Union Seeks OK to Strike Again
Acknowledging that his union’s two-day strike failed to bring the city back to the bargaining table, the executive director of the Engineers and Architects Assn. told a labor rally Monday that he would seek an official sanction from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor today for another strike.
Robert Aquino, the union’s executive director, which represents more than 7,500 Los Angeles city employees, did not seek such a sanction before the strike Aug. 22 and 23.
Although city workers were free to honor the picket lines, most did not.
During the strike, Aquino said he did not seek backing because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former labor organizer, controlled the labor federation. But in an Aug. 29 letter to more than two dozen union leaders, Aquino apologized for that comment about Villaraigosa.
Aquino, who made public claims before the strike about shutting down the city, has softened his tone since the walkout. He also has sought to reach out to other unions he has long criticized as being too conciliatory in dealings with the mayor.
Aquino gave no details of any future strike, though he and other union officials have long suggested that they might walk out again.
The City Council last month offered a total salary increase of 6.25% over three years to the union, and has refused to negotiate further. The union continues to demand increases in line with the more generous ones granted in 2005 to Department of Water and Power workers.
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