Los Angeles City leaders proposed drastic service cuts through layoffs and furloughs to deal with the city’s budget crisis. LA City workers organized for months for their Better Way for LA, an early retirement program and wage deferrals that will save the city more than $2 billion over five years. They held an efficiency summit with City Council members and community groups to generate ideas for saving money for the city. They marched on City Hall, filled Council chambers, met on the lawn of the mayor’s mansion, dogged the mayor’s every public appearance for weeks, and finally won unanimous passage by City Council of their plan.- 2,000 of LA’s engineers and professionals voted to join SEIU. “We’re all in the same boat going in the same direction,” said Robert Sanchez, a civil engineering associate II with Public Works.
A small group of celebrity activists tried to stop the LA Zoo from building its voter-approved new habitat for Billy and other Asian elephants. SEIU 721’s elephant keepers stepped forward as the true experts in a zoo press conference, an open letter to the City Council, council visits, rallies with hundreds of supporters and testimony to City Council. Their voice changed the debate and won Billy his new home. - After 18 months without a contract and eight years losing ground against rising living costs, Inglewood workers joined with community members to hold a candlelight vigil, rally with religious leaders at a City Council meeting and won a contract that rewards the quality services they provide city residents.
SEIU members walked precincts and manned phones to elect public officials who will partner with city workers for quality services in Baldwin Park, Duarte, La Puente, Los Angeles and San Fernando. In El Monte SEIU 721 members elected LA Deputy City Attorney Andre Quintero, also a SEIU 721 member, mayor.- As key partners in the Apollo Alliance, SEIU 721 members helped win a cutting-edge ordinance in the City of Los Angeles to retrofit city buildings and parks for energy and water conservation while creating good union jobs for members of underserved communities.
- Members in Compton expanded their bargaining team to represent every city department and won Joint Labor-Management Committees to improve working conditions and enhance city services.
- Palos Verdes Library District members held fast by not opening their contract to defer pay increases until the district found funding to honor the existing agreement and reward their service to library patrons.
- LA Community College District workers appealed to the district’s board to prevent cuts in education. They offered alternative cost savings instead of furloughs.
Santa Ana city workers stood strong against unequal impacts to SEIU from city budget cuts and against hurting services popular with the public in the parks and graffiti removal through contracting out. They presented alternative proposals for savings and revenue to City Council, and won council’s public agreement that privatization is not in the long-term interests of Santa Ana.- SEIU 721 member Brian Hollenbaugh and other LAPD Detention Officers lobbied in Sacramento to win passage of a bill protecting their safety on the job by allowing immediate testing of inmates for blood-borne diseases if officers are exposed to their bodily fluids during the course of duty.
- Los Angeles City Traffic Officer Pat Perry traveled to the SEIU Building Better Communities conference in Washington, D.C., to talk about how LA’s traffic officers took over the recovery of stolen vehicles from LAPD, leading to speedier recovery of vehicles, saving the city millions of dollars, and freeing up police officers for patrol duties.
Members who work for Los Angeles World Airports came together to revive the Joint Labor-Management Committee that management abruptly ended three years ago. The committee has met three times so far to take on issues important to airport workers like a new bus washer and cross-training.- Golf course workers who run a successful golf cart concession in one city course convinced City Council to approve a pilot program with the goal of bringing all of the City’s golf cart operations in-house.
- Security Officers at the LA Harbor partnered with management to implement the innovative Threat Detection Center to prevent terrorism and other threats to shipping in LA’s port.
Top Moments of 2009: Cities of Los Angeles and Orange Counties
Categories: Baldwin Park | Duarte | El Monte | Inglewood | La Puente | LA/OC Cities and Districts | Los Angeles Community College District | Palos Verdes Library District | San Fernando | Santa Ana
Well, the first top moment of 2010 is City of LA will be laying off 1000 workers. Would the SEIU care to comment?
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