Tag Archives: Coalition of City Unions

EAA Wins ERB, CAO Fighting a losing battle as Members finally turn the tide.

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It was a Brisk morning to head to the the Employee Relations Board yet hundreds of EAA members upset at further concessions and fed up with working for less marched over to the ERB to demand the CAO bargain Fairly and fight the declaration of impasse.

Errol A. Griffin strolled into the ERB to face off with EAA seeking to have Impasse declared, Instead the ERB ruled that no Impasse exists and a mediator as requested originally by EAA nearly two months ago will begin assisting with bargaining without the declaration of impasse

MOU 61 Inequity

Now what is interesting to point out to the members of EAA is just how sweet a deal the CAO gave it’s very own employees in MOU 61, although they have to pay the 4% for medical they get to do it in steps1, was this offered to EAA members? Was this one of the many points of contention the negotiating team had? Now a mediator will attempt to resolve these issues and hammer out a fair contract for EAA Union members.

United We Can Win!

Clearly a turning point for EAA, and coalition members alike was achieved on the 11th floor today, members fed up with an overspending council who pushes blame on an educated workforce made up of the best available candidates in Southern California and across the nation had reached it’s boiling point.

Hundreds of members, one cause. End the concessions, simple message I have tried to convince members of for years, it was taking hold. members weren’t quiet in the concerns they shared about their pay and benefits and no longer felt ashamed of earning a fair salary.

One EAA Officer at today’s ERB hearing said, ” EAA members have once again stepped up and shown our work matters. If we could stand up together as a united city family, we’d make an impact.”

Miguel Santana

What was clear is when the members of EAA came prepared to fight they did so to take a stand, what may not be clear to others is the unification of members across union lines and classifications that is taking place.

Future Actions, the fight has just begun.

In certain classifications Job Actions were held that were very successful in previous years, these job actions now have taken on a new role and become a topic of concern for the CAO. Members from every union have had enough.

Coalition members have clearly stated they will decertify any union which attempts to seek ANY further concessions, members have begun meeting to discuss possible job actions and these cross union lines. Fed up members in certain classifications are more then ready to act when needed to protect the collective interest of LA City Workers and it isn’t about union specific anymore it is about employees as a whole.

EAA, SEIU 721, ASCFME 3090, Luina 777, it isn’t about you, it’s about us and we will work together to end any further concessions which have not been previously agreed to. United we are sending a message that we will no longer be the scapegoat of this council.

Today it was EAA members tomorrow it is all members.

 

(1) From the MOU 61 Contract

 

B. Retiree Health Benefit
1. Effective July 1, 2011, all Unit members who are members of LACERS shall
contribute an additional two percent (2%) of their pre-tax compensation to defray
a portion of the City’s cost of providing retiree health insurance, thereby resulting
in a total employee retirement contribution flat rate of nine percent (9%).
2. Effective January 1, 2013, all Unit members who are members of LACERS shall
contribute an additional two percent (2%) of their pre-tax compensation, thereby
increasing the employee contribution to defray a portion of the City’s cost of
providing retiree health insurance to a total of four percent (4%). Effective
January 1, 2013, the total employee retirement contribution flat rate shall be
eleven percent (11%) and shall be subject to modification pursuant to future
MOU negotiations in accordance with applicable Charter provisions.

 

Important Update on Retiree Health Subsidy

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We will update you on the Los Angeles Police & Fire Pension decision and what it means to us as LACERS members. Including EAA members who will be voting on a new contract shortly. it is imperative that you plan on attending the next LACERS meeting on September 27th, 2011 10 a.m at the LACERS Board Room located at 360 E. 2nd Street, 8th Floor to seek the Boards assistance in resolving this issue once and for all.

First on the retirement health subsidy which the Coalition of City Unions pushed so hard for: We at LA City Workers.com have consistently maintained that the retirement subsidy is a Vested benefit which the city can not unilaterally take away.

LAFPP the Pension System for Sworn City Employees sought an outside legal opinion from a pension expert to receive guidance on the retirement health subsidy and at their meeting on September 15th, they reviewed a report by Christopher W. Waddell of the law firm Olson Hagel & Fishburn LLP in his report he concluded that both the Health Subsidy and the Future increase are a Vested right.Below is the

conclusion .

Conclusion

The retiree medical plan subsidy administered through the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System constitutes a vested right for current and retired sworn police and fire personnel and their qualified survivors. They also have a vested right to future increases in premium subsidies as determined by the LAFPP Board subject to the limits set forth in the Administrative Code since 2006.

What our contract says Will happen if the subsidy payment is found illegal:

The parties further agree that should Any provision of Section 10 or 11 of this
Agreement or any subsequent MOUs which incorporate these sections be declared
invalid or unlawful by a court of competent jurisdiction, the entirety of this Agreement or
MOUs then in effect shall immediately be reopened so that the parties can meet and
confer to achieve equal cost savings.

