Labor Troubles Mount for the Mayor
A day after his brother in arms, Martin Ludlow, steps down as head of the County Fed, more potential bad news comes down the pike for Mayor Villaraigosa.
The Engineers and Architects Association, with whom the Mayor has been embroiled in an "equal pay for equal work" battle ever since DWP employees were given what was seen as an excessive raise.
The EAA has picked up some steam getting support from the powerful Teamsters' Union. This could get interesting. The EAA press release is below.
The Engineers and Architects Association, with whom the Mayor has been embroiled in an "equal pay for equal work" battle ever since DWP employees were given what was seen as an excessive raise.
The EAA has picked up some steam getting support from the powerful Teamsters' Union. This could get interesting. The EAA press release is below.
EAA UNION GETS TEAMSTERS SUPPORT
First of many unions to Join in MOU Fight
FEBRUARY 22 (Los Angeles) --- City employee union Engineers And Architects Association has received the backing of Teamsters Joint Council 42 in their fight for equal-pay-for-equal work with the City of Los Angeles Mayor and City Council.
In a letter, Teamsters president Jim Santangelo stated, “Teamsters Joint Council 42 stands firmly behind the Engineers And Architects Association and is prepared to assist you with additional letters to elected officials, attendance at press conferences or any strategic initiative you deem appropriate for this cause.” Santangelo added, “Please let your members know that the executive board and members of Teamsters Joint Council 42 are in your corner.”
EAA executive director Robert G. Aquino responded, “We are exceptionally pleased to have the Teamsters join in solidarity with the over 8000 members of EAA who have been without a contract for over 22 months,” he continued “Equal pay for the same work is a universal standard that many have fought for and that battle continues.”
EAA has announced its intention to demonstrate at the March 5, 2006 Academy Award ceremonies and the March 16, 2006 Los Angeles Marathon to further its goals for a new, equitable contract.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 2/22/2006 12:10:00 PM
15 Comments:
Now that the Teamsters will be honoring EAA picket lines, does this mean on an off Friday (or another day) EAA members will begin picketing at the Harbor and Cargo facilities at LAX and ONT? If that happenes and the Teamsters won't be crossing the picket lines, things would indeed become real interesting ---especially at Chicago City Hall. Apparently 60% of the imports headed for Chicago pass through the Port of Los Angeles. Mayor Dailey might be calling AV about this sooner rather than later asking AV to get things squared away before an extended strike seriously disrupts things.
eaa will not get shit. Equal work my ass. They do NOT do equal work. I know for a fact because I was once on the city side for BOE. SEIU has already been rumored to have accepted the 0, 2, 2, 2.5% deal with no retro according to Bureau of Con Ad inspectors.
DWP's wages are to compete with other local and/or national utilities companies private or public. MWD, PG&E, SCE engineers make 10% more than what DWP engineers make anyways.
Public Employee unions are now the enemy of most citizens of Los Angeles, other than the members of those unions. The mayor will have to deal with them or else, no money for cops, for traffic, for schools, or anything else he wants to do.
Prediction-AV will cave to the unions. The budget problems will only get worse and AVs' house of cards will come tumbling down. he will get NOTHING done. It was already hard enough getting things done in this city since the Mayor doesnt have alot of power, and the power he does have has been ceded to the public employee unions. AV doesnt run the DWP, IBEW does!
The shame about this is that AV could have been a great liberal mayor but those exact forces ( members of the public employee unions) who should benefit from his leadership, will instead cause his downfall.
Who do you think these "union" people are? They LIVE in this City, vote, pay taxes, and yes WORK for the city. They make up the middle class of this city. Wise up shit for brains.
. . . except for the members of the police union -- most of which live in Simi Valley, and just come down for "batting practice".
Live by the strike; die by the strike, AV.
Hey, didn't that same supermarket that you (photo-op) marched in front of during that strike a couple years ago "in solidarity" with striking cashiers just go out of business and lay everyone off? They couldn't compete because of all the extorted pay raises for minimum-skilled jobs.
L.A. brass won't let non-union chains like Walmart exist in the city, big unionized chain stores are disappearing left and right or never did exist in the city's central areas, and so, what's left for the middle one-third of the city? Shopping at overpriced, non-union mini-chains (the best of both worlds), complete with "B" and "C" health ratings.
Gotta love the unions. Great pay (six months out of very year, when you can work - between strike pay and severance pay).
Glad our astute mayor supports that...
Answer to 1:27 - You're obviously a brain surgeon. There's no rumor, SEIU and AFSCME publically settled for 0 % back in 2004. As far as how much more qualifed you are than EAA rep'd people, we're at least able to read the newspapers to know that it is not a rumored settlement and also smart enough to know that outside utilities, when you combine the whole compensation package, have nothing to do with how you are being paid. Sorry pal, but it has nothing to do with you personal abilities. If it did, you'd be getting minimum wage.
I love the hypocrisy on this website.
First Archie Bunker pisses on the Mayor for doing the right thing, then some of the shit for brains pisses on the Mayor for doing the opposite.
The Mayor does one of the two actions, and the AV-hater gets to claim victory.
It's stupid it works.
Antonio has no balls. He blows with the wind and does what he thinks is popular. the police officers, SEIU and other unions will be wanting the same pay hike and how could they not when Antonio gave the store to DWP or has millions. AV keeps saying we don't have money yet he finds it when its convenient for stupid shit like the over $500,000 for the zoo study, $50 mil for homeless which is ok but take care of your police dept. first, and so on. What's up with all these committees he has with people from entertainment field who know nothing about homeland security? Av has become an example of the Peter Principle. "The original principle states that in a hierarchically structured administration, people tend to be promoted up to their "level of incompetence".
I hope the Unions prevail.
Management conveniently forgets who makes them look good. I am so sick of the bs excuse about no budget when management seems to have no problem earning the big bucks, enjoying perts like cars, traveling on the taxpayers dime and hiring their favorite consultants.
Want to screw with the unions? That's okay, we'll screw with you. Sick out, strikes and crappy work. It's the American way.
Power to the people!
8:03 p.m.
You must mean crappIER work.
Union employees BEST work is already crappy.
And overpriced.
And grudingly delivered.
And late.
And excuse-riddled.
And costly to the American economy.
Americans woould pay more, if the work was better... it's not.
We should all take lessons from your lead, Fujioka. You're definitely not a union member and we can all admire the beautiful job you've been doing for the city. You and your #2 (Minkus) are so incompetent, you are in process of uniting all of the city employee unions. They could never have accomplished this feat on their own save for your efforts. Our hats off to you as a union organizer even as you write remarks like the one above.
What EAA picket lines? The EAA hasn't even asked the LA Fed for strike sanction yet and I here they are still in negotiations. All you assholes who are predicting armegedon because the DWP workers got a good contract should get a grip!
Aquino is taking a huge risk. EAA's actions equate to somewhat of a high stakes game of roulette. They are all in on 00. Their gamble could have major implications for future city employee representation. SEIU and AFSCME are watching this closely.
Archie had asked for a solution some time ago. Give the EAA equity with DWP workers in the SAME catagories and leave the rest of the contract "as-is". This way the EAA union can claim parity with DWP members and the city can claim victory in keeping the lid on the rest of the EAA union. The mayor, the city and the other unions will have to deal with the DWP giveaway.
I have long thought that the
DWP is to the city what the prison unions are to the state---they dictate their own contract through guile and bribes. This has set in motion a labor unrest that will continue for the next 5 years. Each union will have to claim at least a partial sucess in negotiating a contract or will be seen by its' members as failing them.
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