CA SEIU: Workers join picketlines throughout the county

[Mabus]

FYI, one of my friends since childhood is one of the organizers of this strike.

About 2,700 workers with the Service Employees International Union walked off the job today and joined picket lines throughout the county today.

Pickets were staged at all of the county offices in Visalia, Tulare, Lindsay and Porterville.

The county and the union have been at odds since August over wages and benefit contributions. The county imposed a contract on the union on Sept. 16 implementing a 2.75 percent raise. The union is seeking a 5 percent raise.

More than 200 workers marched around the county government center offices on South Mooney Boulevard Wednesday morning with whistles and plastic noisemakers chanting for respect.

Inside, only a handful of customers were found at the Resource Management Agency or at the Elections offices. A United Parcel Services delivery bound for the county was halted as the driver, a member of Teamsters Local 948, refused to cross the picketline.

Parking lots and cubicles at the county’s Child Welfare Services office were empty. County officials maintain operations are going on as usual with a limited staff.

“Our main priority is to make sure the phones are being answered and the clients are being served,” said Donnie Griffith, the director of Human Services.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081008/NEWS01/81008007