Elections Working in Labor’s Favor

Having helped propel Antonio Villaraigosa onto the Los Angeles City Council this week, an influential union organization now hopes to gain a firmer foothold at City Hall and advance a more ambitious labor agenda.

Two years after the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, unsuccessfully mounted a million-dollar effort to elect Villaraigosa mayor, the federation mobilized hundreds of members to help him unseat 14th District Councilman Nick Pacheco on Tuesday. The umbrella union organization now stands poised to help elect another key ally in the May runoffs: former legislative aide Martin Ludlow, who is running for the 10th District seat.

“We’ve called this our ‘motion-made-and-seconded’ campaign,” said federation head Miguel Contreras, describing the organization’s goal of electing council members who will dependably carry union legislation.

“Right now we’ve got the motion made,” he added. “Now we’ve got to get the motion seconded.”

Even if Ludlow wins, it may not be that easy.

While Villaraigosa and Ludlow both said they are committed to helping workers, they also insist that they will collaborate with the business community, among other constituencies, and do not want to be seen as rubber stamps for the unions.

“I’ve already said I’m going to be a voice for working families, no question,” Villaraigosa said. “But I don’t feel a debt to anyone.”

There is no question that both men have strong ties to Contreras and the labor coalition. Villaraigosa is a former union organizer, and Ludlow worked as the political director for the federation before he ran for office.

Some analysts said their presence on the council would give the federation built-in leaders on labor matters.

“The federation really lost its champions through term limits, especially when Jackie [Goldberg] left,” said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles, referring to the former councilwoman who led the fight to pass the city’s living wage law in 1997.

The unions “didn’t have people to carry the ball,” Regalado added. “Now they will.”

Of course, the current City Council is far from anti-union. Almost half the council, including Council President Alex Padilla, got into office with labor backing. In recent weeks, the council voted unanimously to expand benefits for domestic partners and supported an effort to get McDonald’s to raise wages at its airport franchises.

Councilman Eric Garcetti, who has sponsored several measures to help workers, said the presence of Villaraigosa and other labor candidates will just continue the council’s current union-friendly posture.

“This council has consistently voted pro-labor when given the choice,” he said.

But labor advocates said they hope the presence of Villaraigosa -- and possibly Ludlow -- will make the body more activist than it has been in the past.

“I think we’re going to see a blossoming of potentially creative approaches to improving the lives of low-wage workers,” said Madeline Janis-Aparicio, director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. “It’s really just the difference between being reactive and proactive.”

Labor leaders want city officials to boost the city’s fledgling affordable housing trust fund, and to approve the construction of a unionized hotel by the downtown Convention Center. Unions are also paying close attention to the slow-moving modernization of the Los Angeles International Airport, a massive public works project they are counting on to generate jobs.

In addition, the contract between janitors and the companies that hire them is due to expire April 30. Three years ago, a salary dispute led to a high-profile janitors strike. Villaraigosa, who participated in negotiations on behalf of the union then and has strong ties with business leaders such as Eli Broad, can play a key role in helping to avert another one this year, said Mike Garcia, president of Services Employees International Union Local 1877, which represents the city’s janitors and is part of the federation.

“What has been lacking since Jackie Goldberg left is someone we call a water carrier, who can draft creative legislation, who can move working families’ issues forward,” he said. Villaraigosa’s election “really does create another center of power on the council that will move everybody toward progressive thinking and policies.”

Business leaders also view Villaraigosa’s election as a significant union win.

“Labor obviously scored some victories on Tuesday,” said Rusty Hammer, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, which endorsed Pacheco. “I think it does show that organized labor in Los Angeles is very well-organized and politically savvy, and it also says the business community needs to be equally politically savvy.”

But Hammer said he and other business leaders remain hopeful that they will be able to work with Villaraigosa. In fact, the chamber is organizing a reception in his honor in the next month.

“I think he will understand the concerns that we have and I think he will be responsive to them,” he said.

Ludlow is now expected to benefit from a large labor push in the weeks leading up to the May 20 runoff election. The federation also plans to put resources into helping elect school board member Julie Korenstein, who is running for the 12th District council seat.

Ludlow, a onetime aide to Villaraigosa, said he believes he not only has union support, but also the backing of business owners who respond to his message about the need to reform the city’s tax structure.

“I am not uncomfortable with the label ‘labor candidate,’ but I would like to be seen as a jobs candidate,” he said.

Deron Williams, Ludlow’s opponent in the 10th District, is bracing for the federation’s efforts.

“Naturally, we’re concerned,” said Armen Ross, Williams’ campaign manager, who said that his candidate has broad community support. “We just hope we can offset whatever they do.”

Villaraigosa’s 17-point win over Pacheco came after a huge effort by the federation, an umbrella organization that represents 800,000 union members countywide. The organization spent more than $187,500 on dozens of paid organizers, a phone-bank operation and five different mailers. In the month leading up to the election, hundreds of volunteers -- many of them janitors and hotel workers -- identified 15,000 residents who said they were voting for Villaraigosa.

Those voters were contacted by labor members three or four times each before election day. “We knew the names of their kids, let’s put it that way,” Contreras said.

On election day, 31% of voters in the 14th District showed up at the polls -- well over twice the 13% turnout citywide.

But even as Villaraigosa’s win restored the federation’s clout in city elections, the 14th District race also highlighted a split between the organization and the city unions and building trades, which backed Pacheco.

The police, firefighters, carpenters and city unions that supported the incumbent councilman were the same locals that broke with the federation’s endorsement of Villaraigosa in the mayor’s race, choosing instead to campaign for Hahn.

Union leaders on both sides downplayed any division within organized labor, noting that they were united in last year’s campaign against secession and in the fight for a living wage law. Public employee unions are now looking to the rest of the labor movement for support in fighting possible layoffs caused by the state’s budget crisis.

The split over recent endorsements is not “endemic,” said Julie Butcher, general manager of Service Employees International Union Local 347, the largest city employee union. “I think it’s absolutely situational.”

City employees backed Pacheco because he did a good job on the council, she said, delivering for workers and his constituents. But they also welcome Villaraigosa’s presence, she added.

“The voice of workers is always strong at City Hall,” she said. “I think this makes it even louder, which is good.”