However, with the votes counted, it seems that at least some of the city’s workers didn’t agree. The collective bargaining units for 6,300of the city’s workers rejected the deal despite threats from Mayor Villaraigosa’s office that declining the new terms would lead to increased furloughs in the coming fiscal year.
At a press conference scheduled for today at noon, we will see what the Mayor’s next move is. However, having already promised as much as seven weeks of furlough time, it likely won’t be good news for those employees not covered under a new contact.
The heads of the bargaining units have the right to ask their members for a second ballot on the issue.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Four out of 18 labor groups at Los Angeles City Hall have rejected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposal for reducing the city’s budget shortfall by scaling back the cost of the workforce, setting the stage for a possible new round of furloughs for workers in those units.
City officials said bargaining units representing more than 6,300 full-time workers — airport security officers, 911 operators, traffic officers, deputy city attorneys, clerical workers and others — voted against the agreement negotiated last month by the mayor and leaders of the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. That number represents nearly a third of the coalition’s 19,000 members.
Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti are set to hold a news conference on the topic at noon Wednesday. The mayor warned last week that any labor unit that failed to approve the deal would be hit with more than seven weeks of furloughs in the budget year that starts July 1.
Read the full article here.