STRIKING WORKERS BACK ON JOB FURTHER TALKS PLANNED ON WHETHER TO INCREASE SALARIES AND BENEFITS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

Libraries reopened, agricultural inspections resumed and business pretty much returned to normal Thursday as members of Ventura County's largest employee union came back to work after a weeklong strike.

The support staffers - members of the Service Employees International Union - voted by nearly a 3-1 margin a day earlier to end the walkout, staged after labor and management negotiators failed to reach agreement on an enhanced retirement package.

``People are back,'' county Chief Executive Office John Johnston said. ``Things are starting to move back to what one would expect on a normal day down here.''

County officials had promised the union that striking employees would not be disciplined and probationary employees would not be terminated when they returned to work.

But officials at SEIU headquarters received some calls from workers who said they were not being allowed to work overtime to make up work missed during the walkout, while those who had remained on the job were receiving unlimited overtime.

``We hope that it's only a few isolated cases,'' said Ellyn Dembowski, SEIU deputy director. ``It's creating more hard feelings.''

But other managers brought in doughnuts for returning employees.

``People were welcomed back in with open arms,'' Dembowski said. ``That's the thing that should have happened everywhere.''

Negotiators for the two sides, meanwhile, were preparing for a meeting Wednesday, when they are scheduled to select consultants to study a salary and benefit proposal unveiled Tuesday by the union.

The decision to hire consultants was reached during a three-hour meeting Wednesday at a beachside hotel - the first time union and county officials had met face to face in months.

``Everybody felt good about the meeting,'' Dembowski said. ``Everybody's attitude was different. They felt the county really came forward.''

Earlier, union officials had demanded a 3 percent cost-of-living increase in retirement benefits and asked that the county use a surplus in the retirement fund to pay for the benefit.

County officials said they believed the surplus should not be used for the benefit, but that the issue required further study. Union officials accused the county of stalling, and broke off negotiations.

But on Tuesday, SEIU Executive Director Barry Hammitt presented a proposal that would fund the benefit if the effective date were delayed until 2004-05. The union plan also included an employee match and a 30-year financing option.