Workers may strike in Coos County.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

COOS BAY - Coos County government's largest union teetered on the brink of a strike Sunday night as state-mediated negotiations continued into the wee hours.

"You should plan on being on strike in the morning," union representative Jim Steiner said at a spirited evening rally in anticipation of a strike that was to begin at 7 a.m. today if pre-dawn mediation falters. Several "On strike" signs leaned against a back wall.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2936 has been at an impasse with Coos County since last summer, when the workers' previous contract expired. The union represents nonelected, nonmanagerial employees in the county courthouse in Coquille and the court's annex in North Bend. It is the largest of six unions at the county, which employs 430 people.

The last time public employees in Coos County went on strike was nearly 20 years ago when teachers represented by the Oregon Education Association walked the picket lines, said AFSCME local Vice President David Jennings.

The two sides have locked horns over two issues, primarily: a disagreement about how much the county should have to pay for medical benefits, and the county's attempt to freeze wages for the union's 167 workers.

The workers make an average hourly wage of $15.86, and 56 of them earn less than $24,000 a year.

The county wants to cap the average employee benefit payment at $727 per month, in addition to the wage freeze. County Commissioner John Griffith said the county is unwilling to accept an agreement that doesn't meet the county's bottom line.

Griffith has said in the past that the county needs to plan for the possibility that Congress will not reauthorize the distribution of timber sale receipts from federal Bureau of Land Management lands. The receipts account for nearly half of the county's discretionary fund budget.

Griffith sounded cautiously optimistic Sunday afternoon. "There's hope," he said. "It's still not within the budget, but there are some discussions going on."

Griffith said a strike would affect several areas of county business, including parks, surveyors, assessors, clerks, the tax department, legal secretar- ies in the district attorney's office, planning, mental health and the juvenile department.

No one department would have to shut down or halt a major service, Griffith said, though many work projects could be placed on hold. The most critical area is general and mental health services, with some clients reliant on home visits or sessions with therapists, Griffith said.

"That's the only public mental health delivery in the county," he said.

Griffith said the county will try to get by with existing managers and anyone who decides to cross a picket line - at least for the first couple of days.

"If it looks like it's going to last awhile, we'll see about getting replacements," Griffith said.

Steiner said a dozen to 15 workers have notified union leaders that they intend to cross picket lines.

One nurse said she considered herself ethically obligated to her patients, he said.

Still, a November pre-strike vote was unanimous in favor of a work stoppage, and another vote in January was favored by more than 90 percent of members.

Various department heads have notified union employees that they need to turn in any county property if they don't intend to work today.

The Oregon chapter of AFSCME has committed $100,000 toward a strike fund, to help with emergencies such as mortgage payments, said Jennings, a counselor at the county's Juvenile Detention Center. But a strike would nonetheless hit many in this blue-collar community hard.

"It's a financial burden now," said Niki Claiborne, also a juvenile detention counselor. The county deducted $320 from her and other union members' February paychecks to make up for the health benefits shortfall, Claiborne said.

Union leaders responded by filing an unfair labor practice claim, one of several submitted since December.

Union members contend that the county's true motive is to break the union. The county's road department last year decertified from AFSCME and switched to a Teamsters benefits package, which carries a less expensive, subsidized premium. Union leaders charge that Griffith is hoping AFSCME-represented employees will opt for a similar decertification vote.

About 200 people crowded into a banquet room at the Coos Bay Red Lion Inn for Sunday's rally, including representatives of several other unions. Many called for the ouster of Griffith and the county's two other commissioners, Nikki Whitty and Gordon Ross.

"There used to be a time when county commissioners wouldn't dare put you on strike, because they knew what would happen next election," said Gerry Lanto, former president of the Southwest Oregon Labor Council.

Bandon Mayor Joe Whitsett, who will challenge Griffith in November, encouraged the group to fight.

"With grace and dignity, give 'em hell," Whitsett said.

Winston Ross can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].