Law Enforcement Officers Labor Relations

Dozens of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies assigned to transport prisoners and guard courthouses throughout the county phoned in sick Wednesday, slowing daily operations and forcing the department to call for backup. Union officials estimate that at least 65 deputies did not report to work, apparently in an effort to pressure county officials to meet workers' demands in a long-simmering labor dispute.

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and police union officials have agreed to discuss alternatives to a three-day work schedule popular with rank-and-file officers, but opposed by the new chief, authorities said Wednesday. As a result of the meetings, one of which was held Wednesday, union officials have canceled a protest over the issue that was scheduled for Friday night outside an LAPD employee reception honoring Parks. LAPD Cmdr.

Los Angeles police union officials lashed out Thursday against Interim Chief Bayan Lewis' apparent rejection of a three-day, 12-hour-shift workweek, accusing the department of abandoning a plan the union said would result in more efficient, motivated police officers.

About 10% of Compton police officers called in sick for Monday's day shift after contract talks aimed at resolving salary and schedule issues failed. Scrambling to maintain their presence on Compton streets, the 138-officer department reassigned officers from other units to patrol duty. City Manager Howard Caldwell said the department might have to pay overtime to certain officers to cover day and night shifts, but that the cost would be "nominal."

About 40% of the 320 Los Angeles Unified School District police officers staged the first day of an expected two-day sickout Thursday, complaining that they have worked without a contract for two years and are unnecessarily placed in danger because of outdated communications equipment. The sickout, which union leaders said was independently organized and would continue today, left 44 high schools and middle schools without on-site officers.

About a third of the city's usual contingent of patrol officers called in sick Friday in what Police Chief Ken Fortier characterized as an apparent "blue flu" job action that may result in discipline. He said 27 patrol officers--among 80 who normally would have worked Friday--called in sick. The department employs 348 sworn police officers, including 228 assigned to patrol. The job action involved officers on the afternoon and evening shifts.

In the wake of a job slowdown by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and pressure to fix their department's inmate work release program, the number of prisoners housed at the Men's Central Jail and North County Correctional Facility has soared to nearly 13,000--about 2,800 over the mandated limit. The overcrowding has become so bad in some units that inmates say they have been forced to sleep on the concrete floors with nothing more than a blanket.

Upping the ante in their quest for a new contract, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies assigned to the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles staged a work action Monday, taking more time than usual putting prisoners on buses to go to court hearings. Sheriff's custody chief Barry King estimated that inmates were delayed an average of half an hour in arriving at court because deputies--following the "letter of the law"--allowed prisoners longer than usual for breakfast.

The police officers union this week rejected the city's "last, best and final offer" of a new contract, turning down a proposal that would have included a 5.63% raise. "We are at an impasse," City Manager Kevin J. Murphy said. City officials said the police union turned down the pact, which the two sides have been working on since September 1995, because it would reduce overtime pay.

Council members will consider taking unilateral action tonight to end the impasse between the city and police officers' union over contract talks. The last negotiated contract between the Police Officers' Assn. and the city expired in 1993. Police employees have since worked under two informal agreements. The last one expired in September 1995, and subsequent negotiations ended in an impasse.