Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking
Public Sector Collective Bargaining
A Case Study of “Bargaining for the Common Good”
Patrick M. Dixon, Ph.D.
July 13, 2016
Contents
Foreword ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 4
Preface: The 2013 LA County Campaign and the Origins of Bargaining for the Common Good in
Los Angeles............................................................................................................................................ 5
Forming a Coalition ............................................................................................................................. 8
The Fiscal Context: Austerity, Bargaining Constraints, and the Mayoral Election of 2013 ................ 11
Designing a Campaign Strategy...........................................................................................................13
Public Services in Los Angeles .............................................................................................................16
Collective Bargaining and Fix LA ....................................................................................................... 22
What the Campaign Won..................................................................................................................... 25
Challenges to Community Organizations ........................................................................................... 28
Challenges to Unions........................................................................................................................... 30
Conclusion: Are These Accomplishments Replicable?....................................................................... 32
Appendix...............................................................................................................................................33
Contents
2
Foreword
We are living through a momentous transition. The shape of our economy has changed dramatically in the
last half-century. In the process, the institutions that U.S. workers built in the twentieth century to win dignity,
security, living wages, and a voice on the job have been drastically weakened, leading to surging inequality and
a diminished democracy. Arguably no worker-protecting institution has suffered more than collective bargaining. It is not simply that a much smaller percentage of workers are covered by collective bargaining contracts
today than were covered at the height of unionization in the 1950s. The problem is that even where workers
continue to bargain collectively, they have seen the bargaining process devolve over time as larger economic
trends have shifted leverage away from the bargaining table. This has been true in both the private and the
public sectors.
It is increasingly clear is that if we are to
Bargaining for the Common Good seeks
rebuild prosperity and security for workers
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expand the numbers of those who are able
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to bargain collectively, we must remake the
bargaining process to account for the ways in
which our economy has changed. This is the insight that has given rise to Bargaining for the Common Good,
an initiative pioneered by public sector unions and allied community organizations in the aftermath of the
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manufactured austerity have weakened public institutions, undermining both public services and the workers
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a broad number of actors beyond union members themselves and addressing issues such as the role predatory
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spread among public sector unions and community organizing networks, stimulating new thinking about the
collective bargaining process among private sector unions as well.
As part of its mission to study and develop new ideas that address the problems of working people, Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, which was founded in 2009, has
been tracking Bargaining for the Common Good experiments from the beginning. In 2014 the Kalmanovitz
Initiative hosted a conference that brought together more than one hundred people from seven states who
have been involved with this movement, including many of those who shaped the Fix LA Coalition. In this
report we review what activists were able to accomplish in Los Angeles and assess the potential for the Bargaining for the Common Good model beyond LA. We commend this report to you in the hope that it will
further discussion and thinking about how we can build a more sustainable, prosperous, and democratic economy in the century ahead.
Joseph A. McCartin
Professor of History and Executive Director
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
3
Executive Summary
Between 2008 and 2014 the City of Los Angeles, like most large municipalities in the United States, embarked
upon a series of deep and sustained budgetary cuts, greatly affecting the quality of frontline public services.
Through incentivized early retirements and attrition the City’s workforce was reduced by close to 5,000, placing
an unmanageable workload upon many of those that remained. As an alternative to investing in and training
new full-time staff, the slack created was increasingly carried by private contractors and part-time workers withRXWEHQHÀWV
In 2014 the Fix LA Coalition was formed in response to the severe dereliction of public services and urban
communities. This new alignment included labor unions, most notably SEIU Local 721 and AFSCME Council
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bargaining negotiation with the Coalition of L.A. City Unions as its focal point, the Fix LA Coalition advanced
a series of non-mandated demands that went beyond the interests of union members and represented a
“Common Good” agenda.
This agenda included the restoration of jobs and public services and a focus on hiring and training personnel
from local communities. Coalition members also called upon the City to develop new and equitable strategies
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streets). Unlike previous rounds of negotiation with the City, the Fix LA Coalition brought community leaders
to City Hall to provide testimony to the importance of public services and public sector employment in the
neighborhoods they represented.
After over a year of collaborative campaigning on both highly localized as well as citywide issues the Coalition
of L.A. City Unions was able to achieve a collective bargaining agreement that went far beyond the dismal
expectations that had beset many at the start of the campaign. They were able to rebut the nearly forty concessions that management had proposed at the start of bargaining, secure a commitment to the restoration
of 5,000 full-time public sectors jobs with an emphasis on the local hiring of persons who typically face the
greatest obstacles to securing employment, and the establishment of a Mayoral Commission on Revenue
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Although local political dynamics shaped this campaign, the circumstances surrounding the Fix LA Campaign
were far from unique. Since 2008 cutbacks to City budgets have been under ever-increasing pressure across
the United States. The situation in LA was not just the result of a hostile political environment in which public
HPSOR\HHVZHUHSLWWHGDJDLQVWWD[SD\HUV7KH&LW\·VUHYHQXHVWUHDPZDVEHLQJJUHDWO\GHSOHWHGE\ÀQDQFLDOVHUvice fees and rampant tax avoidance on the part of commercial property owners. These problems are currently
besetting cities across the country.
Nor was the success of Fix LA made possible by anything unique to Los Angeles. It was the product of effective planning, a clearly agreed upon set of objectives that served the interests of all parties involved, and open
and candid lines of communication. Public sector unions are not in a position of great strength in the America
of 2016; their standing and legitimacy are constantly being called into question. At the same time the working-class urban communities that for decades have provided the backbone of the public sector are adversely
affected by the same uncertainty, offered jobs that demand more and pay less, and pushed from one neighborhood to the next by gentrifying property developers and young upwardly-mobile college graduates. For these
reasons Fix LA is an important project that can provide a model for similar actions on a large or small scale
in cities across the United States. This model has the potential to transform collective bargaining within the
public sector – and perhaps beyond.
