L.A., Union at Odds Over Wage Pact

A union representing 8,000 Los Angeles city employees threatened Monday to launch a disruptive Thanksgiving weekend protest at Los Angeles International Airport unless it wins the same lucrative contract that the city awarded to Department of Water and Power workers.

The threat is a direct challenge to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former union organizer, who chose not to intervene to block the DWP contract, which was negotiated under the previous administration. At the time, however, he warned that the city could not afford to reward other unions with similar contracts.

The Engineers and Architects Assn. delivered the warning of demonstrations and strikes in a letter Monday morning to Villaraigosa, giving the city just 72 hours to respond.

Union Executive Director Robert G. Aquino said one of the first actions could come Sunday night if the union decides to deploy 200 to 300 workers to protest on crosswalks near the arrivals terminals at LAX.

“We would never do anything to impact passenger safety, but our demonstration will make it very difficult for people to get into and out of the airport Sunday evening,” Aquino said.

The union also plans a demonstration today at the City Council meeting and may consider walking off the job or launching a full strike.

The mayor urged the union on Monday to rethink its hard-line position.

“Mayor Villaraigosa regrets that the leadership of the EAA has called for and is threatening a strike against the city of Los Angeles,” said mayoral spokeswoman Diana Rubio.

At LAX, the union represents technicians who run communications and computer systems, as well as runway supervisors. “They make sure the runways are clear of debris so airplanes can land,” Aquino said.

The union also represents Los Angeles Police Department criminalists, who collect and analyze evidence from crime scenes, as well as polygraph examiners, police composite artists and crime lab workers who perform tests on evidence.

Aquino said a walkout could hinder the Police Department’s ability to prove criminal cases by preventing it from meeting legal deadlines for providing evidence in court.

The union was emboldened by the success of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, which in September won a contract for nearly 8,000 DWP workers that raises salaries by at least 17.9% over five years and as much as 31%. The electrical workers contract provides a minimum cost-of-living increase of 3.25% each year, but allows salaries to grow by up to 6% each year to keep pace with inflation.

Unlike the DWP workers, whose contract had not expired before the new contract was approved, the Engineers and Architects Assn. had five contracts with the city, all of which expired in June 2004.

In his letter to Villaraigosa, Aquino advised him to ask the city administrative officer to submit the electrical workers agreement to his union “if you wish to avoid the disruption of city services that job actions would certainly cause.”

Aquino wrote that he was notifying the mayor that the union could “take action anytime beginning 72 hours after your receipt of this letter.”

Union members held a meeting Sunday in which they demanded the same terms as the DWP contract, Aquino said, and “authorized us to take economic action up to and including strikes to achieve this end.”

Aquino’s union and the electrical workers were the only two major city unions to endorse Villaraigosa in this year’s mayoral election.

The mayor said Aquino’s union has been offered the same “generous” contract that has been offered to other non-DWP city unions. City officials said the union has rejected terms in contracts that other civilian bargaining units have accepted. The proposed contract provides for no pay raise the first year, a 2% raise on July 1, 2006; a 2.25% raise on Jan. 1, 2007; and 2.25% on July 1, 2007.

“Los Angeles city employees enjoy some of the highest wages and benefits of any city worker in the United States,” Rubio said.

She said the mayor supports giving unions the best contracts possible, but added, “The mayor strongly believes the city must be fiscally prudent so the residents of Los Angeles have the services they need and expect.”

The electrical workers won City Council approval of their contract after they threatened to strike, which could have had a detrimental effect on the DWP’s ability to provide electricity and water to its 1.8 million customers.

In defending their contract, officials with the electrical workers union said the DWP is financially self-sufficient and politically semi-independent, making it distinct from the rest of the city’s departments.

Aquino said dozens of jobs represented by his union at non-DWP departments are identical to those represented by the electrical workers union at DWP, but those jobs paid much more even before the new contract was approved.