Los Angeles (AP) – More than 50,000 County workers in Los Angeles began a two -day strike on Monday evening, closing the libraries and disturbing administrative operations in the country’s most populated county.
The two -day strike was launched in response to missed negotiations with the county for a new contract after expired the last in March, according to the leaders of the local section 721 of the International Union of Service Employees.
The union represents more than 55,000 workers, including public health professionals, social workers, parks and leisure, guards, office employees and more serving a county of 10 million residents. It will be the first time that all of its members have been on strike, the union said.
“It is the workforce that passed the emergency of the county of after the emergency: the forest fires in January, public health emergencies, mental health emergencies, social services and even more,” said union chief David Green in a statement. “This is why we got it with violations of labor law and demand respect for our workers.”
The strike should last until 7 p.m. Wednesday. Meanwhile, libraries, certain health clinics, beach bathrooms and public service counters at the Hall of Administration should be closed. Some other services of the doctor’s office and the public works service may also be affected, According to the county.
The union accused the county of 44 violations of labor law during contractual negotiations, in particular surveillance and reprisals against workers engaging in union activities and contracting positions represented by the union.
The county of the said that he faces “unprecedented stress” on his budget, in particular Provisional regulations of $ 4 billion thousands of childhood assault complaintsA billion dollars of expected fire impacts in January, and the potential loss of hundreds of millions of federal funds.
“We do not want to negotiate ourselves in a structural deficit – which could lead to layoffs and service discounts,” said spokesperson Elizabeth Marcellino in a statement by the Managing Director. “We are trying to find a balance: fair remuneration for our workforce while supporting services and avoiding layoffs in the midst of some of the worst financial challenges that we have ever met.”
The city of the is faced with similar financial misfortunes – the recently proposed budget of Mayor Karen Bass includes 1,600 dismissals of city workers in the middle of a deficit of nearly a billion dollars.
More than 150 county workers have picked out of the Los Angeles General Medical Center on Monday, increasing panels that said “We are the safety net!”
Lillian Cabral, who has been working at the hospital since 1978, said that the strike was a “historic moment” which involved staff from emergency and radiology services to the guards.
Cabral is part of the negotiation committee and said it was frustrated by a process filled with long delays and small movements of the county.
“It’s so unfair for us, it’s so unfair for our patients, for our customers and our community,” said Cabral.
