Action Delayed on Welfare-to-Work Pact

At the request of union leaders, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed action for two weeks on a controversial proposal to contract with a private company to handle welfare-to-work cases at eight offices in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

Leaders and members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 660, strongly opposed the proposal to contract with Maximus Inc., rather than continuing to use county workers to help welfare recipients find jobs.

“There is no place for private profit in the public welfare system,” said Annelle Grajeda, general manager of the SEIU local. She called on the supervisors to give the union a chance to meet with the director of the county Department of Public Social Services to see if the financial gap between the Maximus proposal and the cost of county workers can be narrowed.

“We are not afraid of competition,” Grajeda said. “We believe Los Angeles County’s public employees do a better job.”

County Welfare Director Lynn Bayer said she is “very interested in hearing what the union has to say.” But Bayer said her department has already done a careful analysis of the savings involved in contracting out the work. That study showed the proposed $23-million contract with Maximus would save the county about $4.5 million over two years.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the swing vote on the issue, said he doesn’t accept the union’s counterproposal that sufficient savings can be found to close the gap with Maximus. But he said the union deserves a chance to make its case.