WARREN Subdued strikers at CSEA

The 55 workers have been on strike eight days.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Striking workers at the Child Support Enforcement Agency have agreed to be quieter on the picket lines.
The strikers have voluntarily agreed to limit the amount of noise they've been generating and to reduce the number of pickets at each entrance to the CSEA offices and the Trumbull County administration building.
Motion filed: The agreement was reached Monday afternoon after county officials filed a motion asking a common pleas judge to order the pickets to stop making noise and to reduce the number of strikers to two at each entrance of the buildings.
Because the 55 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the county reached an agreement on their own, a judge did not rule on the order.
Judge W. Wyatt McKay did meet privately with attorneys for both sides.
Court officials said details of the agreement won't be released until attorneys for both sides submit a written copy to the court.
If the strike is not settled, both sides will meet again with the judge Nov. 16 to make sure the agreement is being followed.
Interference alleged: The motion for the temporary restraining order says the strikers are interfering with county operations "through the use of noise-making devices."
The workers, on strike since Oct. 22, have been chanting and using musical instruments, including a bass drum, concertina and whistles.
The noise is clearly audible in many administration building offices, county officials said.
The motion for the restraining order includes an affidavit by Christina Campbell, director of CSEA, which states that pickets have blocked all entrances and exits at agency and the administration building.
Campbell also stated that on Oct. 19, the car of Kathy Thompson, a CSEA employee, was damaged.
Thompson filed a report with the sheriff's department Oct. 23, stating that someone made a deep scratch on the roof of her 1999 Dodge Avenger and that she was told by a union official not to drive her car to work.
Strikers denied the allegation.
Campbell also said that striking workers have called out "scabs!" to county employees and residents as they go in and out of the building.
Emily Varner, a county employee who works in the microfilm department, filed a sheriff's report on Oct. 23 stating that striking workers harassed a delivery person for Great Lakes Paper Co..
Ron Kirkwood, a sheriff's deputy, said he stood near the deliveryman so that he could make his delivery.
Workers on the picket line Monday said they have not threatened or harmed anyone.
No new negotiations are planned.
The major issues in the walkout are the county's desire to eliminate paid lunch for employees and to have employees start paying for part of their health-care plan.