Tentative Deal Averts Full-Scale Ventura County Worker Walkout

Government workers, represented by the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County, reached a tentative contract agreement with county negotiators Monday, averting a full-scale strike scheduled to begin this morning, county and union officials said.

But union leaders refused to discuss terms of the agreement, saying they first wanted to break the news to members today.

“We want our members to hear it from us, and there’s not time to get everyone together” Monday night, said Bob Lawrence, a spokesman for the union.

County negotiator Ed McLean said contract terms reached after 2 1/2 hours of talks Monday afternoon met guidelines imposed by the Board of Supervisors. He declined to elaborate.

The agreement ends five months of negotiations between the county and the union, whose 2,900 members have been working without a contract since June 30. About 4,000 of Ventura County’s 5,400 employees are eligible for union representation, labor officials said.

Lawrence said the union told all members--including a number who walked off their jobs Friday and continued a small-scale strike over the weekend and into Monday--to report to work today and to abandon picket lines. Officials reported that 300 to 400 social service employees failed to work Monday.

Informal Walkout

Although there was no formal strike, Lawrence said about 15 librarians did not show up for work Sunday in Ojai and Simi Valley. Most of the county’s 100 road and flood-control workers began a union-sanctioned walkout Friday, along with clerical workers who process inmates at the Ventura County Jail.

Employees of the Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department are not members of the union and would not have been affected by a strike, officials said. In addition, both sides agreed that emergency room and infant-care medical workers would continue to work in the event of a strike.

County and union leaders said contract ratification would take about 10 days and was contingent upon approval by both sides.

Barry Hammitt, union executive director, said Monday that “certain items in the agreement reached today weren’t available before.”

The union originally sought a 9.5% salary increase over two years, while county negotiators offered 4.25%. The two eventually compromised on a 5.25% increase over two years but were unable to agree on other issues, including a mandatory union-membership fee opposed by the county. The union asked that all county employees eligible for union membership be required to pay the fee.

With negotiations at a standstill last week, the union announced plans for a countywide strike. The county responded by persuading a judge to order 300 medical employees not to strike. The temporary restraining order did not apply to the union’s remaining 2,600 members.