Strike Hasn’t Cost Department Money Sheriff’s Deputies Keeping Sites Under Control Without Overtime

Thu., Feb. 23, 1995

Gita Sitaramiah Staff writer

The Kaiser Aluminum Corp. strike isn’t costing the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department any money - yet.

No major problems have occurred at the strike sites in Mead and Trentwood, and no deputies have been assigned full-time to the picket lines. But authorities believe the potential for trouble is there.

“I remember strikes in the past that never got this bad,” Sheriff’s Lt. Clyde Ries said Wednesday.

Strikers have slammed signs against trucks trying to cross picket lines and refused to let trucks through. One worker was nearly run over by a truck at the Trentwood plant Monday afternoon, shortly after the strike began.

“There’s never been a strike of this magnitude” in the Spokane area, said Lt. David Wiyrick, the Sheriff’s Department liaison with Kaiser and the unions. “It’s a real learning experience for the unions, for Kaiser and for the Sheriff’s Department.”

So far, Wiyrick said Kaiser and union officials have been cooperative - as have most pickets.

“They know we’re trying to handle the domestic violence, the fights, the burglaries and the run of the mill, in addition to this,” he said.

At least 11 deputies patrol the county during the day, Wiyrick said. At night, 16 or 17 deputies usually are on the streets. No overtime has been paid out because of strike calls.

If a picket line situation grows out of control, the Sheriff’s Department could request assistance from the Spokane Police Department and the Washington State Patrol.

“Hopefully, it’s not going to get to that,” Wiyrick said.

Deputies have been called to deal with several incidents.

Two women suffered minor injuries Wednesday as they moved out of the way of a truck entering the Trentwood plant, authorities said.

Authorities were investigating that incident late Wednesday.

Deputies cited a man for disorderly conduct Tuesday after he put a chair in the middle of Euclid and blocked traffic to the Trentwood plant.

Union officials put up a rope barricade at the Mead plant Wednesday to keep pickets out of the way of passing traffic on Hawthorne.

Deputies have had to warn the workers to stay off the roadway.

A deputy stopped pickets Tuesday from pulling a driver from his truck as he tried to deliver food to the Mead plant.

No one was cited in the scuffle.

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