More than 55,000 union members from Los Angeles County are scheduled to attack Monday evening, but county officials said they don’t have the money to meet employee demands.
United Nations local 721 members of service employees, including public works employees, library workers and mental health professionals, are expected to find employment for 48 hours from 7pm on Monday, accusing the county of not negotiating a new labor contract fairly.
“We weren’t faced with disrespect at the negotiation table,” union leaders argued during the rally that the county’s proposal was a 0% increase in the cost of living.
Coach Katherine Berger, chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, acknowledged financial difficulties amid in inflation, but she said the county cannot afford workers to increase their livelihood costs within a massive budget hole.
In addition to the unexpected costs associated with the Eton and Palisade fire, the state had to pay $4 billion to resolve young people’s sexual abuse claims decades ago, as a result of state laws that reopened the laws limiting such claims.
“Even the unions know that $4 billion is undermining their ability to negotiate,” Berger said. “When you write a check, you need to be able to make sure you can pay cash.”
The LA County CEO repeated the message in a statement, denounced “unprecedented stress.” This includes “potentially catastrophic losses in federal funding” from the Trump administration.
“Despite the harshness of the fiscal outlook, the county has made a fair and responsible counter-proposition that the union hopes to take seriously,” the statement said.
The county CEO recently announced a budget proposal for next year. This includes a 3% reduction to some sectors and elimination of over 200 vacancies.
Strikes can affect critical services such as emergency medical care and fire service.
County library officials also said the strike would affect services and would likely force temporary closures of several library locations.
Some non-emergency county clinics will be closed during a two-day strike, some beach toilets may be closed, and there may be some delays in the services provided by medical inspectors.
For more information about closures or service delays due to strikes, please see here.
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