afternoon, for the first time, I got a number of calls from employees asking, ‘Can we come in? Can we work?’ ” Pittman said.

“I say, ‘It’s not our decision. If you’re a union member, there are [union] sanctions.’ ”

The union’s contract expired last month. Employees walked off the job Wednesday after talks with the county over improved retirement benefits broke down.

The union wants the county to guarantee an annual 3% cost-of-living adjustment to pensions for workers hired since 1979--including retroactive increases. County officials said they could not commit to such a boost without conducting a months-long financial review.

County officials estimate the inflationary adjustments would cost $108 million up front, largely because of the retroactive payments, and another $3 million or $4 million a year to finance. That could drain the county of its retirement-fund surplus and create serious fiscal problems, warned County Executive Officer Johnny Johnston.

Union members contend that the county can afford the plan because of its $296-million retirement surplus. They said to agree to only the promise of a financial study would be like buying “fool’s gold.”

A high-ranking county official, who asked not to be identified, said Friday that the county can afford to add an inflationary provision to employee pensions. The main problem is that the union is asking for the cost-of-living adjustment to be retroactive to 1979, the year new employees stopped receiving such a benefit.

The official said longtime employees would reap the biggest financial benefit from such a plan, while draining much of the county’s retirement-fund surplus for the future.

“I don’t think the younger workers realize that,” he said.

While county officials hope to reach a settlement quickly, they are preparing contingency plans.

On Monday, county attorneys will ask a judge to force more strikers back to work, as state law allows in matters of public health and safety.

County Counsel Frank O. Sieh said the 247 essential personnel ordered back on the job only hours into the strike won’t be enough to get the county through a protracted walkout. Sieh will ask to enjoin another 194 workers, largely public hospital staff, crisis counselors, environmental scientists and computer network technicians.

The union had originally said its workers would strike for a few days, then hold periodic strikes until the dispute was resolved.

“We need to have these restraining orders in place in the event of another work stoppage,” Sieh said.

Staff writers Timothy Hughes and Robin Shulman contributed.