Butcher Headed to Norway, No, It Isn't Permanently

SEIU 721 head and public employee union big cheese Julie Butcher is headed off to an international conference in Oslo, Norway focused on " fighting the privatization of municipal services by improving quality."

When you consider it takes the City sometimes as much as two weeks (or more) to clean-up trash dumped on the street (UNLESS it happens while the Mayor is out of the country) it looks like LA's municipal services could really use some quality improvement.

With the current economic mess, rising City budget deficit and the lack of quality services, outsourcing a lot of non-public safety related functions to private industry (which could be contractually obligated to provide quality service and rewarded for doing so) would save a ton of money and likely improve services.

It will never happen in LA.  Our Mayor, City Attorney, City Controller and all fifteen City Council members are paid for lock, stock and barrell by the public employee unions.  Not only would they not outsource but they continue to offer these workers increases in wages that they would not receive in the private sector.  That's what's breaking the bank.

At a labor contract meeting over the weekend, Butcher had the following epiphany "Every city worker faces the same issues: dwindling resources against real increasing need; demand for services smack up against real pride in the delivery of good, reliable, fair municipal services, at best coupled with a unique connection to the public we serve."

 Maybe while she's there Julie can organize the Vikings.