South County : Union Pickets College Trustees’ Meeting

Custodians, clerical workers and other members of the California School Employee Assn. picketed the Saddleback Community College District Board meeting Monday night to protest their lack of a contract.

Union members, who include 380 employees at the district’s two colleges, also planned to present a petition seeking higher wages and implementation of a new job classification plan to district trustees, said Tamara Carnine, chief negotiator for the workers. The employees, who have been without a contract since June 30, are seeking a pay increase of 4% to 7% and implementation of the job classification plan, which will include raises for many workers, retroactive to July, 1988.

“They have offered increases but not fair and equitable increases,” Carnine said. “The reclassification plan is being held hostage.”

District Chancellor Richard Sneed said he was surprised by the union’s action, since a mediator assisting in contract talks had “suggested to us we were very close together.”

Linda Jenson, head negotiator for the district, said the union workers have been offered a 4.7% cost of living increase retroactive to last July. In addition, she said, the district has agreed to implement the job reclassification retroactive to the same time, but she said union officials may object to the method the district proposes to use to determine resulting raises.

The district is made up of Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Irvine Valley College in Irvine.