By G. Jordan Granucci, Editorial Intern
On the morning of Aug. 8, to the sound of blurting of canned air horns, the rattling of bells, and the shouts of labor organizers, thousands of strikers descended on Spring Street between Temple and First, before coalescing on the front steps of Los Angeles City Hall donning purple shirts and city employee uniforms.
The Service Employees International Union accused the city of failing to bargain in good faith and of engaging in unfair labor practices that curtailed the rights of the union and its members.
The current salary agreement that ends Dec. 31, which is a year-long extension of last year’s contract, has provided members a 3% pay increase. In addition, it provided a one-time bonus. The bonus is equivalent to 5% of an employee’s annual salary. About 400 proposals from the union are still being negotiated, and they have yet to be resolved.
One sanitation worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said he has worked in the department for two years.
“The negotiators at city hall have left the contracts open multiple times and left us hanging.”
City Councilmember Tim McOsker, who heads the council’s personnel committee, and who has positioned himself as a strong ally of organized labor, said he wants to ensure the one-day strike won’t deter the two sides from making progress in reaching an agreement.
“These workers are the backbone of our city’s workforce and I respect their right to take their recent labor action,” McOsker said. “It is unfortunate that we got to this point, but it’s important that we, as city leaders, continue to remain at the table bargaining with SEIU 721 and working towards a contract. It would be unfair and wrong for any unresolved proposals in the last contract to limit in any way good faith negotiations on their wages, hours, or working conditions.”
The SEIU represents nearly 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations across the U.S. and Canada and focuses on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (which accounts for over half of the members), public services, and property services. On Tuesday, the public service employees voiced their concerns.
“The main push for today is to close the contract, at least, with comparable wages,” the anonymous worker went on to say. “Especially with inflation going up, they’ve been holding back on that and ignoring it.”
He went on to add, “When you fight for the rights and the proper wages for those who take care of what’s essential in the city, it affects everyone. Everyone follows and everyone understands that that’s how people should be respected, and if they’re not doing the right thing, they’re doing a disservice to everyone, not just city employees.”
Mayor Karen Bass said the City of Los Angeles is not going to shut down.
“We will continue to bargain in good faith,” Bass said.
Paul, a general services employee and union member who asked to only give his first name, shed some light:
“What the union’s actually not telling you is that they [the city] are failing to fill those positions, and they [the union] are continuing to increase union dues and they don’t hold themselves accountable for the supposed representation that they give,” Paul said. “Have you seen out here that there’s a lot of union members that didn’t receive all their food? And it continues on.”
He made note of the crippling cost of living in Los Angeles as well.
“Everybody’s here for financial well-being, to try and get ahead, to be able to afford basic groceries, fuel, and supposedly, to be able to afford to buy a home in Los Angeles,” he said.
“The majority of a lot of city workers make six figures and still don’t even have the ability to own a home in Los Angeles.”
LAX advised its departing passengers to arrive an hour earlier than usual in the event of delays. Trash pickup was delayed by one day across the city last week.
Steve Todd, who has worked in the sanitation department for 25 years, said that for many employees, their job responsibilities have increased, but their pay hasn’t increased accordingly.
“They violated our current contract, so that’s why we’re striking,” Todd said. “We want to start the new year with a good contract to cover the cost of living. We want to work all these perks out that we deserve. They stepped away from the table because the things we asked for are really within their means, but they refused to honor [them], and refused to come to the table and come to a collective agreement so we can move forward.”
The vitality of city workers is something echoed by every striker I spoke with across the board. Todd summed it up:
“The city workers are very vital and important for the city to exist, from the sanitation department to the wastewaters, to parks and rec, to the fire department, to the police department; we’re various essential workers that carry the city load to keep the city going. We’re very important in those dynamics to be respected and to be paid a fair wage for the cost of living as well.”