Coalition leaders used scare tactics to sell members of the Coalition of  LA City Unions on the retirement subsidy issue and now they are scrambling to tell us why they did it.  Using terms like “Iron-Clad language” and “protections” in the contract. Truth be told the union had a position from the start and even now after learning that we need to sue the City to maintain our Vested rights, they continue to push ahead on how good a job they did. 4% reductions in pay for the rest of our careers to pay for something which the unions should have challenged in court is our current situation.

Here are some facts about the Misleading information disseminated by the Coalition of City Unions, SEIU 721, AFSCME Local 3090, Alice Goff, and countless Stewards who were ignorant to the facts.

Facts

  • Coalition of LA City Unions relied on an ”entertainment industry labor lawyer” while the Los Angeles Fire & Police Pensions System relied on a Pension Expert Attorney.

Interesting, but unless your going on Survivor or Dancing With the Stars, you’re better off picking the attorney who has the most experience with the issues at hand, Mr. Segall had No Comment and referred us back to the Coalition. According to the Coalition of City Unions, Mr. Anthony R. Segall attorney at law had the following legal opinion, ” that this was not a settled issue”

This is the first time we have had the coalition put in writing the opinion of the lawyer they referred to during the campaign. Unlike the LAFPP our Coalition failed to provide us with any legal opinion on the matter, and further refused repeated requests for either the law firm, or the opinion they based their decision on.

  • Coalition leaders originally claimed the health care subsidy was absolutely Not Vested only later revealing that it might not be vested.
  • Bob Schoonover on Saturday April 2, 2011 would only claim he had on behalf of SEIU 721 sought “several legal opinions”.
  •  Coalition literature uses the term Not Vested over and over and claims that the Iron clad agreement “vests retiree medical for the first time in the history of the city”
  • Members are Still required to meet the full vesting requirements prior to getting the two party coverage, some members will never achieve the full vesting regardless of how much they contribute.

Fiduciary Duties

Under Title V, union representatives are obligated to manage union business for the sole benefit of the members. Individuals who violate their fiduciary duty may be sued in federal court.Many members are now left asking what happens now?

Coalition of LA City Unions and the respective individual unions except the LACAA could be subject to a lawsuit for violating their fiduciary duty by not challenging the CAO on his opinion and bargaining tactics. Having a Valid Contract in place members should never have been subject to repeated contract modifications, voting on re-openers, and the acceptance of the removal of a vested right, one which the union never had the authority to bargain away, this creates a significant problem for the unions. Lawsuits are almost guaranteed at this point in order to protect the rights of the members.

Coalition Leaders Meet in Secrecy

On Friday September 16th Coalition leaders called together a meeting to discuss the issues raised by the latest information inviting only those whom they felt could represent the unions position in a positive light, they were given the unions explanation for the actions they took, and a few pointers in how to handle the blow back from this revelation.

Bargaining Teams to Meet

Signaling more trouble ahead the bargaining teams of all unions will meet soon to discuss the options the coalition has to bargain with the CAO, this troubles me as the bargaining teams have proven they are not capable of understanding the full range of options available to us, nor did they serve us well over the last few years making poor decision after poor decision when it relates to the best interest of the members at hand.

Furloughs and Layoffs

Furloughs and layoffs return to the table and ways to avoid them are few as the shortfall the City of LA needs to make up is significant and the City Council refuses to manage the budget always turning to the workforce to take the big hit rather then cutting back on it’s lavish spending.

Grocery Workers A Model To Follow

Having threatened and voted for a strike Grocery Workers made management accept the reality that the implementation of massive concessions would not be done without casualty preparing, voting, and authorizing a strike these members stood in solidarity to defend the middle class successfully. It is time for the Yes voters and their failed arguments to simply step aside and let us take charge of this situation because it is going to get ugly.

Map to Lacers 

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Public Safety says enough is enough! Overwhelming Rejection of LA Mayors Contract

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Los Angeles City Workers Public Safety professionals voted to Reject a deal by LA Mayor Villaraigosa last night.

In the strongest message yet to city leaders the overwhelming majority of public safety professionals rejected the proposed offer and chose to keep the contract they currently have.

Employees are entitled to retain their current contract, the voters elected the Mayor and City Council so they could plan a budget to provide services they pay taxes for.

Not this time!

Your elected leaders have decided the best way to solve this budget crisis is by attacking the Sworn men and women of the LAPD, the Los Angeles Fire Department and members of certain mous coincidentally these members the Mayor intends to furlough do more than just fill potholes, they are the difference between life and death.

LA City Workers have saved Billions for the city, only to be met by these same politicians the very next year with their hand out again telling workers to give more and raising the threat level used to achieve concessions.

Enough is enough, tax break after tax break, fee waiver after fee waiver, waste waste waste. Our residents deserve better then this. Fiscal irresponsibility year after year is no excuse to blame the hard working men and women that continue to provide services under adverse conditions. Residents spoke loudly and clearly that they wanted the services you keep taking away from them to fund your pet projects.

