Internal Fight Rocks County Workers’ Union

A power struggle within Los Angeles County’s largest employee union has quietly reached a crisis point and threatens to hamstring the union as it tries to remain a key player in the county’s upcoming budget battles.

The battle over control of Service Employees International Union Local 660 pits General Manager Gilbert Cedillo and President Alejandro Stephens--two leaders who differ on how the union should try to influence the county and protect the jobs of its 40,000 members. Last week, Cedillo was suspended by the local’s board of directors for two weeks for union policy infractions, a decision upheld by a judge Tuesday.

Sources say that Stephens and his allies on the board are trying to oust the far more vocal Cedillo because they feel he has usurped some of the board’s power and become too visible as the union’s leader.

They say leaders on both sides had hoped to keep the conflict under wraps, particularly since the union is renegotiating its contracts with the county and attempting to pressure the county to rehire members who were laid off.

Nevertheless, the fight spilled into the courtroom when 11 union members petitioned Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien to block Cedillo’s suspension. O’Brien refused, after lawyers for the board said Cedillo’s new contract stipulates that he serves at the will of the board.

“This is strictly about power,” said one high-level union member. “There is no good time for an internal struggle. But this is definitely not the time.”

Lawyers for the board argued in court Tuesday that Cedillo brought on the suspension himself by improperly discussing with some union members the terms of his recently renegotiated contract and other “internal staff-related issues.” At an executive session April 10, the board voted 20 to 1 to suspend Cedillo.

Cedillo’s suspension without pay means he cannot enter union headquarters for two weeks, effective today. He also has been barred from attending the union’s international conference in Chicago next week, even though the group meets only once every four years.

And Cedillo’s recently negotiated contract gives him far less authority and autonomy. He now reports to Stephens.

Stephens would not discuss the particulars of the suspension, saying it is a personnel matter. “But every action or every reaction is caused by an action,” said Stephens, a longtime union member who works at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

Cedillo, who works full time for the union, also had little comment, saying, “I support the membership and their right to choose their leadership. I believe the union should be open and democratic.”

In court documents, Cedillo’s supporters said rank-and-file members elected him and should be given the chance to support or reject his suspension--and possible discharge, if the board tries to fire him.

Cedillo’s suspension, said union member Norman Johnson, “will immobilize Local 660’s ongoing negotiations with Los Angeles County in the current health care crisis as well as the county’s fiscal crisis.”

Another petitioner, county librarian Cynthia Miller, said the union needs Cedillo’s “superior skill of pulling together diverse groups with diverse interests and uniting them to achieve a common goal.”

In contrast to Stephens’ behind-the-scenes demeanor and his blue-collar background, Cedillo is seen as a smooth but militant operator with a law degree and experience in the politics of union management.

Cedillo enjoys much support among the rank and file, and is credited with raising the visibility of Local 660 since his election in 1992 through a mixture of savvy politicking and confrontational “rolling thunder” tactics aimed at forcing the county to find alternatives to laying off workers.

During last summer’s bitter budget battles, as many as 18,000 union jobs were up for elimination, but in the end, there were fewer than 2,300 layoffs. Most of those were not union members, Local 660 officials said Tuesday.

But Cedillo’s high visibility apparently rankled some board members. During last summer’s budget crisis, Cedillo was in charge of day-to-day operations of the local and its approximately 70 staffers. He was a familiar face at the county Hall of Administration, leading protests, fighting county supervisors over proposed budget cuts and cultivating union support among local, state and federal lawmakers.

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