Executive Summary
4
Preface: The 2013 LA County Campaign and the Origins
of Bargaining for the Common Good in Los Angeles
“Los Angeles County social workers took to the picket lines on Thursday,” read the Los Angeles Times on DeFHPEHU´WKHÀUVWFRXQW\VWULNHLQPRUHWKDQDGHFDGHDQGDVKDUSHVFDODWLRQRI DODERUGLVSXWHEHtween the county and its biggest employee union.”1 SEIU Local 721’s LA County contract campaign had comPHQFHGLQDYHU\FRQYHQWLRQDOIDVKLRQ$WWKHRSHQLQJSUHVVFRQIHUHQFHPDUNLQJWKHVWDUWRI WKHFDPSDLJQWKH
ORFDOKDGDVVHUWHGWKDWWKHLUPHPEHUVKDGPDGHFRQVLGHUDEOHVDFULÀFHVGXULQJWKHFRXUVHRI WKH5HFHVVLRQDQG
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“a tired and familiar narrative
had taken hold in which the
county’s 55,000 public sector
workers were depicted as a
privileged and protected class
that was living at the expense
of private sector taxpayers”
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taken hold in which the county’s 55,000 public sector workers were depicted as a privileged and protected class that was
OLYLQJDWWKHH[SHQVHRI SULYDWHVHFWRUWD[SD\HUV,QOLJKWRI WKHSHUVLVWHQFHRI WKLVIDPLOLDUQDUUDWLYHDQGWKHFRXQW\QHJRWLDWRUV·LQWUDQVLJHQFHSURSRQHQWVRI DFKDQJHWRWKHEDUgaining strategy were able to overcome internal opposition.
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entire bargaining unit out on strike, only social workers numbering around 3,600 were called upon to withhold
WKHLUVHUYLFHV,QDEULHI SHULRGRI WLPHWKHFDPSDLJQKDGEHHQUHIRFXVHGIURPRQHGLUHFWHGWRZDUGVWKHQHHGV
RI SXEOLFHPSOR\HHVWRDEURDGHUFRQYHUVDWLRQRYHUFKLOGVDIHW\DQGWKHUHVSRQVLELOLWLHVRI WKH/$&RXQW\
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the expiring contract the county was permitted to assign up to 38 separate cases, but some social workers were
UHVSRQVLEOHIRUDVPDQ\DV([FHVVLYHFDVHORDGVKDGFRQWLQXHGWRWDNHSODFHHYHQDIWHUDQDUELWUDWRUKDGRUGHUHGWKHFRXQW\WRREH\WKHUDWLRVRXWOLQHGLQWKHFRQWUDFW7KH'&)6KDGKLUHGQHZVRFLDOZRUNHUV
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+DOORI $GPLQLVWUDWLRQGXULQJD%RDUGRI 6XSHUYLVRUVPHHWLQJ6RPHFOHULFDOZRUNHUVIURPWKH'&)6
DQGIURPWKH'HSDUWPHQWRI 3XEOLF6RFLDO6HUYLFHVMRLQHGWKHVRFLDOZRUNHUVDQGVXSHUYLVRUVRQ
VWULNH7KHLQFUHDVHGPHGLDDWWHQWLRQWKDWVSDQQHGIURPWKHLA Times and NBC Los Angeles to The Guardian
and online publications like SocialWorkHelper.com and the +XIÀQJWRQ3RVWSDLGFORVHDWWHQWLRQWRWKHWHUPVRI 1. Seema Mehta and Abby Sewell, “County social workers strike over pay, high caseloads,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 3, 2013,. Online.
´6WULNH9RWH$XWKRUL]DWLRQ5HVXOWVµ1RYOnline.
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Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
5
employment being highlighted by the union.
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Times dating back to 2009.52QHVXSSRUWHURI WKHVWULNHDVVHUWHGWKDWWKLVZULWLQJE\WKHTimes “really helped to
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WKHPRVWGLUHFWUHPHG\WRZDUGVUHVROYLQJSUREOHPVDWWKH'&)6$IWHUVL[GD\VRI WKHVWULNHFRXQW\QHJRWLDWRUVUHWXUQHGWRWKHWDEOH7KH\
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“We rolled the dice
and gambled and we
won the whole thing”
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WKDWSLWWHGZRUNHUVDJDLQVWWD[SD\HUV,QVWHDGWKHXQLRQHPEUDFHGDQDSSURDFKWKDWHPSKDVL]HGWKHQHHGWR
improve services in the community’s interests. “We rolled the dice and gambled and we won the whole thing,”
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The victory in the 2013 campaign strengthened resolve within Local 721 to approach its upcoming contract
QHJRWLDWLRQVZLWKWKH&LW\RI /RV$QJHOHVLQDQHZZD\$OVRFRQWULEXWLQJWRWKHLPSHWXVIRUDFKDQJHLQ
VWUDWHJ\ZHUHUHSRUWVRI VXFFHVVIXOHIIRUWVE\XQLRQVLQRWKHUSDUWVRI WKHFRXQWU\WKDWHPSOR\HGD´FRPmon good” approach in their collective bargaining campaigns, including Chicago teachers led by the Chicago
7HDFKHUV8QLRQ6W3DXO0LQQHVRWDWHDFKHUVOHGE\WKH6W3DXO7HDFKHUV)HGHUDWLRQDQGSXEOLFHPSOR\HHVLQ
Oregon, represented by SEIU Local 503.8
$VLWEHJDQWRHPHUJHLQVHWWLQJVOLNH&KLFDJR6W3DXODQG2UHJRQWKH%DUJDLQLQJIRUWKH&RPPRQ*RRG
VWUDWHJ\UHSUHVHQWHGDQHIIRUWE\SXEOLFVHFWRUXQLRQVDQGWKHLUPHPEHUVWRJRRQWKHRIIHQVLYHLQDQHQYLURQPHQWZKHUHSRVW*UHDW5HFHVVLRQDXVWHULW\ZDVXQGHUPLQLQJSXEOLFZRUNHUVDQGSXEOLFVHUYLFHVDQGDWWDFNV
RQSXEOLFVHFWRUXQLRQVZHUHVSUHDGLQJHYHQWRRQFHXQLRQIULHQGO\VWDWHVVXFKDV:LVFRQVLQZKHUH*RYHUQRU
$QGUHZ/RSH]DQG-RKQ&DGL].OHPDFN´/$&RXQW\6RFLDO:RUNHUV6WULNH2YHU&DVHORDGVµNBC Los Angeles, Dec. 5, 2013.
