BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To Los Angeles, where more than 40,000 L.A. County workers are on strike this morning. That's in addition to the thousands of transit workers who have been striking for almost a month now. Jane Yamamoto from our affiliate KTTV up early this morning where it's still dark on the West Coast to bring us up to date on what's happening there.</s>JANE YAMAMOTO, KTTV REPORTER: That's, right Bill. And the strike will affect every department in Los Angeles County, from the clerical staff at the sheriff's department to the registrar's office, and of course county hospitals and health care clinics. We're just outside County USC Hospital, where you can see a few of the strikers are out here. And the stage is now set for a strike to begin. They are going to have a massive rally within the past hour out here. Now, the walk has been in the work since September the 29th when union officials announced a series of rolling walkouts, threatening a county-wide strike if their demands were not met. And Local Union 660, representing some 47,000 of the 87,000 county workers, are demanding a 15 1/2 percent pay raise over the next three years. The county offering a 9 percent pay raise. Not all of the county workers will be on the picket line so a judge issued a temporary restraining order banning some 4,500 nurses, 600 lab technicians from striking to handle the critical care patients at county hospitals and health care clinic, including County USC, where we are this morning. How long will this strike last and its effect on these county services has yet to be seen. Reporting live from Los Angeles, I'm Jane Yamamoto for CNN. We'll send it back to you now.</s>HEMMER: All right, Jane, thank you. KTTV and their help in L.A., we appreciate that this morning.
More Than 40,000 Los Angeles County Workers Go On Strike