County employees strike, protest in Porterville, Visalia

More than 200 Porterville-area Tulare County employees walked off their jobs today in a one-day strike to protest what they say is a lack of response by the Board of Supervisors for refusing to return to the table for contract talks.

“We’ve been negotiating since March,” John Rodriguez, a bargaining team member and building inspector with the Resource Management Agency, said this morning. “This is a one-day strike but there’s a potential for more strikes in the future. We want to let the public be aware of the situation we are in.”

Tulare County employees have been working without a contract since June 30. Since then, Service Employees International Union, Local 521 members have taken part in rallies and have participated in several informational strikes.

“The Board of Supervisors have been totally without compassion,” Linda Shockley, local president of SEIU and a child support officer in the Visalia office, said. “We have personally gone before the board with our testimonies. One woman who lost her husband was in tears and couldn’t speak and all they could say was ‘Next’.”

Dist. 5 Supervisor Mike Ennis said today he and the board are in fact looking out for the county’s best interests.

“Sometimes tough decisions have to be made, and we have to make those tough decisions, and it’s not always popular,” Ennis said. “We have to control the budget. We have to keep the county sound.”

Shockley said the intent of the strike was to get negotiations back on track.

“Our whole intent was to resolve our issues,” Shockley said. “Being on strike was something we felt we were forced to do. All we want is for them to return to the table.”

County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau said that will not happen.

“We’re not going back to the table,” Rousseau said. “We’ve implemented the last and final offer. The strike plan they developed worked out pretty well. Unfortunately it got to this point but the county did a good job in keeping their doors open and the services flowing. We were told by the union they would strike for only 24 hours and that it would not involve any emergency personnel.”

Deana Worthington, a mental health employee with the Visalia Adult Clinic, joined other county employees marching in front of the Porterville Government Plaza-South on West Henderson Avenue. Worthington, a single mother with two children, said she was just one of hundreds of Tulare County employees suffering from lack of health insurance due to her inability to pay for it.

“I’ve been a county employee for 11 years and not once have I been able to put my children on health insurance,” Worthington said. “I work for the biggest employer of the county but they don’t take care of their employees and their families.”

The burden for paying for family health benefits has shifted to the employees, Rodriguez said.

In Tulare County, the employee pays 70.3 percent of the cost — a big difference compared to neighboring counties, Rodriguez said.

“All we are asking for is that the Board of Supervisors negotiate with us in some sort of good faith,” Worthington said. “I’m not in the minority of this. I am a majority of what’s represented of employees.”

SEIU Local 521 union workers wore their purple shirts, blew whistles, waved pompoms and chanted and cheered at various places around town before heading to the Tulare County Courthouse in Visalia for a massive rally.

Contract negotiations broke down this summer and a formal impasse was declared. A state mediator came in to try to bring the two sides together, but that also failed. The Board of Supervisors imposed the county’s best and final offer on Sept. 23.

Similar strike activities took place at county offices in various parts of the county, but were not expected to continue beyond the day.

SEIU Director Tom Abshere, in a letter delivered Wednesday to the county, acknowledged “an unconditional offer to return to work” effective with each individual worker’s regular starting time on Thursday.

Tim Huntley, the county’s human resources director, thanked Abshere in writing but offered a warning as well.

“[A]ny further strike activity ... will be deemed unauthorized and will subject participants of such to disciplinary action,” he wrote.

Huntley reported late Wednesday that 703 county employees skipped work and were assumed to be on strike. The participants represented about 15 percent of the county’s workforce and 26 percent of the approximate 2,700 employees represented by SEIU. Of that total, Huntley reported that 1,390 were dues-paying members as of late September.

-- Contact The Recorder newsroom at 784-5000, Ext. 1043.