


DMV workers upset with state cutbacks staged a sick-out Friday, shutting down the bureau's Hawthorne office and forcing the agency to warn their customers of anticipated problems as a result of the depleted staff.
The DMV's Web site announced the closure in a statement that read, "Due to public safety concerns, the Hawthorne Office is currently closed. "Service levels in many of the Southern California offices are currently impacted due to reduced staffing, also DMV offices will not be open on Saturday, August 16, 2008."
DMV customers surprised by a vacant office were incensed about the sick-out. "They should be fired, they should [have] come to work," an irate customer told KNBC's Doug Kriegel of the workers who called in sick. "There's no excuse not to come to work, just because they disagree with whatever the governor did or didn't do.
DMV customer Simone Jackson said she was upset because she was planning on getting her license.
Customers waiting at a jam-packed Montebello DMV office expressed their discontent with what they said was sluggish service.
DMV customer Paul Reyes said the staff was "dragging feet."
DMV spokesman Mike Marando told the Los Angeles Times delays of up to two hours were reported at the Inglewood DMV, though less than ten of the state's 169 offices -- all in the LA area -- were impacted by the walk-out.
He told the paper that personnel had been transferred to accommodate the anticipated shortcomings.
"When we see a staff shortage in one or more offices, we work immediately to rectify that," he told the paper.
According to the Times, Jim Zamora, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents the DMV workers, said that union leaders "did not coordinate, organize or sanction" the sick-out.
Zamora said the union sympathizes with the workers, who he said were "incredibly demoralized and upset right now."
(knbc.com)