Layoff Notices Sent to 700 Water and Power Workers

Nearly 700 union workers at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power received preliminary layoff notices Tuesday after negotiators failed to reach agreement with the Engineers and Architects Assn. on a buyout and severance package.

In a terse two-paragraph letter, DWP General Manager S. David Freeman served notice to certain union members that the department is downsizing and they will be affected by the planned layoff.

Freeman sent the notices after months of talks and a courtroom confrontation with the most recalcitrant of the DWP’s three unions failed to resolve differences over the scope of the layoffs needed to prepare the utility for competition in the electric power industry.

However, Freeman did reach agreement with the DWP managers union Tuesday on a package designed to encourage nearly half of its 353 members to take early retirement.

“We recognize the department’s need to do the downsizing,” said Jerry Pfefferman, president of the managers union.

The managers group joins the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in accepting a new contract that includes cash severance payments of $25,000 to $50,000 for younger employees and enhanced service credit or retirement benefits for older workers who agree to leave their jobs.

An official layoff notice, including the last date of work, will be sent to the Engineers and Architects Assn. employees in a week to 10 days, Freeman said.

Bob Duncan, executive director of the association, said the union wants the utility to agree to redeploy DWP workers to other city jobs rather than lay them off.