Orange County Teamsters Strike Over Stalled County Contract

Picket lines went up across Orange County early Tuesday morning as more than 465 members of Teamsters Local 952 walked off the job. The county road crews, landfill operators and parks staff who keep the region running put down their tools after contract talks with the county collapsed, launching the Orange County Teamsters Strike, an unfair-labor-practice walkout the union warns could snarl basic public services for days.

The workers come from OC Public Works, OC Waste and Recycling, OC Community Resources and other county departments. Together they provide services for roughly three million residents, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The union had warned in an October 8 announcement that the strike would begin Tuesday if no new agreement was reached, and it said the county never brought a deal to the table.

What the county offered was a one-year contract with a 3 percent raise and no back pay for the months the old agreement had been expired, according to reporting by Voice of OC. Three county unions have rejected that deal: the Teamsters, the sheriff's deputies union and the county's AFSCME local. The comparison fueling anger on the picket line is the one the supervisors made themselves. The Board of Supervisors voted this year to raise its own salaries by 25 percent, as reported by LA Patriot, a move that has become a rallying point for strikers who say the county's belt-tightening applies to everyone but them.

The union has also filed unfair labor practice charges against the county, accusing its negotiators of bargaining in bad faith, and a state labor board has opened questions about the county's conduct at the table. Union spokesperson Christian Castro said the supervisors told the local they would bring a proposal after meeting in closed session Tuesday, and the union has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference outside the County Administration Building in Santa Ana as the board meets.

The county, for its part, said in a statement that it respects the right of its employees to take part in lawful strike activity under California law and that keeping essential services running is its priority. Officials said contingency plans are in place to minimize disruption, a line they first issued last week when the strike threat was announced.

What the strike touches

For residents, the walkout lands in the places that are easy to take for granted. Road and flood-channel maintenance, landfill operations, park and beach upkeep and repairs to county and first-responder vehicles are all expected to face delays, the union said. Travis Molina, a power equipment operator for OC Public Works, said through the union that his coworkers want to be at work maintaining roads and preparing channels for storm season, but they also want their work to be valued.

The timing adds pressure. Flood channels and storm drains sit unmaintained as the rainy season approaches, and the fleet mechanics who keep sheriff's patrol cars and fire vehicles on the road are on the picket line instead of in the shop. Landfill operations slowing down could create backlogs that take weeks to clear even after workers return.

Why this fight escalated

Underneath the contract numbers is a staffing crisis the union says the county created. Longstanding wage disparities have made it harder for Orange County to hire and keep experienced workers, leading to short staffing and heavier workloads for the people who stayed, according to the Teamsters. The local's secretary-treasurer, Eric Jimenez, said the county's priorities are not with the workers who keep it running or the three million residents who depend on them.

The strike is part of a broader season of labor fights. Drivers recently won a record payout from Lyft, and Amazon's shutdown of Mechanical Turk closed a 21-year chapter of gig work. In Orange County, the answer on Tuesday came from the crews who grade the roads and run the landfills, standing on a sidewalk instead of doing the work they say they would rather be doing.

Whether the strike lasts a day or drags on will likely be decided at that board meeting. If the supervisors emerge from closed session with a proposal the union can take to its members, the Orange County Teamsters Strike could end as quickly as it began. If not, the union says it is prepared to stay out until it gets what it calls a fair contract.