In the first strike by Los Angeles County employees since 2000, more than 1,000 social workers took to the picket lines Thursday in a major escalation of a labor dispute over salary increases and caseloads.
The timing of a 6% raise is among the main sticking points in contract negotiations. But union leaders focused the public face of the dispute on social workers' caseloads, which protesters said were so high that they jeopardized the safety of the county's most vulnerable children.
"We don't have enough manpower to thoroughly investigate the cases," said Gerson Salazar, a dependency investigator who said he handles cases for 67 children. "They're extremely complicated cases and you can't resolve these issues in two weeks with [the size of our] workforce and be competent."
Political observers called the focus on child safety a smart move at a time when public sentiment about government-employee unions is dismal and many Angelenos in the private sector are still suffering from the recession.
"It's a public relations job unions have been forced into," said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State L.A. "You have to start pleading a case that you feel is going to resonate with the public more than protecting pensions, more than getting raises. I think it's smart politics."
Negotiators for the county and SEIU Local 721, which represents 55,000 workers who have been without a contract for more than two months, did not meet Thursday and have no plans to return to the bargaining table this week. In addition to social workers, the union represents many of the county's lowest paid workers.
County Chief Executive William T Fujioka said he was "disappointed" that the negotiations had deteriorated to the point of a strike.
"We're managing the services the best we can," he said, but the walkout "will have an impact on a very vulnerable population."
Union leaders said the strike was not undertaken lightly and would continue until negotiators returned to the table.
"Nobody, nobody ever jumps at the chance to go out on strike," Maria Elena Durazo, the chief of the county Federation of Labor, told a few hundred picketing workers outside of the Metro North office of the county Department of Children and Family Services.
It's unknown exactly how many workers took to picket lines on Thursday, but 1,453 out of 2,192 social workers and supervising social workers scheduled to work did not come in, county spokesman Dave Sommers said. These workers, who earn between $41,328 and $86,436, will not be paid while striking. Nearly 200 clerical workers in the department also failed to report to work.
The county had contingency plans to draft hundreds of administrators and managers to fill in for striking workers. Armand Montiel, a DCFS spokesman, said critical functions such as the child-abuse hotline and emergency response units were not affected. But it was unknown what impact it had on other duties, such as visitations with some of the 36,000 children that the department has in its system.
One social worker who served as an elected shop steward at the county's child-abuse hotline abruptly quit the union shortly after midnight because of what she viewed as heavy-handed union tactics that jeopardized child safety.
Topanga Bird, 64, said that at 12:30 a.m. on Thursday several union organizers entered her hotline office and urged workers to immediately go on strike, which hampered their ability to answer phones and take reports.
"I refuse to be a representative of an organization that sends thugs to intimidate their workers," Bird said.
A union representative said witnesses disputed that version of events.
In recent years, the child-welfare agency has been dogged by allegations that some social workers have failed to effectively monitor instances of abuse and neglect, sometimes resulting in a child's death. Workers and child advocates have pointed to high caseloads that exceed federal guidelines as part of the cause.
In bargaining, SEIU has proposed that the county hire 35 social workers per month for 17 months.
Fujioka said the county is in the process of hiring about 250 social workers and plans to hire more. He said the county has offered to set up a joint labor-management committee to discuss caseloads.
"We're not going to incorporate any staffing requirements in a collective bargaining agreement. It's just not done," county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said in an interview. He accused the striking workers of "holding the rest of their brothers and sisters hostage to their demands, which are not going to be realized."
Thursday's strike was markedly different from the last one the union called, in 2000. That strike also involved a demand for more money after workers forewent years of pay increases to help the county weather a recession. But the public tactics are different.
Thousands of striking workers sent county operations into free fall until Cardinal Roger Mahony intervened. Members of the public saw direct impacts on county services — health clinics shuttered, people turned away from welfare offices, an understaffed morgue.
This time around, while SEIU urged their non-social-worker members to respect the picket lines, few listened. While nearly 350 employees in the Dept. of Public Social Services did not report to work — 3% of the total— no other department was affected.
seema.mehta@latimes.com
abby.sewell@latimes.com
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