Panel OKs Pact With DWP’s Largest Union

A Los Angeles City Council panel approved a new labor pact with the Department of Water and Power’s largest and most powerful union Thursday, agreeing to a buyout and severance package before the city embarks on unprecedented layoffs in the department.

But the package, which is scheduled to be considered behind closed doors by the full council today, came under fire from one of the panel members, Councilman Joel Wachs. He said the contract is overly generous and sends the wrong message to the public and other DWP workers.

Supporters, including one of organized labor’s strongest advocates on the council, Jackie Goldberg, say the city needs to take unprecedented actions in unprecedented times.

The city’s utility department, which has a $7.5-billion debt, is attempting to pay down $4 billion by 2003 to prepare the nation’s largest municipal power company for competition in a newly deregulated market.

To accomplish that, DWP General Manager S. David Freeman has said that he needs to lay off 2,000 employees, mostly mid-level managers, architects and engineers.

The contract approved Thursday covers only the DWP’s service and line workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Freeman is negotiating with the department’s other two unions--which will take the heaviest hits during the layoffs--to develop severance and buyout packages.

The IBEW contract, which is being voted on by the union’s members, has been slightly changed--to reduce costs--since last week, when it was approved by the Water and Power Commission. It now allows employees to take a five-year credit to reach retirement; it is no longer intended for those workers who are at retirement age and who want to boost their pensions.

The overall package, for the IBEW and the other unions, could reach $500 million, some sources said. Others put the figure closer to $400 million.

Although DWP officials say the utility’s already well-funded pension plan has significantly increased because of stock market surges over the last four years, that money cannot be used to ease the debt load, but will assist the retirements of those employees who choose to leave.

City Council members have said they would support the layoffs, the largest in city history, but they have said they want to soften the blow as much as possible.

As a result, the DWP is attempting to negotiate plans that would encourage those employees close to retirement to leave voluntarily rather than remain at work by bumping younger, less senior, workers out of their jobs.

“I think whenever you’re asking 2,000 people to leave, the best thing, institutionally, is to have the people targeted leave . . . as opposed to those who are last hired,” said Goldberg, a member of the council’s Executive Employee Relations Committee. “None of this is pleasant. We want to make sure the ratepayers of the city of Los Angeles receive the highest level of service we can provide.”

The layoffs probably will be approved by the council in January, after the Christmas holidays, and will occur in February.