&uot;We are your neighbors and friends&uot; – from a picket line on the Riverland Community College entrance road, state union employees Monday pleaded with the public for understanding and support for their strike.

Tuesday, October 02, 2001

&uot;We are your neighbors and friends&uot; – from a picket line on the Riverland Community College entrance road, state union employees Monday pleaded with the public for understanding and support for their strike. Many passerby

vehicles cheered the workers by honking.

The strike of the state’s two largest unions cast relatively minor service deficiency in the county on the first day. Affected agencies tried to manage their activities by mobilizing non-union employees. But it is clear that the longer the strike would be, the more troubles the agencies would have to go through.

Todd Fjeldberg, Riverland college payroll specialist at the Austin campus, said the picketing would last from 6 a.m. to

7 p.m. until the strike would be resolved.

Wanda Lunning, Austin school cashier, expressed her concern over the higher burden for the health benefits. &uot;I cannot tolerate that we pay more and receive lower benefits,&uot; she said.

Gary Schindler, Albert Lea school vice president of student affairs, explains about 25 union members walked off their jobs. They are clerks at the bookstore and financial aid office, facility maintenance staff, and service representatives.

The rest of employees substitute the services provided by the union members in turn. The college will keep 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. operation intact. There will be no change in class schedules, either.

College President Gary Rhodes confirmed the readiness. &uot;At this point, the strike has slowed traffic in and out of our campuses. But it has not created other visible effects,&uot; he said.

Out of 110 non-faculty members in the college’s three locations, about 70 are on strike, according to Rhodes.

Rhodes said, &uot;The most important thing is everyone on strike now is Riverland family. Now they are on strike, which is their legal right to exercise freedom of speech. And once the strike is over, they will be family again. We need to keep that in mind more than anything else.&uot;

Minnesota Workforce Center at Skyline Mall has five workers on strike. Four of them work for the job service, which provides employment counseling service to job seekers.

Becky Thofson, area manager of Workforce Development Inc, one of the workforce center components, said face-to-face job consultation would not be available for a while. Instead, Job seekers visiting the center are directed to employment information on the Web site or told to call a 1-800 number for further questions. Internet access is available at the center.

At Myre-Big Island State Park, one out of the five park employees working right now went on strike.

The park remains open, along with two campgrounds. But the bathing facility kept open on Big Island Campground after the other site was closed early September is shut down due to the worker shortage. The Information office at the entrance of the park also has intermittent opening hours.

Some services from the county are also affected.

In the human service field, a case manager and community support person are one strike because they are state employees working under a joint program with the county.

In addition, two nurses were relocated to Faribault and Owatonna to make up the shortage of nursing service there.

County Human Service Department Director Darryl Meyer said the department would cover the shortage by getting

support from other departments including Public Health.

The county office in the courthouse has drivers license testing provided by state employees. County officials said the written and driving exams scheduled on Thursday and Friday might not be available during the strike.

The renewal of drivers licenses is conduced by county workers and the service is intact.