SACRAMENTO COUNTY: Health Care Workers Continue Strike
Sacramento County health care workers continued to strike yesterday, after talks with the county broke down, the Sacramento Bee reports. Hundreds of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 146 members, including pharmacists, nurses, medical assistants and mental health workers, walked off the job Sunday night after union officials rejected the county's three-year contract proposal. Under the county plan, most workers would have received a 2.5%-5% one-time equity raise, in addition to a 3% cost-of-living raise this year, 3% raise next year and 2%-5% in 2002. Arguing that the county's proposal was "not enough," AFSCME negotiator Felix Huerta yesterday requested a more generous proposal, including a 3.7% cost of living raise in the first year, a 4.3% increase to compensate for inflation and equity adjustments ranging from 5%-15%. Steven Lakich, county labor relations chief, rejected Huerta's proposal and accused the union of "distorting the bargaining process." He said, "You don't go on strike and put a whole new proposal on the table on day two. It's not possible to deal with that." Lakich informed the AFSCME that the county will not extend any more offers and that any contract would be retroactive only to Sept. 10 -- later than the county's previously offered date (Aug. 13) or the date the union proposed (July 1). Huerta alleged that the county is "testing our resolve." He said, "People can last two days without pay, but when it goes to three or four days, it starts to hurt you in the pocketbook. But we're in this for as long as it takes." The strike has forced a public health clinic to close and transfer prescriptions from its primary care pharmacy to private providers. No meetings between the two sides have been scheduled (Davila, 9/20).
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