Union Workers Disrupt Riverside County Supervisors’ Meeting

Members of Riverside County’s second-largest public sector union converged on the County Administrative Center, then took to the streets of Riverside, in a one-day strike today to protest the county’s imposition of a contract requiring them to pay more into their pensions, which workers say they can’t afford.

“It makes it difficult. I’m having to cut back on what I spend, living paycheck to paycheck,” LaSandra Burnett, a Service Employees International Union member and nutritional services supervisor at Riverside County Regional Medical Center, told City News Service.

“We can’t keep rolling over and taking this,” said Charlotte Johnson, who also works at RCRMC. “First they made us take furloughs. Now this? Some people are losing their homes.”

Nearly all of the 5,800 SEIU Local 721 members were participating in the work stoppage, which began around 7 a.m.

On Monday, a Superior Court judge signed an injunction barring 250 registered nurses and other healthcare professionals working at county medical facilities from participating in the walkout. The county argued that the employees were “essential” to operations and would threaten the public’s health and safety if they left their posts.

Shortly after the Board of Supervisors’ meeting got under way today, union members flooded the chamber and front lobby, chanting and waving signs, prompting Chairman John Tavaglione to temporarily suspend proceedings to give deputies time to restore order.

When the meeting resumed, Tavaglione told the purple-shirted SEIU members to refrain from clapping, cheering, foot-stomping — even coughing too loud — or else risk being kicked out.

Outside the administration building, between 750 and 1,000 union members gathered to chant, march and carry signs with such messages as “Respect and Dignity,” “Fight for Justice” and “We Have the Right to be Heard.”

Among the dozen or so speakers addressing protesters from the steps of the county building was Riverside City Councilman Andy Melendrez, who told union activists he understood the reasons for the current “dissension and dissatisfaction.”

“Our workers and leaders must be strong to create a productive workforce,” Melendrez said. “We need an environment where workers feel they are valued. It’s time they open their eyes and see the frustration of workers and return to the bargaining table. Restore a sense of pride in our community.”

Protesters were a mix of social workers, 911 dispatchers, accountants, clerks and other classified employees.

A county Flood Control and Water Conservation District engineer who asked only to be identified as “Jay” told CNS that he didn’t believe the county had tried hard enough to negotiate a new contract with SEIU.

“I’m not opposed to taking a pay cut,” he said. “It’s the fact that it was unfairly imposed that bothers me.”

He said if further work stoppages were necessary to spur the county back into negotiations, he would support them.

After a rally outside the administration building, union members hit the streets, heading through downtown Riverside and stopping traffic on Lemon Street, Mission Inn and University avenues. The protesters blew whistles and chanted “SEIU” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Bob Buster must go,” referring to the First District supervisor, a budget hawk and frequent critic of union opposition to pay concessions.

According to county Department of Human Resources chief Barbara Olivier, supervisors, temporary workers and “current employees who do show up for work” were expected to fill gaps created by today’s work stoppage.

Olivier told CNS it was the first county employee strike she could recall in 30 years. The last one involved the sheriff’s deputies’ union in the 1970s.

More than 90 percent of SEIU Local 721’s members voted in November to authorize labor actions “up to and including a strike” to protest the board’s decision to declare an impasse in negotiations.

The board imposed contract terms and conditions following 37 bargaining sessions over eight months between SEIU negotiators and county representatives, which Olivier characterized as fruitless. She told CNS that virtually every time the county attempted to gain a concession on expenses, the union counter- offered with requests for salary increases.

Union members argue that while their health care premiums and general living expenses have risen, their wages and benefits have stagnated, making any increased cost burden imposed by their employer, the county, unfair and untenable.

With revenue down 25 percent over the last three years, a looming budget deficit of $80 million and an unfunded pension liability of $540 million, the county is tightening its purse strings.

The contract imposed on SEIU members mandated they pay 3 percent of their pension costs in the current fiscal year, an additional 3 percent next year and 2 percent more in 2013-14. The change is expected to net $23 million in savings to the county, Olivier said.

For the past 12 years, the county has paid the entire amount of an employee’s monthly contribution to the California Public Employees Retirement System.