Online5RU\&DUUROO´6WULNLQJ/RV$QJHOHVVRFLDOZRUNHUV¶VRFLDOZRUNHUWRFKLOGUDWLRV·XQVDIHµThe Guardian, Dec. 6, 2013, Online;
'HRQD+RRSHU´6RFLDO:RUNHUV5HVSRQGWRWKH/$&RXQW\6RFLDO:RUNHUV6WULNHµSocialWorkHelper, Dec. 7, 2013.Online; Christina
9LOODFRUWH´/$6RFLDO:RUNHUV6WULNH)RU7KH)LUVW7LPH,Q2YHU$'HFDGHµ+XIÀQJWRQ3RVW, Dec. 6, 2013. Online.
*DUUHWW7KHUROI´/$&RXQW\GLWKHUHGFKLOGUHQGLHGµLos Angeles Times-XQHOnline+HFWRU%HFHUUDDQG*DUUHWW
7KHUROI´6RXWK/$ER\GLHGDIWHUSUHYLRXVUHSRUWVRI DEXVHµLos Angeles Times-XO\Online+HFWRU%HFHUUD´/RV$QJHOHVER\·VEHDWLQJGHDWKFDPHDIWHUWZRH[DPVUHFRUGVVKRZµLos Angeles Times-XO\Online+HFWRU%HFHUUD´%R\·VEHDWLQJ
GHDWKSURPSWV/$&RXQW\DJHQF\WRLQFUHDVHRYHUVLJKWRI FKLOGDEXVHFDVHVµLos Angeles Times-XO\Online+HFWRU%HFerra, “Clinic says it warned L.A. County that boy might be an abuse victim,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 1, 2009, Online+HFWRU%HFHUUD
´$EXVHEHJHWVDEXVHLQIDPLO\·VEUXWDOOHJDF\µLos Angeles Times1RYOnline.
6. Don Lash, “Social workers win a victory,” 6RFLDOLVW:RUNHU0DUFKOnline.
´6RFLDO:RUNHUV:LQIRU&KLOGUHQµ'HFOnline.
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6SULQJOnline0DU\&DWKHULQH5LFNHU´7HDFKHU&RPPXQLW\8QLRQLVP$/HVVRQIURP6W3DXOµ'LVVHQW, Summer,
2015, Online.
Preface:The2013LACountyCampaignandtheOriginsof BargainingfortheCommonGoodinLosAngeles
6
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Act 10.
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IRUJRYHUQPHQWDFWLYLW\6HFRQGLWVSURSRQHQWVDGYRFDWHGFUHDWLQJHQGXULQJDOLJQPHQWV among labor and comPXQLW\RUJDQL]DWLRQVUDWKHUWKDQWUDQVLWRU\DOOLDQFHV²HQGXULQJDOLJQPHQWVWKDWMRLQWO\FUDIWHGDQGDGYDQFHG
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Common Good proponents advocated moving beyond traditional transactional politics, employing direction
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IXUWKHUDQFHRI QDUURZXQLRQGHPDQGV
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KDSSHQHGPDQ\RWKHUVDPRQJ/$·VSXEOLFVHFWRUXQLRQVDQGFRPPXQLW\RUJDQL]DWLRQVZHUHFRPLQJWRWKH
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departure.
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
7
Forming a Coalition
When Peter Kuhns from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and leaders of
SEIU Local 721 started pitching the idea of a community-labor alliance in 2014, they were sowing seeds upon
fertile ground. In the wake of the Financial Crisis of 2008 and the Recession of 2007 to 2009, cuts to the public sector workforce and the associated services they provided had diminished the number of union employees
and left neighborhoods in Los Angeles in an increasing state of disrepair. Fix LA spoke to a broad need for an
alliance that could reverse the narrative of taxpayers versus public employees and demand the City to provide
essential services to all communities.
Since 2008 cuts to basic public services had acutely affected the 10,000 members of ACCE, formerly the
California branch of ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). This is one
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GRHVQ·WH[LVWDQ\PRUHµ7KH&LW\KDGDOVREHHQUHOD[HGLQDFWLQJWRVWRSWKHVSUHDGRI XUEDQEOLJKWLQWKHIRUP
of abandoned residencies. “Banks own a lot of foreclosed properties and the City has laws on the books that
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Kuhns says.
Six years removed from 2008 and the prevailing dynamic within Los Angeles politics remained centered upon
budgetary constraints and limiting the City’s payroll, even while other cities had returned to closer to normal
operations. This brought Local 721 and ACCE together. Like many public sector unions Local 721 had been
placed in an increasingly tenuous position in the same period, creating a need for new strategic approaches.
This took place against a national backdrop of defeat and retreat for public sector unions, with emboldened
anti-union politicians advancing an agenda injurious to labor from East to West.
