Mayor Gains Strength in Wage Talks

Antonio Villaraigosa appears to be gaining ground, at least for now, in his battle with a union representing City Hall workers who are seeking a hefty pay increase.

A protest at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 27, which some union officials had predicted could disrupt holiday travel, drew a smaller than expected group of demonstrators.

And now, the Engineers and Architects Assn. is coming under pressure from the powerful head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, who warned union leaders that the coalition of city labor unions might not support a strike.

Villaraigosa has a lot riding on the negotiations, both politically and fiscally. He is about to begin new contract negotiations with several other unions, including those representing firefighters and police officers, and he has said the city cannot afford such generous packages.

“In a way it gives Villaraigosa an opportunity to put his marker down and say he is not going to be pushed around,” said Raphael Sonenshein, a political scientist at Cal State Fullerton who specializes in L.A. politics. “There are plenty of big unions that will probably try to strike a hard bargain too.”

The Engineers and Architects Assn. is seeking a raise of at least 19% and up to 31% over five years, roughly what Department of Water and Power workers received in a deal with Villaraigosa’s predecessor, James K. Hahn.

Villaraigosa has balked at the union’s request and vowed to stand firm.

“We’re also living in a world of finite resources, and my responsibility as mayor is to protect the public purse,” he said in an interview. “My responsibility is to do something to reduce the $248-million deficit that we face and to ensure that we are doing everything possible to keep our expenses in check.”

Villaraigosa is considered to be very popular with union members, so the aggressive stance by the Engineers and Architects Assn. has created something of a touchy standoff.

In what many at City Hall saw as a combination of union members’ ambivalence and the mayor’s clout, the protest at LAX, which union leaders said could draw 200 to 400 pickets, saw only about 90 and didn’t disturb travelers returning from Thanksgiving holidays.

“That is no show of widespread support, is it?” asked Rodger Shimatsu, a Public Works Board management analyst and Engineers and Architects Assn. member who declined to picket.

Shimatsu was one of 10 employees who voted against a strike authorization at a meeting last month attended by 400 union members.

“I didn’t feel 400 people in a voice vote should speak for 8,000 members,” Shimatsu said.

In the wake of the LAX protest, Martin Ludlow, a Villaraigosa ally who heads the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, warned Engineers and Architects Assn. chief Robert Aquino that there may not be enough votes on the federation’s executive board to approve a strike sanction that would require all unions to recognize Aquino’s union’s picket lines, according to a union official familiar with the situation.

In response, Aquino is mounting a direct challenge to the federation by scheduling pickets at the headquarters of the Department of Water and Power on Tuesday. Aquino hopes that DWP workers who are union members will decide on their own not to cross the picket line, even if the federation is not sanctioning it.

“Technically this is not an on-strike line; however, a good union member never crosses a brother union’s picket line,” Aquino said.

Ludlow did not return several calls seeking comment but instead issued a statement in which he said the strike sanction process “is an internal private matter and will remain as such.”

The statement added, “Any effort by workers to improve their quality of life or to enhance their families’ ability to survive during these difficult economic times will be supported by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.”

Aquino’s union represents about 8,000 city administrators, analysts, accountants, crime lab workers and engineers. It has demanded the same contract approved by the City Council in September for DWP workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18.

The DWP contract, negotiated when Hahn was mayor, guarantees that salaries will go up at least 19% over five years and allows for an increase of up to 31% if inflation reaches 6% per year.

Although the city attorney’s office said the city could renegotiate the terms, Villaraigosa supported the City Council’s approval of the DWP contract, saying it was only fair given that union members had already ratified the pact.

The negotiations are tricky for Villaraigosa, a former teachers union organizer who was backed in this year’s mayoral election by only a few unions, including Aquino’s.

Villaraigosa faces the prospect in April of having to meet with several other unions whose contracts expire in June.

In some ways, the Engineers and Architects Assn. doesn’t have quite the bargaining position of the DWP union, which represents more than 90% of the DWP workforce and could interrupt water and power service. Aquino’s members are whitecollar workers sprinkled throughout city departments, rarely on the front lines.

Pat McOsker, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles, said the DWP contract raised expectations as he prepares to negotiate a new pact; the current one expires June 30.

McOsker said his union can’t legally strike but is watching the Engineers and Architects Assn. struggle with sympathy.

“I understand why they are doing what they are doing. I don’t begrudge them. I’m not going to say they went too far. They did the exact same thing done by the DWP union, which got their way.”

The Police Protective League is also watching to see how Aquino’s contract battle winds up. The police officers’ contract also expires next June.

Villaraigosa attended a recent meeting of the police union’s board and said not to expect much.

“He just told us money is tight,” said Cliff Ruff, a league director.

Even so, Ruff said, his union also has asked for a copy of the DWP contract to see if any part of it might be worth seeking at the bargaining table in April.

A strike by the Engineers and Architects Assn., especially if not supported by all its members, might not have a major effect on the city.

However, the police union has shown it has the power to force a deal to its liking. In 1994, police officers won a sweetened contract, providing raises of up to 12% over 18 months, after engaging in a so-called blue flu, in which half of the officers failed to show for some shifts.

“It could be a nightmare, but I don’t think it will get to that,” Sonenshein said.