Editorial:  State should stay out of this L.A. fight

California legislators have passed a bill that irresponsibly backs public employee unions in a political dispute with Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Gov. Jerry Brown should veto AB 1881 and let labor groups and the city and county settle their differences through negotiation or adjudication, not politically motivated legislation.

At issue are recent decisions by Garcetti and the supervisors to change how they select the commissioners who serve on what are known as employee relations boards. These boards rule on disagreements over labor issues, such as working conditions, pay and contracts. Their decisions can have a major impact on government agencies’ operations, so there has often been tension over whether they tilt toward labor or management. For example, the city’s board recently rejected a reduction in pension benefits for new hires — a decision that could cost L.A. some $300 million over 10 years.

A year ago, the Board of Supervisors rewrote its rules for appointments to the county’s Employee Relations Commission. The supervisors scrapped the old process, in which labor and management collaborated on choosing candidates, amid concern that it led to a commission that consistently ruled in favor of unions. Instead, the commission would be made up of one appointee selected by the unions, one by the county’s chief executive and one jointly nominated. All three sitting commissioners resigned in protest over the new rules, and the commission hasn’t met in a year.

Two months later, Garcetti ended a 42-year tradition in which union representatives and the city’s top budget official jointly nominated candidates for the Employee Relations Board and the mayor picked his appointee from their list. Garcetti argued that the City Charter grants him the sole authority to pick his board members. Critics of the old process said it gave unions too much influence and created a board that was hostile to city attempts to curtail pension and employee costs. Unions argued that the mayor violated city law by not meeting with labor to negotiate the change, which, they say, will make the board more political.

An impartial hearing officer is expected to decide which side is right, but that process could become moot if AB 1881 becomes law.

Union leaders sponsored the bill, carried by Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), to force the city and county to revert to the old system of jointly screened board members. But state law grants the city and the county the right to govern their own labor affairs. It’s troubling that legislators would support an end-run around state and local laws to help one side in a political and legal dispute. Brown should veto AB 1881 and make the city, county and their public employee unions resolve their differences at the negotiating table or in litigation.

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