“We came together at a time when cuts had made it so bad, that there was a major crisis, (particularly) on the
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Kuhns said. ACCE had come into contact with many of the organizations that would form Fix LA in the
past, but many of these alliances had been temporary and focused upon discreet issues. Kuhns felt that rather
than forming alliances on an issue-by-issue basis to address one particular item, it was necessary to establish a
broader project that targeted the underlying trends towards defunding and privatization that exist not only in
Los Angeles but also in cities across the United States.
ACCE was not the only organization of a mind to create new alliances. Bill Pryzlucki from POWER LA had
been considering the potential for a community-labor agenda in Southern California for several years. POWER (People Organized for Westside Renewal) is based in Santa Monica and trains local leaders to organize and
advocate on behalf of their communities on a range of issues including affordable housing, transportation,
LPPLJUDWLRQFLYLFHQJDJHPHQWDQGWKHHIIHFWVRI JHQWULÀFDWLRQ$IÀOLDWHVRI 1DWLRQDO3HRSOH·V$FWLRQ32:ER is made up of around three hundred members in working class communities of color. Pryzlucki contends
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be interested in striking an alliance with POWER in defense of the public services upon which his members
relied. A year later, the pieces for such an alliance began to fall into place.
The 2013 LA County campaign had convinced Gilda Valdez and SEIU Deputy Director Jono Shaffer of the
need for a new approach in which contract campaigns were centered upon more than just the traditional needs
Forming a Coalition
8
of union members. “There is a narrative that has existed in this country in an increasing way, that has pitted
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of workers versus taxpayers, workers will always lose, and so not only is it a bad narrative for us but its also
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Valdez was clear that if they were to enter into a broader commu- ´$VORQJDVLW·VDÀJKWRI nity-labor coalition then it had to be a serious long-term commitworkers versus taxpayers,
ment between the union and its community allies. “It can’t just be
about a contract campaign because if that’s what we do, sooner or workers will always lose”
ODWHUWKH\·OOFDOOXVRXWµVKHVD\V´3HRSOHDVNXVWKLVDUH\RXMXVW
doing this because it’s a contract campaign? I said that it has to
be something much bigger than that, because it’s not just about a union contract, it’s about helping us change
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concluded, was a long-term alignment between public sector unions and the organizations that represented the
communities their members served. Valdez was not alone among LA union leaders in reaching this conclusion.
AFSCME Council 36 includes forty-nine locals and had a long record of working with the SEIU in Los Angeles in contract campaigns with both City and the county governments. Executive Director Cheryl Parisi was
due to lead negotiations for the Coalition of L.A. City Unions in their 2015 negotiations with the City of Los
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with the Coalition, had accepted drastic cutbacks to their compensatory structure and even family medical
plans. Parisi was concerned that the EAA’s agreement would set the tone for Coalition negotiations. “Quite
honestly the writing was on the wall…unless we started to do something in a very different way we were going
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chair of the board of directors of the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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enter into a broader community-labor coalition.
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wall…unless we started
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The growing coalition reached out to a range of community
groups. Among them was the Los Angeles division of Food and
Water Watch (FWW), given that cutbacks at the Bureau of Sanitation adversely affected the local environment. Walker Foley, an orJDQL]HUIRU)::UHFDOOVWKDWZKHQWKHFRDOLWLRQÀUVWDSSURDFKHG
“they just thought, ‘oh, we need an environmentalist because he
can talk about the ocean, because we’re talking about waste waWHUÁRZLQJRXWLQWRWKH%D\·DQGWKH\GLGQ·WUHDOL]HWKDWZKHQWKH\KDGDVNHGPHWRGRWKDWRXUZKROH02
LVDJDLQVWFRUSRUDWL]DWLRQDJDLQVWSULYDWL]DWLRQµKHVD\V´:HDFWXDOO\KDYHDSUHWW\GHHSSROLWLFDODQDO\VLVRI how trade agreements like NAFTA or upcoming ones like the TPP are destroying working families in America
DQGVRZHIRXQGFRPPRQJURXQGXQLQWHQWLRQDOO\µ
Foley had been considering ways in which FWW could work in conjunction with the labor movement for
some time. “In order to do this kind of work in LA I needed to have a better and more strategic understanding
RI WKHODERUPRYHPHQWWKHLUYDOXHVDQGZKDWHYHU\RQHLVÀJKWLQJIRUDQGLGHDOO\,EHOLHYHLQMXVWDERXWDOORI LWµKHH[SODLQV)ROH\FRQFOXGHGWKDWOLYLQJZDJHVWUXJJOHVZHUHLQWHJUDOO\FRQQHFWHGWRHQYLURQPHQWDOMXVWLFH
Lending FWW’s support to Raise LA, a campaign focused on hotel workers, it was evident that those emSOR\HGLQWKHKRVSLWDOLW\LQGXVWU\OLYHGPLOHVDZD\IURPMREFHQWHUVOLNH+ROO\ZRRG&HQWXU\&LW\DQG%XUEDQN
,QWKHDEVHQFHRI DZHOOFRQQHFWHGUDSLGWUDQVLWV\VWHP´WKH\KDYHWRFRPPXWHDQGWKH\VLWRQIUHHZD\Vµ
Foley says, “and they’re in climate impacted communities and because of their income status they’re unfairly
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
9
