DWP Board Balks on Wage Hikes

It started when Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s aides criticized a proposed contract for Department of Water and Power workers. It was too expensive for the city, they said, but added that there was nothing that the new mayor could do about it.

They blamed former Mayor James K. Hahn’s administration, which had negotiated the deal with the municipal utility’s union.

That apparently irked Hahn’s Department of Water and Power commissioners, who had been expected to approve the deal Tuesday.

Instead, they turned the tables on the new mayor.

In a surprise move, the board declined to act on the new contract. That decision could shunt the controversy to Villaraigosa, who is on the verge of naming his own commissioners to the board.

The mayor’s spokesman, Joe Ramallo, conceded Tuesday that the issue may end up in the mayor’s in-box.

“Should this come before the mayor’s appointees, they will thoroughly review it and consider it,” he said, noting that Villaraigosa “is concerned about whether the pay raises can be fiscally sustained.”

The union that represents the workers and negotiated the contract was one of the few that backed Villaraigosa during the campaign, and political observers have wondered how he would handle the conflict between his promise to cut city expenses and the union’s high wages.

The proposed contract extension would boost the salary of DWP workers at least 17% and as much as 34% over five years, an increase significantly more than what other unionized city workers receive.

The DWP board was widely expected to sign off on the deal. But when it came up during the board meeting, the acting chairman’s request for a motion to approve it was met with stony silence.

“Hearing no motion, we will defer it,” Sid Stolper announced.

Some of the commissioners were unwilling to discuss the issue. Stolper said “No comment” over his shoulder as he and board member Gerard McCallum II rushed into a closed-door meeting.

The board members gave no indication that they plan to act on the matter before Villaraigosa appoints a new board.

After the meeting, board member Annie Cho said, “I think it’s an opportunity for the new board that is going to be seated very soon to take a look.”

Asked if she felt criticism of the current board over the pay package has been unfair, Cho said, “That’s not the first time.”

City Councilman Greig Smith, who is among those who have been critical of the deal, laughed when he was told what the board had done.

“This is the political outfall of the change of administration with the current commissioners saying, ‘Why should we take the heat? Let them deal with it,’ ” he said.

Smith added that he hopes the board Villaraigosa appoints will look at how the large raises contribute to the disparity in pay between DWP workers and those at other departments. “Maybe this is a good thing. We can have some new eyes look at it,” Smith said.

The business manager for the union that negotiated the deal had to shake his head at the board’s surprise decision.

“I’m kind of bemused,” said Brian D’Arcy of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, which represents nearly 8,000 DWP employees. “I think it’s their childish way of registering their displeasure with not being reappointed to the board.”

DWP Commissioner Silvia Saucedo said criticism comes with the job and her main reason for not voting for the pay package is she is not sure the department can afford it given all the other financial demands. “I’m not prepared to act until all my concerns are addressed,” she said.

Cho said she has no opinion on the merit of the five-year contract proposal, which guarantees raises of at least 3.25% per year and allows boosts up to 6% annually, if inflation goes that high.

She denied that the board was trying to avoid the issue, which has been covered recently in several Los Angeles newspapers.

“I don’t think, since the contract doesn’t even start until October, we are pushed against time,” she said. “There really is no reason for the new board not to review it and engage themselves.”

Some council members and union leaders representing non-DWP workers had raised objections to raises that could reach 6% per year, complaining that they dwarf the 2% average annual raise received by other city employees.

Smith said he is concerned that the package will contribute to the disparity of pay between city departments. And Julie Butcher of the Service Employees International Union, Local 347, said her workers accepted a pay freeze last year because the city claimed poverty and are angry that the DWP is offering such substantial raises.

Brady Westwater, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Council, complained to the board Tuesday that neighborhood council members who might have weighed in on the matter were never notified of the large pay package.

Westwater welcomed the board’s decision, saying the matter should be left for a Villaraigosa-appointed board. “The new board is going to have to live with this. They should have to vote on it,” he said.

There are indications that Villaraigosa has attempted to avoid involvement in the issue so it would be blamed on Hahn and his board members. One source familiar with the mayor’s office said there was talk that Villaraigosa would announce his DWP board nominees Tuesday or Wednesday, which might have encouraged the current board to delay action, but that the announcement was put off indefinitely on Monday. Ramallo denied that the announcement had been scheduled.

Villaraigosa said through aides Monday that he had no power over the matter because it was in the hands of the Hahn panel.

Despite the mayor’s concerns about the contract’s cost, he may be unable to undo it, even if he wanted to do that. The contract has already been ratified by the union membership.

“It’s an unfair labor practice to make an offer with authority, and then have what? Buyer’s remorse?” D’Arcy said.

The union has gone on strike before, most recently in 1993, and D’Arcy hinted that the city might spark labor unrest if it tries to renege. “This provides the city with five years of labor peace,” he said.