Read our editorial “The Significance of Strikes” here.
Over 465 Orange County public workers went back on strike October 29 after overwhelmingly rejecting the county’s latest proposal.
Teamsters Local 952, which represents the workers, initiated the strike on October 13 but put it on pause a week later as a conciliatory gesture toward the county amid contract negotiations.
The Board of Supervisors responded with a pitiful 1% increase in pay in their latest contract proposal, from 3% to 4%, while still rejecting workers’ demands for back pay and a signing bonus.
Workers rejected the county’s contract proposal on October 27.
Secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 952, Eric Jimenez, said of the offer, “The Board of Supervisors returned with the same offer we warned them would not pass, and our members overwhelmingly rejected it as it fails to respect the critical work they perform every day.”
The county failed to provide another offer, and the strike resumed 5 a.m. on October 29.
Workers are demanding higher wages and back pay beginning from when their previous three-year contract expired on June 25. The 4% wage increase offered by the county amounts to a reduction in real wages given inflation and soaring fuel prices.
The county Board of Supervisors awarded themselves a 25% raise last year according to an Orange County Grand Jury report in December 2025, about a $49,000 pay increase.
Striking workers operate public works, waste and recycling, and heavy equipment.
Teamsters spokesperson Christian Castro told the Orange County Register, “this strike has been sanctioned by the Teamsters Joint Council 42, which means UPS trucks, Teamsters sanitation trucks and other Teamsters will not be crossing the picket lines. No deliveries and no trash pickups for county locations.”
According to a county report, the strike has led to a 75% reduction in trash deliveries at the Bowerman landfill in Irvine. One manager there has since revealed that the landfill has hired scabs who are working overtime to try to keep trash processing going and frustrate the strike.
Image: Teamsters Local 952 workers on strike on October 29, 2026. Credit: Orange County Labor Federation Facebook page.
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