Fix L.A. Coalition to Blast City Hall for Proposed FY 2018-19 Budget That Fails to Fill Municipal Job Vacancies Despite Economic Recovery as Income Inequality Grows and City Infrastructure Continues to Crumble

 

Los Angeles Is Woefully Behind Self-Imposed Deadline of 2018 to Fill 5,000 Jobs Left Vacant Since the Recession Even Though the Economy Has Recovered and Demand for City Jobs Remains High, Particularly in Low-Income Regions

 

Los Angeles—The men and women who keep our L.A. communities clean, healthy and functioning will testify before the City of Los Angeles’ Budget and Finance Committee on Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 1 p.m. to denounce City Hall’s failure to restore essential municipal services to pre-Recession levels and to fill 5,000 civil service jobs that remain vacant. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s $9.2 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2018-19 represents an increase of 7.6% compared to last year but not one penny is allocated toward filling the 5,000 job vacancies even though the need for them is high, especially for people living in low-income communities – which have relied on the public sector for a pathway to the middle class. The Fix L.A. Coalition will demand that City Hall fulfill its promise to put Angelenos to work now.

Who: The Fix L.A. Coalition (which includes more than a dozen community groups and six labor unions)

What: Official Testimony by the Fix L.A. Coalition to the City of Los Angeles’ Budget and Finance Committee Demanding that 5,000 Job Vacancies Be Filled

When: Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 1 p.m.

Where: City Hall—Los Angeles, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

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BACKGROUND: When the Great Recession devastated America a decade ago, workers in the City of Los Angeles accepted a municipal hiring freeze with the explicit understanding that it would be lifted once the economy improved. But that has not happened. Indeed, despite the fact that – in his recent State of the City address – Mayor Eric Garcetti painted a rosy picture of booming local revenues and strong finances to support an array of new services, the City Administrative Officer has instructed department heads not to fill any vacancies and instead to potentially make $45 million in additional cuts. Meanwhile, communities across Los Angeles continue to suffer from insufficient street and sidewalk maintenance, as well as inadequate recreation and parks programming, while the demand for municipal jobs continues to grow – especially in low-income communities, which have traditionally depended on the public sector to provide a pathway to middle class living. Angelenos deserve better – and the City of Los Angeles can do better. Accordingly, the Fix L.A. Coalition will insist that City Hall make good on the promise to restore city job hiring rates to pre-Recession levels.

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Contact:

Roxane Marquez, SEIU Local 721, (213) 705-1078

 

 

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