COUNTY, SEIU IN NEW PACT HEALTH BENEFITS TO BE PRESERVED FOR WORKERS.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Despite a hiring and salary freeze due to the budget crunch, a Los Angeles County government union that represents more than 53,000 workers reached a tentative contract agreement Wednesday that preserves employees' health benefits and calls for a 5 percent salary increase over three years.

The agreement follows weeks of protests by Service Employee International Union Local 660 members, health care and welfare workers who have been laboring without contracts for months.

``We drew the line,'' said Annelle Grajeda, general manager of Local 660. ``Our members said that they would not accept an erosion of their health benefits and the Board of Supervisors listened.

``Considering the tight state of local budgets, this agreement is a winner for our members and for the millions of Los Angeles County residents that they serve.''

The agreement, which still must be ratified by Local 660 members and approved by the Board of Supervisors, comes as county workers' wages have been frozen since October 2002.

The 2.5 percent annual salary increases won't go into effect until the second and third years of the contract. That means the mostly low-paid Local 660 workers' wages will remain frozen for a total of two years and three months - the longest wage freeze among county employees since some workers went without salary hikes for three years in the mid-1990s recession.

Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen refused to say how much the package will cost until the board approves the agreement, calling the salary hike a ``very modest increase.''

``First of all, it's a zero salary increase for the year and four months,'' Janssen said. ``There is also an economic emergency provision included in the proposed agreement that would allow the board to cancel the increase if we find ourselves in dire fiscal straights.''

Janssen said if Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger repeals the car-tax hike and fails to find replacement funds, the county would lose about $700 million in revenues, triggering the emergency provision to renegotiate the contract.

The proposed salary hike comes as the county has recently resorted to closing hospitals and jails and letting thousands of sheriff's deputies, prosecutors and other county workers leave, allowing the positions to remain unfilled.

The tentative settlement also comes as SEIU officials said they have recently met with officials of the county Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, to conduct voter research to determine whether any of the five county supervisors could be challenged in elections in 2004 and 2006.

``No decision has been made about raising funds or even supporting alternative candidates,'' said Bart Diener, assistant general manager of Local 660. ``I think there is a general consensus that we believe it is an unhealthy dynamic when none of the incumbent supervisors ever have to face a serious challenge.''

Although union members appreciate that a tentative contract has been agreed upon, Diener said county workers are not happy about the state of the health and foster care systems and other services the county provides.

``It's not surprising that county workers would have grievances with the Board of Supervisors given a county that over the last 10 years has been under very severe financial pressures. When the supervisors make decisions to close health facilities, lay off employees, to contract out jobs, these are all things that are of concern to our members.''

The Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs recently began a campaign to raise $1 million to challenge Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke's re-election in March. The deputies, angered over the supervisors' refusal to renew their contract, staged sickouts in the past two months that shut down courthouses, resulted in jail lockdowns and reduced patrols in the cities that contract with the Sheriff's Department.

In the proposed SEIU contract, the county agreed to increase its health benefits contribution in each of the three years of the agreement. The first year's increase will fully cover the double-digit increase in premiums approved by the county supervisors earlier this year.

Over the second and third years, the county will increase its contribution to employees' medical benefits by more than 15 percent. The parties have agreed to maintain the current level of co-payments for office visits and prescriptions over the term of the contract. The county had proposed to double or triple the co-payments.

More than 19,000 Local 660 members work for the county health department and more than 9,000 deliver services to the poor in the welfare department. More than 60 percent of Local 660 members earn less than $37,000 a year and more than 15,000 earn less than $30,000 a year.

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com