Drywall Workers Celebrate Pact at Victory Rally : Labor: They and their families mark end of 5-month strike with festivities. However, many are worried that there are few jobs, despite the new contract.

By RENE LYNCH

Nov. 15, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ORANGE — More than 400 drywall workers and their families celebrated Saturday at a victory rally marking the end of a bitter strike that pitted employers against mainly Latino laborers who won better working conditions and their first raise in 10 years.

While the mood was festive at Carpenters Union Hall, many drywall workers said they are still worried that the poor economy will generate few jobs despite a new contract that will put some men back to work as soon as Monday.

“The strike has been terrible, it’s been hard, and now it’s over, but I still don’t know when I go back,” said Rodolfo Carranza of Fullerton. Carranza is one of hundreds of Southern California drywall workers who have not worked since June, when the strike began.

Carranza said he has had to rely on donations from friends and family members over the past five months to clothe and feed his five children.

Carranza and his family attended the victory rally that included a prayer service led by Msgr. Jaime Soto, episcopal vicar for the Latino community for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. Soto told the workers that their fight is not over.

“They have been tested and tested over and over but that will not end,” Soto said after the service. “I told them that they must continue to trust in one another and in their leadership in order to persevere.”

On Tuesday, the drywall workers declared a “landmark victory” after 39 of the area’s largest drywall subcontractors approved a union contract. The workers won higher wages and health insurance and the new contract protects against wage cheating by contractors.

“I really never believed we would see this day,” said Yolanda Escobar Garnica, an Ontario homemaker whose five brothers participated in the strike. “I tried to be supportive, but deep down inside I never thought they would win. I’m happy I was wrong.”

There are an estimated 4,000 drywall hangers in Southern California. The workers attach broad sheets of plasterboard to the wooden frames of homes and apartments.