Let’s take a solid look at the 42 furlough days the Mayor and Eric Garcetti are proposing.

The following employees are at risk of furloughs which puts the tax paying citizens at risk.

Airport Security Officers

Airport Security Officers are responsible for LAX, Van Nuys, and Ontario Airports in securing the facility, preventing terrorist attacks, performing bomb inspections, vehicle inspections and maintaining order along with Airport Police.

Los Angeles International Airport has been the subject of numerous potential terrorist attacks, LAX is the fifth busiest airport in the world, with direct flights to North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. LAX is the 2nd busiest airport in the United States In 2007, 61,895,548 passengers traveled through LAX.

In the year 2000, Al-Qaeda attempted to bomb LAX during the millennium holiday. Ahmed Ressam was captured in Port Angeles, Washington, with a cache of explosives in the trunk of his rented car.He subsequently admits he planned to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on December 31, 1999

Securing one of the nations busiest airports and ensuring the safety of millions is a job performed by classifications the Mayor Can Not afford to Furlough without crippling Airport Operations and inviting a terrorist attack.

Thousands of people will avoid flying out of an International airport that has advertised it’s lack of security, Airport Police are to understaffed to pick up the duties of furloughed employees while paying Airport Police Overtime would cost much more than honoring the valid contract these employees currently have.

Will LAWA notify the Airlines that operate out of LAX that security may be compromised due to mandated furloughs by the Mayor, or will they stand up and inform him that as a proprietary department they will manage the Airport the way they need to.

Detention Officers

Detention officers take custody of millions of prisoners a year for the LAPD, they have several facility’s to hold prisoners one of those is the New Metropolitan Detention Center.

Detention officers are Civilian members of the Los Angeles Police Department, taking Sworn Police Officers out of the field off of patrol duties to cover for civilians results in:

  • Lower Police Officer Safety
  • Higher Response Times
  • Higher Crime
  • Reduction in Public Safety
  • Higher cost to the City

Furloughs Simply don’t work out for civilian members of the LAPD as they hurt public safety, crush officer morale, and make the citizens of LA suffer needlessly.

Police Service Representatives [PSR] / 911 Operators

PSR’s are the very first people to handle every single 911 call in a city of 5 million people, they technically are the first person in the public safety chain that dispatches the Los Angeles Police Department.

They handle ALL 911 calls, Non-Emergency calls, Radio Dispatching and requests for service for the entire Police department.

In Los Angeles with a majority population being Hispanic, it is shocking to see the increased time it took to answer 911 calls for Spanish Speakers, due to Furloughs on one particular day last month only 3, yes 3 Spanish speaking PSR’s were on duty.

Police Service reps have a high turnover rate due to the very stressful nature of their duties, we are so very fortunate to have a highly dedicated staff to answer the calls we make when we need Police or Fire Emergency services.

Without Police Service Representatives, Los Angeles would be in a crisis of immeasurable proportion, with a reduced number of Police Service Reps due to Furloughs Taxpayers are placed in a very dire predicament, one small earthquake or one civil disturbance would leave the Communications centers overwhelmed and nobody can do the job of a psr BUT a psr, Sworn officers can not simply step in to replace them.

City Attorneys

What more needs to be said about a group of highly skilled attorneys that take a huge pay-cut serving the public? How about they prosecute criminals every day of the year?

I couldn’t sum it up better then the City Attorney himself, “Moreover, as our prosecutors protect and serve our communities from threats to public health and safety posed by criminals, our litigators serve and protect other City departments so those entities can continue delivering City services, including police and fire protection. Without the City Attorney’s Office providing the public safety, legal and risk management services mandated under the provisions of the City Charter, no City services whatsoever could long be provided and public safety would soon be greatly diminished.”

Traffic Officers

Traffic Officers issue parking citations and make sure the roads remain free and passable, and direct traffic around hazardous situations or assist LAPD and other departments in traffic control. Without them vehicles would block lanes intended to remain clear during rush hour traffic, and the city would lose millions in revenue from the lack of citations issued.

Nobody likes to get a parking ticket, but if it helps reduce congestion and saves other city services, how good of an idea is it to furlough them?

LA City Workers, It’s not about us as employees.

We are members of the community as well and we care about the quality of life in Los Angeles, until we can all demand more from our council we will continue to be left wondering how we mismanaged 7 Billion dollars.

That’s $7,000,000,000.00, I think they need to take a second look.


 

City Controller Wendy Greuel Report and Giveback Considerations

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For your Review the financial reports the Controller reviewed when making the $6,336,797,000.00 Budget for 2011-2012.

Please note the Increase in Inflation & Increase for others in Personal Income.

If our contract is amended, we will see a net reduction in income and a substantial increase in our personal expenses.

That doesn’t make financial sense at all!