Over 500 LA City engineers, scientists, criminalists and technologists went to City Hall this morning to deliver a clear message: don’t outsource our jobs to private companies.A bargaining team representing LA City professionals has been negotiating a new contract with the city for over eighteen months. Unfortunately, the city has refused to bargain in good faith. In its latest proposal, the city rejected a clause in the professionals’ contract that would prohibit outsourcing their jobs to private consultants. This clause has been standard in most city labor contracts since 1994.
Gus Malkoun, a civil engineer who has worked for the city for 26 years, stood in front of the standing room only crowd in the city council chamber and said, “I’ve invested so much time in the city and saved the city millions of dollars through my work. And now the city wants to lay us off and replace our jobs? This is shameful.”
Environmental Engineering Associate Rafael Yanez echoed that sentiment. He told the assembled councilmembers, “If it’s the intent of the city and council to privatize city services, then at least have the courtesy to call this what it is.”
Last week, Engineering Associate Terry Keating wrote an impassioned letter to his colleagues updating them on the city’s plan to “win a contract that allows management to lay off the City’s engineers, architects, scientists and technologists and replace us with consultants wherever and whenever lucrative outsourcing contracts will return a political benefit.” You can read the full text of Terry’s letter here.
We should push to get the same contract the Coalition got,
Hey this is a good looking blog, is wordpress? Forgive me for the foolish question but if so, what theme is? Thanks!
I am a retired carpenter. I can remember a time, in America, on public works projects—construction projects funded by taxpayers—that all materials and supplies that came on that job had to be made in America. We had great prosperous times then.