FRQWULEXWLQJPRUHWRFDUERQSROOXWLRQLQWKH/$DUHDEHFDXVHRI WKHGLVWDQFHWKDWWKH\KDYHWRWUDYHUVHµ8Qderstood in these terms, it followed that FWW should enter the Fix LA Coalition, not merely as a commentaWRURQVWRUPGUDLQVEXWDVIXOO\ÁHGJHGSDUWQHUV
The Reverend K.W. Tulloss, the Senior Pastor at the Weller Street
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Missionary Baptist Church and the Western Regional Director for the UHDFKHGRXWWRDUDQJH
National Action Network, was one of several leaders from the faith
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community to lend their support to the Fix LA campaign. “I will testify that growing up in South LA many of those that were around me
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a union tradition, as a Civil Rights leader he had listened to the stories of many workers and had built new
relationships through his prior involvement in the Fight for 15. When Fix LA was formed, Rev. Tulloss was
already familiar with many of the issues raised. “There were neighborhoods in our communities that had been
literally abandoned where you had three or four foreclosed homes on the block and they were being squatted
LQE\UDQGRZQSHRSOHµKHVD\V´)RUWKLVWREHOHIWDORQHZDVDWUDJHG\µ
An unsolicited and unexpected signatory to the campaign was Brent Tercero, Regional Director for Leadership
for Educational Equity (LEE) in the Los Angeles region and a city councilmember in Pico Rivera. LEE was
founded in 2007 as a spin-off of Teach for America (TFA), “to provide resources, training, and networking
IRUDOXPQLZKRDUHLQWHUHVWHGLQHOHFWHGRIÀFHRURWKHUH[WUDFXUULFXODUOHDGHUVKLSSRVLWLRQVµZULWHV-DPHV
Ceronsky in The American Prospect. While LEE has often been opposed to many of the priorities advanced by
teachers’ unions, Tercero was willing to spearhead Fix LA’s efforts on behalf of Teamsters-represented school
crossing guards. Writing to Mayor Garcetti on behalf of the coalition, LEE protested the drop in guards to
a ten-year low, leaving one-third of dangerous intersections outside of elementary schools unassisted. “This
issue doesn’t just threaten children’s safety, but also the economic vitality of Los Angeles’ underserved commuQLWLHVµ7HUFHURZURWH´:HNQRZWKHGHFOLQHLQFURVVLQJJXDUGVHUYLFHVZDVGULYHQE\WKHJUHDWUHFHVVLRQEXW
/RV$QJHOHVIDPLOLHVFRQWLQXHWREHDUWKHEUXQWRI WKHIDOORXWDPLGWKHVXUSOXVµ9
A broad coalition was in place made up of organizations whose members had been most acutely affected by
cutbacks on City services. While their analyses of the symptoms overlapped in many areas, there were also
differing diagnoses of the underlying causes as well as the best way to address them. The Coalition of L.A.
City Unions, made up of Local 721, District Council 36, Laborers’ Local 777, Operating Engineers Local 501,
Teamsters Local 911 and the LA and Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council was signed
on as a central member of the Fix LA campaign. Yet even within the labor coalition there existed a breadth
of organizational backgrounds and philosophies and some deep skepticism about the value of common good
bargaining proposals, all the while representing an extremely diverse range of occupations spanning race, class,
and professional expectations. Cohesion on the part of the City government could be expected; within the Fix
LA coalition a lot less was guaranteed.
-DPHV&HURQVN\´7HDFKIRU$PHULFD·V'HHS%HQFKµThe American Prospect2FW´&URVVLQJ*XDUG/HWWHUµ)HE
Online.
Forming a Coalition
10
The Fiscal Context: Austerity, Bargaining Constraints,
and the Mayoral Election of 2013
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“the onset of the Great
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restraint to the forefront
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Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
11
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´¶%DFNWR%DVLFV·3ULRULW\2XWFRPHVµGarcetti for Mayor
The Fiscal Context: Austerity, Bargaining Constraints, and the Mayoral Election of 2013
12
Designing a Campaign Strategy
The diverse nature of the Fix LA Coalition, containing participants from a wide and diverse variety of organizing and protest traditions, meant that media relations were not conducted through a command center as is
RIWHQWKHFDVHLQDWUDGLWLRQDOXQLRQFDPSDLJQ:KLOHRIÀFLDOSUHVVUHOHDVHVZHUHSODQQHGDQGFRRUGLQDWHGWKH
Coalition included multiple independent actors, most of whom had their own communications directors, but
who were not subject to central oversight before communicating to the media or the public at large.
In spite of the lack of convention in the campaign’s communications strategy, and the potential for union and
community leaders to issue discordant messages, key participants agreed to a core narrative which held Wall
6WUHHWUHVSRQVLEOHIRUWKHÀQDQFLDOFULVLVFRQWHQGLQJWKDWUHVLGHQWVRI /RV$QJHOHVVKRXOGQRWWKDWEHPDGHWR
suffer the consequences. A consensus around this central precept led to a cohesive and focused message that
endured during the totality of the campaign. Once the goals of Fix LA had been agreed upon – job restoration, investment to repair the physical infrastructure of the City, and a renewed focus upon public sector
employment as a pathway to advancement for local residents – no organization that was a part of the campaign was bought off or persuaded to break away, in spite of attempts on the part of City management to split
the coalition.
At the start of the campaign the Fix LA Coalition prepared a report, which was made public in March 2014
entitled No Small Fees: LA Spends More on Wall Street than Our Streets. This report provided both an evidentiary
basis and a framework through which the campaign could level its critique of existing circumstances and advance its demands in collective bargaining.
