L.A., workers reach deal on contract

Officials with six unions that represent about half of the city workers in Los Angeles said Monday that they had reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, which probably ends any chance of a threatened municipal strike.

The deal covers about 22,000 workers, including trash collectors, traffic control officers, 911 dispatchers, clerks, street repair workers, librarians, some water treatment plant employees, custodians, park rangers, crossing guards and mechanics.

Although most details of the contract were not released, if ratified by union members and approved by the City Council, the pact would run for five years and be retroactive to July.

“This agreement is about ensuring that workers keep up with the cost of living as well as helping the city address whatever challenges lie ahead,” said Barbara Maynard, the spokeswoman for the Coalition of L.A. City Unions, the umbrella group that represents the employees.

“I think it’s a fair deal,” said Karen Sisson, the city’s chief administrative officer. “The city can afford this.”

The unions had been negotiating with city administrators for months, but without the acrimony that usually marked past labor talks. Instead, the workers’ previous contract was quietly extended for three months in June and then a new deal was reached Sunday night, only minutes before the old deal expired at midnight.

Sisson said the city used facilitators who helped keep emotion out of the talks.

The last contract agreement with a city union came after a period of discord. In August 2006, about 7,500 members of the Engineers and Architects Assn. staged a two-day walkout; in January they received a 9% raise over three years in a new contract.

Many of the workers involved in the current negotiations had been covered by a 2004 contract that gave them a 6 1/4 % raise over four years.

That raise has irritated employees and union leaders because a separate union that represents Department of Water and Power employees secured a better deal in 2005.

Officials with Service Employees International Union Local 721, the largest union in the coalition, entered the current talks with the goal of achieving a significant improvement. As recently as last December, the union talked of a potential strike and began distributing to the media a list of worker-friendly pop songs it promised to play on the picket lines.

Since then, however, the SEIU and other unions have toned down their rhetoric. The difference, union officials said, was that Villaraigosa -- a former union official -- persuaded them to enter into “mutual-gains bargaining,” in which both sides laid out their priorities and came to an agreement through facilitators.

The deal, according to sources, includes cost-of-living adjustments. It also apparently includes some measures that link the timing of employee raises to the city’s fiscal health while giving workers more say about how programs are run.

City finances have suffered in recent months because the slowing real estate market has caused property-tax revenue to lag. The city also has been forced to pay several big lawsuit settlements.

The city’s financial issues made it unclear how much the city could afford for pay raises -- although the city found enough money to strike a deal.

“I think we did get most of what we wanted,” said Efren Corall, who drives a city truck that picks up recyclable trash. “Not to get too specific, but there were a few things that we thought better to wait for in terms of benefits. What we really wanted, too, was to be able to contribute ideas.”

--

steve.hymon@latimes.com