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Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County workers walked to their work and the picket line Tuesday amid what their union explained that they hadn’t negotiated much for the new contract.
SEIU Local 721, representing approximately 55,000 workers, began a two-day strike Monday evening when social workers, nurses, clerks and other civil servants left their jobs. The union said this was the first time in the county’s history that all members have participated in a strike.
As a result, libraries, non-emergency clinics and parks are closed. Public service counters throughout the county move more slowly. Wildfire debris clearance could be suspended.
The sea of workers in the signature Royal Purple T-shirts from the SEIU Local 721 came down to the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Union spokesman Mike Long said 14 members were arrested for refusing to break up in March after a rally, where tactics were intended to highlight the harshness of the situation.
The strike thrust was a violation of 44 labor laws allegedly committed by the county, including retaliation and contracts for jobs that should be met by union workers. Members said they were also humiliated by the salary provided by county officials.
“Does anyone remember what we tried to give us in the fall? Zero,” said Union Head’s David Greene as workers rang a purple cowbell at a downtown rally. “Do we deserve zero?”
LA County Chief Executive Fesia Davenport said county officials have “moved” Zero Raise offers in recent weeks but are cautious about what they can offer.
“We don’t want to negotiate ourselves with a structural deficit,” Davenport said in an interview Monday. “We want to keep the line.”
Otherwise, she said the county might have to cut down the road and cut out the location, similar to what Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass proposed. Last week, Bass announced a budget proposal that includes 1,650 layoffs, helping to close the deficit of around $100 million with employee-agreed pay raises in the city.
The county said it is currently offering SEIU Local 721 members a $5,000 bonus in the first year of the contract, with cost-of-living adjustments and additional bonuses.
“The county is offering what appears to be a fair three-year compensation package, given the incredible budgetary pressures we are facing,” the Davenport office said in a statement.
SEIU’s lead contract negotiator Steve Kofross said the county was waiting until the last moment to respond to the union’s first proposal for a new contract. The previous contract expired at the end of March.
“We got it to them before Christmas and they sat there for months,” Kofros told the booing crowd.
When county officials made the counter offer, he said, “They brought the Pitzens.”
The county initially said it could not afford to raise this year due to the costs of wildfires, massive sexual abuse settlements and losses in federal grants. Davenport said the union’s initial pay proposal could have cost the county billions of dollars.
Members argue that the county spent a lot of money on external contract workers rather than filling thousands of vacant seats. Many speakers at the rally pointed to union-led research last December, with the county spending billions of dollars on private companies, the equivalent of a “taxpayer-to-pribate sector pipeline.”
The county dismissed the report as a “misleading and false” negotiation tactic.
Members said reliance on contractors is particularly evident in healthcare, where vacancy is temporarily met by well-paid contract workers.
“If someone comes to your hospital for three weeks, makes four times your salary and leaves you, what do you think,” said Teresa Velasco, a member of the union executive committee who works as a community healthcare worker at Rancho Los Amigos, a county rehabilitation hospital.
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