It's back to the picket lines again today for some San Joaquin County employees. About a thousand workers walked off the job Tuesday in a three day strike.
A superior court judge granted an injunction to San Joaquin County to keep 195 essential workers from striking today at San Joaquin General Hospital.
The union gave notice earlier that as many as 1,400 workers could walk off the job at the hospital.
San Joaquin County workers circle a number of county buildings, shout slogans, and carry picket signs.
The county has offered a 6 percent raise over 3 years, but the workers want 13 percent.
On strike is Juan Barragan who says manpower is stretched thin with 800 positions vacant.
“And we have to meet deadline after deadline after deadline, no matter you got to meet that deadline and still be able to service the public and we can’t do that because we are so understaffed, it’s not even funny.”
Assistant County Administrator Deb West says the vacancies number less than 700 which is about 10 percent of the work force which she says is comparable to other counties.
She says only about a quarter of the 4,000 union workers have walked off the job.
“Overall there have been some slight delays but there are very few areas where there are continued reductions in services.”
The last strike by San Joaquin County employees was in 2003.
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