No Small FeesDGYDQFHGWKUHHPDLQFRQWHQWLRQV7KHÀUVWZDVWKDWWKH&LW\ZDVSD\LQJDQH[RUELWDQWDQQXDO
VXPLQWKHIRUPRI IHHVWRÀQDQFLDOLQVWLWXWLRQVPRUHWKDQPLOOLRQLQWKHÀQDQFLDO\HDU0RVW
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FRPSDULVRQWKH&LW\ZDVVSHQGLQJRQO\PLOOLRQWRPDLQWDLQLWVVWUHHWV7KHUHSRUWUHFRPPHQGHGWKDWWKH
&LW\FRQVROLGDWHÀQDQFLDOGHDOLQJVWKDWZHUHFDUULHGRXWLQGHSHQGHQWO\DFURVVHOHYHQGHSDUWPHQWVDQGWKDWLW
seek to renegotiate the terms of toxic interest rate swap deals it entered into prior to the Recession.
The report’s second contention was that City spending had fallen 19 percent in the wake of the 2008 Crash,
and that this had considerably impacted a great range of frontline services including the removal of abandoned vehicles, the repair of street signs, and the trimming of trees.
Finally, No Small Fees argued that loopholes within the California tax code had allowed commercial property
owners to consistently avoid contributing a proportionate share to the City’s revenue. Over the previous four
GHFDGHVWKHWD[EXUGHQKDGVLJQLÀFDQWO\VKLIWHGDZD\IURPEXVLQHVVHVDQGEHHQPDGHXSIRULQPRUHUHJUHVsive forms of taxation, most notably sales taxes.17
:KLOHIRUPLQJDQHVVHQWLDOSDUWRI WKHFRUHRI WKHFDPSDLJQ·VPHVVDJHWKHUHSRUWDOVRIXOÀOOHGDVWUDWHJLFSXUpose: pre-emptively refuting possible claims on the part of the City that Fix LA’s demands for job and service
restoration were unaffordable. No Small Fees demonstrated that rather than seeking to renegotiate and reduce
ÀQDQFLDOVHUYLFHIHHVDQGUHFRXSUHYHQXHVORVWWRWD[DYRLGDQFHWKH&LW\ZDVWDNLQJWKHVHHPLQJO\HDVLHUURXWH
of cutting back on public services.
15. Fix LA Coalition, No Small Fees: LA Spends More on Wall Street than Our Streets, March 2014, p. 4, Online.
,ELGS
17. Ibid., pp. 10-12.
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
13
,QWKHSURFHVVRI KLJKOLJKWLQJWKHVHLVVXHV)L[/$VRXJKWWRIUDPHLWVJRDOVDVWKHQDWXUDOIXOÀOOPHQWRI 0D\RU
Garcetti’s campaign commitment to a “Back to Basics” approach to governing. Though Garcetti had consisWHQWO\FLWHGWKHVHWKHPHVLQWKHFDPSDLJQWKH\UHPDLQHGUDWKHUDEVWUDFWREMHFWLYHVDQGKHKDGQRWSURvided details as to how he wished to achieve them. This presented a clear opportunity. “Our whole frame was
‘Back to Basics is putting people back to work,’” says Jono Shaffer from SEIU, “because he hadn’t spelled any
of that out, it was mainly just rhetoric so I think that we forced his hand with the framing that we articulated
in that area.”
As described below in Section 5, Fix LA selected and “the level of collaboration and
repeatedly highlighted a set of discreet issues relatpartnerships with the community
ing to public service provision and managed to tie
organizations was way different
them together as part of a broader depiction of the
from any other stuff I’ve seen”
consequences of the City’s cutbacks since 2008. The
organizing of union members and community groups
around these themes drove the larger narrative of the
campaign. “I’ve seen unions, and SEIU in particular, where organizing isn’t going well in different campaigns
and that’s when you try to sub in communications to give the patina of organizing,” says T.J. Michels, who
served as Fix LA’s campaign director. “With the backing of 721’s leadership I think organizing is what really
helped us to have such a tight message and I think that ultimately helped us to send a message to the mayor’s
RIÀFHWKDWZHFRXOGQ·WEHSLFNHGRII DQGWKLVZDVUHDOµVKHDGGV
As the largest union in North America with nearly two million members some might say that the SEIU has a
tried and tested formula that it applies to its campaigns. When operating at such a large scale this often makes a
lot of sense: an organization needs to avoid re-inventing the wheel over and over again. But was Fix LA simply
another SEIU campaign, just on a larger scale?
Jono Shaffer has worked for the SEIU for thirty years and been involved in some of the union’s most noteworthy campaigns and is well positioned to offer perspective on this. “What’s fundamentally different in this
from what’s been happening in the past is that the level of collaboration and partnerships with the community
organizations was way different (from) any other stuff I’ve seen, particularly in the public sector,” he says. It
was, “by far the most collaborative and real partnership work with the community, more than anything I’ve
seen,” he continues. This differs from “talking about community issues but really running a worker-based campaign with some community faces sprinkled in. In fact, a lot of the actions that we did were mostly community
members participating: we had a harder time getting the unions to put their members in motion on some of
this stuff.”
In union-driven campaigns “there is a tremendous amount of fear of risk, fear of offending, fear of pushing
people away which comes from a position of powerlessness and being beaten down,” Shaffer explains. Many
tend to say “we don’t want to do that because that’ll offend the mayor,” or “we don’t want to do that because
that will offend so and so or put people the wrong way and they’ll just dig in on us,” he says. “The community
folks frankly had none of that because they were getting nothing from the City so they had nothing to lose
and so because of that there wasn’t control. It wasn’t that the unions could tell the community groups not to
do something or insist that they do it a certain way,” he concludes. “There were several things that happened
during the campaign where community folks said ‘well we’re going to do it, we’d love you to participate, but if
you choose not to that’s okay but we’re going to do it.’”
There was no clearer example of community groups taking the lead than when the Coalition decided to bring
supporters to meetings of the City’s Executive Employee Relations Committee (EERC). The EERC is made
up of the mayor, the president of the Council, the Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, and the Chair
Designing a Campaign Strategy
14
of the Employee Relations Committee. The committee’s meetings were typically low-key affairs and union
leaders were invited to give presentations on their contract from time-to-time. Some on the union side were
thus uneasy at the prospect of large numbers attending and potentially disrupting what was traditionally a
conference of political insiders.
