Unions Ready to Fight L.A. Breakup Plans

Organized labor, a muscular force in Los Angeles politics, kicks off a fierce campaign today against San Fernando Valley and Hollywood secession, a battle that union leaders consider crucial to preserving hard-won gains for workers.

The breakup proposals headed for the Nov. 5 ballot are rife with unknowns for Los Angeles’ 35,500 city employees, most of them union members. With cost savings a major goal of secessionists, unions are concerned that new cities in the Valley and Hollywood would try to slash payrolls by contracting out jobs or trimming salaries and benefits.

Secessionists downplay the uncertainty, pointing to safeguards that--at least initially--would protect union jobs. They also predict that the new cities would eventually negotiate contracts that both sides could support. Still, labor organizers fear that workers will only stand to lose.

Beyond the municipal work force, unions throughout Los Angeles County are lining up to fight secession, concerned that the new cities would do away with rent control, living-wage ordinances and other protections now on the books in Los Angeles.

“Over and over again, we’ve been able to introduce progressive legislation in Los Angeles. That may not be the case in a new city,” said Miguel Contreras, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, an umbrella organization with 810,000 members including janitors, teachers, longshoremen and film and TV crews.

The federation’s might in local elections comes from its huge pool of voters and volunteers and a healthy campaign treasury, although the group has suffered its share of defeats at the polls. Its ground offensive against secession begins today with a rally at Los Angeles Valley College.

Almost 250,000 of the federation’s members are registered voters in Los Angeles, Contreras said. A Times exit poll showed that 31% of the voters in last year’s mayoral election came from union households.

Even if they live outside the city and can’t vote, thousands of union members are expected to pitch in as volunteers, forming an army of foot soldiers ready to walk precincts and staff phone banks. The unions also plan to spend more than $1 million on the anti-secession drive.

“We have been talking to our members for well over a year on this, and I have yet to find a city worker who thinks [secession] is a good idea,” said Julie Butcher, general manager of the Service Employees International Union’s Local 347, which represents 9,000 city workers. The city’s police and firefighter unions also oppose secession.

Labor’s political power looms large in a city noted for low voter turnout in municipal elections. Local unions have helped elect a number of candidates, including Council President Alex Padilla.

“Unions will mobilize not just [their] members, but families and friends of members,” said Daniel J.B. Mitchell, a UCLA professor of management and public policy. “They’re a cohesive force in the city where there aren’t many.”

But labor has yet to show it can deliver a citywide race. In the mayoral contest, the county federation backed former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. Despite a $1-million push by unions, Villaraigosa still lost to James K. Hahn.

The stakes for labor could be even higher in the secession campaign, especially in the Valley, where the independence movement is supported by some business interests that are often at odds with unions.

If secession wins, the terms of the breakups will protect all city jobs during a one-year transition and require the Valley and Hollywood to honor existing labor contracts. But those agreements expire in either 2003 or 2004. After that, Los Angeles employees transferring to the Valley or Hollywood would have to negotiate new contracts, possibly with city councils less sympathetic to labor.

Secessionists point out that the unions would face a similar round of negotiations with Los Angeles anyway. “It’s the same process that goes on every few years in Los Angeles,” said Richard Close, president of the secession group Valley VOTE. “No one has any guarantees.”

In Hollywood, union workers would feel more secure in a new city, said Gene La Pietra, leader of the area’s breakaway effort.

“If any part of L.A. could be said to be the union capital of L.A., it would have to be Hollywood,”’ La Pietra said. “This is a movie-making town. Hello!”

No city employees would be transferred against their will to the new cities. But if a slimmed-down Los Angeles finds itself with a glut of workers, layoffs could follow, according to the state commission that put secession on the ballot.

Just as troubling to the unions are claims by some secessionists that labor costs have gotten out of hand.

“Unions don’t recognize the fact that the overall job is to deliver services at low costs,” said Studio City attorney David Fleming, a prominent secession backer and chair of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. If unions demand high compensation for subpar service, he said, a new Valley city would have an obligation to taxpayers to find cheaper labor, perhaps by contracting with Los Angeles County or private firms.

Such possibilities cast a long shadow of uncertainty over Los Angeles firehouses, police stations, parks and maintenance yards.

At the city’s North Hollywood machine repair shop, a dozen men in blue overalls gathered on the oil-spattered concrete floor to criticize secession. These workers spend their days skittering under 15-ton asphalt pavers to patch hydraulic leaks and rolling to the rescue of street sweepers that bust drive shafts. A few years ago, Local 347 finally got them city uniforms and a laundry service so they could stop stinking up washing machines at home with their diesel-soaked shirts.

“I thought I had a job that was going to carry me through to my pension,” said Eric Guzman, a 49-year-old welder who repairs heavy equipment.

But he has only seven years on the job. If voters approve a breakup, Guzman said, he could be cut loose.

“There’s a lot of people with more seniority,” he said. “I’m on the bottom of the totem pole now.”

The workers bristled at the notion that their pay and benefits could be too generous. Fleming, for example, has said a Valley city could save money by scaling back retirement benefits for new hires.

“Sounds like he’s just trying to fill his pocket and take away from us,” said Frank Flores, a mechanic. “The rich always try to take away from the poor.”

In the event of a breakup, police and firefighter pensions would be especially vulnerable. Their retirement fund, separate from that of other city workers, has no reciprocity deals with other funds.

That means that unless Los Angeles amends its charter, workers not yet vested in the pension plan could not transfer to another city without losing a chunk of their savings. About 5,100 police officers and firefighters aren’t vested, which typically requires 20 years of service.

Secessionists say public safety workers should rest assured. Supporters of an independent Hollywood say they plan to contract with the city’s fire and police departments. Valley breakaway advocates say a new city might hire more police officers and firefighters than currently serve the area. But some secessionists are skeptical about other city services.

“Let’s face it,” Close said. “The municipal unions are part of the problem. They control the City Council. Luckily, there are a lot more people in the Valley who are concerned about quality of life in the Valley rather than city employees’ pension plans.”

The secession camp has some union supporters. Benny Bernal, a union member who is also on the board of Valley VOTE, said chopping Los Angeles into three cities would benefit workers.

The 38-year-old bus driver, a lifelong Valley resident, was on a lunch break after driving giggling elementary students to the La Brea Tar Pits. Unlike now, Bernal said, council members in a new city would pay attention to his northeast Valley neighborhood and unions would care less about power and more about their members.

“I’m not the only one who feels this way,” he said as a union buddy nodded in agreement. “Problem is, most members are afraid to go public.”

His union, SEIU’s Local 99, opposes secession. Its president, Janett Humphreys, sent letters and held meetings informing members--many of them part-time workers who earn, on average, $20,000 a year--that a split could jeopardize job security and raise taxes.

Bernal, who is considering running for a seat on a Valley city council in the secession election, said he has met with dozens of union workers who are devising a benefits package to pitch to a new Valley city.

“I have extended family all over Los Angeles,” said Bernal, a father of six whose wife also drives a bus. “I have to look out for everyone. I wouldn’t support this if I thought it would hurt one person.”