Maintenance Crews Picket at Housing for Seniors

CAMARILLO — Angered by a contract offer they say undermines their years of service at Camarillo’s Leisure Village, maintenance workers briefly walked off the job Friday afternoon.

More than 40 workers held white picket signs that stated “Leisure Village Assoc. Unfair To Workers” as they walked in front of the main entrance to the gated seniors’ housing, a private community that usually has a serene environment.

The picketing comes after four months of contract negotiations that ended Jan. 17 when the community’s board of directors presented its final offer calling for major concessions, said Blanca Gallegos, a spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union Local 399. She said it intends to picket again today.

Local 399, based in Los Angeles, has been representing maintenance and ground crews that have worked at Leisure Village since it opened 23 years ago.

Workers say the board’s offer would jeopardize job security and effectively result in wage cuts for employees who maintain Leisure Village’s grounds and equipment.

“We will have to go back to the negotiating table and try to negotiate something that will be acceptable to both sides and more favorable to workers,” Gallegos said.

At the heart of the dispute is a board proposal to sub-contract work to nonunion, low-wage maintenance companies.

Many of the unionized workers now at Leisure Village have maintained the grounds for up to 15 years.

Israel Cordova was one of the picketing workers, who chanted slogans such as “No justice, no peace” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

“They are basically telling us to leave this work,” said Cordova, who has worked at Leisure Village for five years. “Now they are trying to take everything away from us--our benefits and freeze our wages. . . . They do not have a heart.”

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Also at issue is the board’s proposal to increase premiums for family health-care coverage, which maintenance crews characterize as a wage cut because they have received no salary increases in the past four years.

Workers say they have received nearly 300 letters from Leisure Village residents in the past few weeks supporting their fight for increased wages and affordable health care.

Dick Griswold, Leisure Village’s board president, could not be reached for comment Friday and board member Donna Duke declined comment, saying the board is still in negotiation with the union.

“The board has proposed a very fair contract which provides fair pay and excellent benefits,” said Larry Drapkin, the lawyer representing Leisure Village. “Under the board proposal, the union would pay a relatively small amount toward the health and dental insurance that covers the employee and all dependents.”

Drapkin added that most employers’ group health insurance does not usually cover dependents and that employees must pay the extra cost for other family members.

“Under our proposal, the employee doesn’t pay the full cost of dependent coverage by a long shot,” he said.

Drapkin also defends the wages received by union members.

“If you look at comparable jobs in this area, we believe that this is extremely fair pay,” Drapkin said. Currently, Leisure Village’s 40 maintenance employees earn an average of $9.44 an hour, according to the union.

There are also no plans to subcontract the maintenance workers’ jobs, Drapkin said, adding that the Leisure Village board simply proposed that the contract not continue to include a prohibition on subcontracting.

“The contract should let parties deal with it [subcontracting] as circumstances warrant as opposed to automatically having a contract that prohibits it under any circumstances,” he said.

Drapkin said the union was over-dramatizing the situation for its own benefit.

“It’s not useful to conduct negotiations through press releases,” he said. “It’s better to try to focus on talking in person.”