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attended an EERC meeting,
which was technically a public event, they were initially
informed that they would be
unable to enter because the
room only carried a capacity
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was full with so many people
that many were left with no
choice but to stand. Speakers
from the labor and community Figure 1 @ericgarcetti Instagram, Feb. 2015
sides were allowed to give brief
presentations to the committee members on the goals of the campaign.
The next time the Coalition brought delegates to an EERC meeting in February 2015, however, they were
told they would be unable to attend and requested to leave. It was at this point that Rev. K.W. Tulloss from the
National Action Network and Ana Garcia from the Central American Resource Center decided to leave messages to the mayor on his popular and carefully used Instagram account. Garcetti has around 80,000 followers
and generally uses the account to promote Los Angeles and give a ‘heads up’ to various groups, projects, and
events.
Just as the Coalition members were being expelled from the EERC meeting, Garcetti was posting a black and
grey picture of sea lions. Coalition members immediately chimed in in the comments section of Garcetti’s
post, exposing what was happening at the EERC. They got an immediate response. A quick reversal in policies
took place and they were told they could return to the EERC meeting and were welcome to attend. As the
image above (Figure 1) indicates, they subsequently showed due recognition to the mayor for his intervention.
This example highlights the way in which coalition campaigning, while potentially uncomfortable for some,
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not exist in a traditional union campaign. At the EERC community leaders unencumbered by organizational
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not having communications resources you can get outside of the command and control with which tightly
wound communications shops and unions are run,” says T.J. Michels. “Had you had a communications shop
they would have had to have approval but we had this sort of alignment that was community driven and so it
just worked expertly.”
There are good reasons for why many organizations employ communications professionals: a poorly constructed point, a meme that was intended to be comical, or an off-the-cuff remark can have the opposite of
the intended effect. Nevertheless in the Fix LA Coalition different actors who had agreed upon common goals
enjoyed the freedom to operate with a measure of independence that allowed them to create important moments and solutions that advanced the campaign.
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
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Collective Bargaining and Fix LA
24
What the Campaign Won
Many of the problems precipitated by nearly a decade of budgetary cuts in the City of Los Angeles cannot be
resolved in the short term. While a cluttered alley can be cleared in a matter of hours it can return to its prior
state just as quickly in the absence of a sustained commitment to an adequately funded and well-organized
workforce. Maintaining trees or highways similarly require long-term investments in skilled and specialized
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working-class communities that bear the brunt of their errors and miscalculations presents an ongoing challenge.
1RQHWKHOHVVWKH)L[/$&RDOLWLRQZDVDEOHWRUHDFKDQDJUHHPHQWZLWKWKH&LW\WKDWSURPLVHVWRIXOÀOONH\
objectives of unions and community organizations, a result wholly uncharacteristic of the post-Recession
landscape of public sector collective bargaining. Broadly speaking the Coalition’s achievements fall into three
categories: the elimination of concessions that were originally proposed by the City at the onset of bargaining
negotiations; a commitment on the part of the City to hire 5,000 new public sector workers from within the
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Resisting Concessions
“to get wage increases and…jobs is way beyond
what we would have ever expected”
As mentioned above, the City approached negotiations in 2015 with proposals for nearly forty concessions on the part of workers. The most
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percent towards the cost of family plans. The coalition estimated this would initially cost working families an
additional $148 per month, but be subject to annual increases over time as insurance rates increased.
Management additionally proposed reductions to workers’ comp, a range of specialized rates of pay, adjustPHQWVWRUXOHVUHJDUGLQJRYHUWLPHDQGWKHHOLPLQDWLRQRI XQLRQVSRQVRUHGH[WUDEHQHÀWVDQGWUDLQLQJ)LQDOly, management offered nothing in the way of cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) for the duration of the
four-year agreement, meaning an effective reduction in the real value of public employees’ earnings, as well as
proposing a series of alterations to salary structures which the Coalition estimated would reduce career earnings by an average of 30%.
“We thought if we could stop the healthcare takeaway and get wage freezes we would take it and run,” some
members of Local 721 related to Jono Shaffer. “But to get wage increases and the healthcare takeaway and to
get jobs is way beyond what we would have ever expected,” they added. Confounding expectations, the Coalition were able to eliminate all of City management’s proposed takeaways, including the out-of-pocket contribuWLRQWRZDUGVKHDOWKFDUHSUHPLXPV7KH\ZRQSHUFHQWLQ&2/$VZKLOHSURWHFWLQJH[WUDEHQHÀWVWUDLQLQJ
salary structures and career earnings.42
In addition, Garcetti signed into law an increase in the City’s minimum wage from $9 per hour to $15 in June
2015 following a 14-1 vote in favor of the increase by the City Council in May. According to 2014 data more
than 3,000 City workers should be affected by this raise and transferals from part-time to full-time work.43
42. Coalition of L.A. City Unions, “Summary of Settlement + Letters of Agreement: The City of Los Angeles & The Coalition of
LA City Unions, 2015-2018 Memoranda of Understanding,” 2015. For more information on the agreement see appendix.
43. Katherine Davis-Young, “Los Angeles mayor signs $15/hour minimum wage hike into law,” Reuters, June 13, 2015, Online; SEIU
Local 721, “3,205 City of LA Employees earned less than $15 an hour in 2014,” January 2015.
