Council Panel Backs DWP Pact

A Los Angeles City Council panel voted 2 to 0 on Wednesday to recommend approval of controversial pay raises for the Department of Water and Power after the chairman said he feared the economic damage that a strike could cause.

The contract, which goes to the full council Tuesday, would raise the salaries for nearly 8,000 DWP workers by at least 17% over five years and, because it is tied to inflation, could increase their pay by as much as 34%.

Some city employee unions have complained that those raises were much higher than the city offered to other unions.

Leaders of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 have threatened to strike if the new contract is not approved by Oct. 1, when the current pact expires.

A power outage on Monday that affected 2 million people in Los Angeles has elected officials on edge, even though DWP General Manager Ron Deaton said it had nothing to do with the labor talks.