Los Angeles: Budget crisis used to press attack against city workers

[Hannah Bell]

The Los Angeles, California city government, facing a $457 million shortfall, is demanding that its 19,000-member workforce accept further drastic cuts to pay and benefits. The cuts would be part of a proposed agreement between the city and the Los Angeles Coalition of City Unions (LACCU), which is working with Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to implement the cuts.

The agreement consists of a four percent salary cut, the permanent freezing of subsidies to retiree health care at 2011 levels, a four percent increase in employee contribution to retirement health care costs and an increase in city worker pension contributions. Annual cost of living increases for workers’ wages will also be frozen.

Villaraigosa, a former union organizer, has threatened that if the deal is not passed, he will impose more than seven weeks, or 36 working days, of unpaid furloughs, for an overall pay cut of approximately 14 percent. “I’ve had discussions with other union leaders, and I see a path to getting agreements across the board,” Villaraigosa said. “But as I said, if the bargaining units choose not to approve this, we’ll just have to move ahead with 36 days of furloughs.”

The rosy claims from city hall that savings made enacting vicious austerity against city workers will be used to fix potholes and expand library services are completely bogus. It is not a question of “if” further austerity will be required for the population of Los Angeles but “how soon.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/labd-a27.shtml