|
October 2, 2009 Today the Coalition of LA City Unions and the CAO finalized language for the Amended Letter of Agreement which Coalition members will vote on in the coming weeks. The Bargaining Teams for every Coalition union recommend a Yes vote on the agreement.
So there are now two very different plans for addressing this year's budget crisis taking parallel tracks through the City. The choice between them is yours:
• The Mayor's plan of 926 immediate layoffs, and furloughs cutting 208 hours of work for those remaining--leaving everyone in a much worse position next year.
• Our plan centered around early retirements, with concessions including 59.5 hours of work cut this fiscal year, plus ongoing savings to put us in a much better position for the future.
" In hard times you have to make hard choices. I'm not happy about the concessions we have to make here to keep our city family whole, and I'm sure not happy about how we got here, but I'll take these smaller concessions over the alternative, which is a hell of a lot worse and just sets us up for worse still next year and down the road."
– Bob Schoonover, Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanic | | Mayor's Plan | Coalition Plan | | Hours of Work Cut | 208 initially | 59.5 (3.5/payperiod 10/25/09 - 6/19/10) | | Layoffs | 926 initially (100% paycut) | None | | ERIP Retirements | None | 2,400 | | Layoff Protection | None | Yes | | Additional Furloughs | Unlimited | None | | Overtime Pay | Little if any OT possible | OT accrued as time, at 1 1/2, up to 240 hours | | Savings Next Year | $52 Million | $267.2 Million | | Savings, 5 Years | $223.8 Million | $1.17 Billion | "No one is happy about the situation we are in, but the Coalition worked extremely hard negotiating late into the night to save jobs, salaries and city services. I am certain that this is the best that could be accomplished given the dire financial situation that the city is dealing with. This agreement saves our members, our families and the city from the utter chaos that would prevail under the Mayor's proposal."
– Verdel Flores, Librarian
Future Impact
The Coalition plan would make structural, ongoing improvement in the City budget, while the Mayor's plan will only set the stage for deeper layoffs and more furloughs in coming years.
The Coalition plan saves over $200 million more next year than the Mayor's plan.
To make up for that $200 million hole the Mayor would have to call for more than 50 furlough days or more than 2,200 layoffs next year or a combination of both.
Fact Check
When the outlines of this agreement were first approved by City Council, both the press and the Coalition made mistakes in describing the agreement. Since then, rumors, misinformation, and bad calculations have spread widely. Here are the facts: • Holidays and Holiday Pay restored: The Coalition sought and won a different way of saving the same number of hours after Coalition Bargaining Teams stressed the importance of holidays to their co-workers.
• Overtime: Under the Coalition plan, overtime will be accrued at time and a half credit, rather than paid in cash. The bank will be increased to the Federal limit of 240 hours.
• Note: Under the Coalition plan workers will still go into overtime easily, with only 3.5 work hours cut per pay period.
• Under the Mayor's plan workers will be unlikely to earn any overtime pay at all. Before hitting overtime they'll have to make up at least an extra 12 hours per payperiod--more than three days per month--due to the 26 days of furloughs in eight months.
• Boot, Uniform and Tool Allowances remain untouched: The Coalition mistakenly reported that these allowances would be deferred. They will be paid normally.
• ERIP Retirees will receive their full vacation and sick time payouts, but for tax purposes they will be broken up over two years and termed a "Severance Payment."
• Better Way Agreement: This only amends the previously ratified "Better Way for LA" Agreement, maintaining protections against layoffs and furloughs this year and next through deferring raises for two years; plus the added 1.75% cash payments on November 1, 2011 and November 1, 2012, and the extra 1.75% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) on July 1, 2013.
Other Elements of the Amended Agreement
• Effective July 1, 2011, the retirement contribution will increase by 1% for no more than fifteen years. For the duration of the current MOU it will be outweighed by the additional 1.75% cash payments and COLA. On July 1, 2011 Coalition members also receive their first deferred COLA.
• Defrayal Group: Workers hired before 1983 will contribute the same 6% toward retirement as other workers effective upon ratification, increased by 1% effective July 1, 2011, along with all other LACERS participants, when all Coalition members also receive their first deferred COLA.
• ERIP Retirees whose retirement is enhanced by age or service credits will have their retirement reduced 1% by a one-time calculation on the date of their retirement, according to this formula: [Final Compensation x Service Credit x Retirement Factor 2.16%)] x .99
• Any COLAs granted by LACERS in future years will be received in full.
• Those in ERIP Group 4 who receive only cash incentives will not see their pension reduced.
• Coalition negotiators found ways to temporarily bridge the $78 million budget gap, while impacting workers and services as little as possible:
• $24.6 million from postponing the first ERIP cash payment until next fiscal year.
• $34.0 million in accounting adjustments and delaying some payments:
• Deferring sick leave payout for those who've earned over 800 sick hours to August 2010
• Filling vacancies in proprietary departments and special funds via transfer opportunities, and contracting in services
Only $19 million of the $78 million bridge is in real cuts of 59.5 hours of work only through the end of this fiscal year--significantly less than the 208 hours cut under the Mayor's plan.
Do not fall for critics who call these items major givebacks. There are real concessions here, but by agreement they are one-time adjustments, for this fiscal year only, and the majority are only delays that will be repaid. In all, the plan costs workers much less than the alternative plan, and puts us in a significantly better position to prevent more drastic cuts next year and in the future.
The City is continuing preparations for layoffs and furloughs which will go forward if the Coalition's plan is voted down. Without Coalition members marching on City Hall, packing Council chambers, dogging the Mayor, e-mailing and phoning the Mayor, EERC and Council, this alternative to the Mayor's drastic layoffs and furloughs this year, and even worse next year, would not have been possible.
A complete ratification summary will be available next week and will be mailed to each Coalition member's home with a ratification ballot and election timeline and instructions.
Download more information at right.
The ratification summary will also be downloadable when it becomes available next week.
|
