LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: There are more labor problems for the Los Angeles area. Some 42,000 county workers launched a general strike this morning. This on the heels of the nearly month-old transit strike that stopped bus and rail service in the county. CNN's Jim Hill is covering us in Los Angeles County today. The problems are multiplying, Jim.</s>JIM HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Lou. There are approximately 10 million people in Los Angeles County. I'd say it's a good guess that just about all of them are being impacted in some way by the ongoing job actions; 42,000 county service employees now on the picket lines. Take a look behind me right here. This is the Public Works Department, just one of many departments on the picket lines. For example, county welfare, which serves some of the poorest people in Los Angeles County, on strike; the county registrar of voters in this election year on strike; anyone dealing with a real estate transaction in the county, the recorder's office on strike as well. As a matter of fact, people who want to get something as simple as a marriage license will have to go to a different county today to try to get that business transacted. Now, as I mentioned, this is impacting some of the poorest people in Los Angeles County, but it's not the only strike impacting them. For the past 26 days, bus drivers and light rail operators, subway operators, have been on strike; 450,000 daily commuters are affected by that; 75 percent of those people rely on mass transit; and 60 percent actually make less than $15,000 a year. So they are, as I say, among the poorest people in Los Angeles County. So these ongoing strikes are impacting a lot of people, but the main issue, of course, as it is in many strikes, is wages. The two sides remain far apart, both with county employees and county supervisors and the rail and transit workers and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. And at this point, there is no end in site on either of these strikes -- Lou.</s>WATERS: All right, Jim Hill, covering us in L.A. today.
Some 42,000 L.A. County Workers Launch General Strike