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
25
“It wasn’t that it was easy to persuade our own members on the Common Good,” said Josie Mooney. “We
got a lot of initial pushback from members who said this is about us, this isn’t about people who aren’t union
members making $15 an hour,” she adds. Ultimately, however, many understood that without Common Good
bargaining objectives the community organizations that were providing the unions with greatly increased leverage would not be onboard with Fix LA. In March, 2016 Governor Jerry Brown agreed to a statewide increase
in the minimum wage to $15, a decision described in Forbes as “painful,” though as things stand the full rate will
not come into effect until 2022.44
Job Restoration
A major aspect of the collective bargaining agreement was a commitment on the part of the City to hire 5,000
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replace the senior staff of the present day, 46 percent of whom will be eligible to retire by 2018, is envisioned
as the primary vehicle through which to restore services and alleviate the creeping state of disrepair that afÁLFWVPDQ\/$QHLJKERUKRRGV45
The City’s program for job restoration is designed to emphasize the provision of front line public services
through a number of different departments including Recreation and Parks, Public Works, and General Services. New positions will be created and provided for in a diversity of different occupations ranging from Clerical Typists, Administrative Clerks, Tree Surgeons, Gardener Caretakers and Street Service Workers to Garage
Operators, Animal Care Technicians and Water Utility Workers.46
In order to develop a series of hiring recommendations for the Mayor and the Council, the City will create a
Strategic Workforce Development Task Force to be made up of representatives of labor and management.
This Task Force should ensure that the 5,000 new trainee hires are appropriately distributed in proportion to
the city’s most pressing needs.
At the same time the City will establish a Targeted Local Hire Working Group with the objective of ensuring
that traineeships are provided primarily to residents of LA’s historically most under-served communities. The
creation of this body came at the insistence of many of the community organizations represented in the Fix
LA Coalition who will continue to offer their expertise as contributors to the Working Group. African-Americans and Latinos make up around sixty percent of LA’s public sector workforce and the job restoration
program attends to a long-standing priority of many community representatives to protect and expand govHUQPHQWMREVDVDVWDEOHSODWIRUPIRUWKHDGYDQFHPHQWRI SHRSOHRI FRORU&RDOLWLRQXQLRQVDUHFRQÀGHQWRI the success of the Working Group, which will chaired by former State Assembly member Jackie Goldberg, a
trusted progressive ally of labor for several decades.
,Q$SULO0D\RU(ULF*DUFHWWLPDGHDÀUPSXEOLFFRPPLWPHQWWRWKHSURFHVVRI MREUHVWRUDWLRQ([HFXtive Directive No. 15 described the agreement with the Coalition of L.A. City Unions as “the groundbreaking
start to transforming how Los Angeles recruits, hires, and retains its employees so as to strengthen the delivery
of City services with innovative workforce development strategies.” Besides stressing the importance of local
hiring, Garcetti directed department heads to phase out the use of temporary and part-time workers in preference for full-time positions and to develop strategies that provide opportunities to many who have historically
44. John Myers and Liam Dillon, “Deal reached to boost California’s minimum wage to $15, avoiding ballot box battle,” Los Angeles
Times, March 26, 2016, Online; Tim Worstall, “California’s $15 minimum wage is going to be painful,” Forbes Online, April 6, 2016,
Online.
45. SEIU Local 721, “Fix LA Coalition victorious in pushing key LA city service restoration, applauds Mayor Garcetti for his executive directive formalizing creation of 5,000 new city jobs,” April 29, 2016.
46. “Letter of Agreement: Service and Workforce Restoration, Between the Coalition of Los Angeles City Unions and the City of
Los Angeles,” 2016.
What the Campaign Won
26
faced the greatest obstacles to
obtaining steady employment: “the
unsheltered; people with criminal records including those with a
history of incarceration; veterans;
and disconnected youth at risk of
unfortunate outcomes.”47
Revenue Generation
As mentioned earlier, the Fix LA
Coalition’s No Small Fees found that
Figure 10 Mayor Eric Garcetti publicly signs Executive Directive No. 15 committing to the City of Los Angeles paid more
job restorations and local hiring practices48
than $330 million in banking fees
LQVLJQLÀFDQWO\PRUHWKDQWKH
$163 million committed to the Bureau of Street Services whose responsibilities include sidewalk maintenance,
alley clearance, and the installation and repair of speed bumps. Besides obtaining a budget that will resurrect
a long dormant program that allows for residents to petition for the installation of speed bumps in hazardous
ORFDWLRQVWKHFROOHFWLYHEDUJDLQLQJDJUHHPHQWSURYLGHGIRUWKHFUHDWLRQRI DQRIÀFLDO0D\RUDO&RPPLVsion on Revenue Generation to draft recommendations for increasing the City’s income.
7KH&RPPLVVLRQZLOOEHPDGHXSRI ÀIWHHQPHPEHUVDSSRLQWHGE\WKHPD\RUVHYHQRI ZKRPZLOOEHVHOHFWHG
from a shortlist of twenty nominees to be provided by the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. The members will
UHSUHVHQWDGLYHUVLW\RI LQWHUHVWVDQGGLIIHUHQWVNLOOVDQGLVOLNHO\WRLQFOXGHSXEOLFÀQDQFHH[SHUWVDFDGHPLFV
leaders of business, and representatives from community organizations and City bargaining units.
Recommendations for revenue generation will include the following areas:
• Commercial Property reassessments and tax loopholes;
• Recreation and Parks funding enhancements;
• Residential Real Estate speculation revenue enhancements;
• Blight inspection and enforcement; and
• Shared Economy tax collection49
While the Fix LA Coalition entered negotiations with the City with its own proposals for improved revenue
generation it will be necessary to allow time for the Commission to research, investigate, and compose its own
UHFRPPHQGDWLRQV:LWK0D\RU*DUFHWWLGXHWRUHPDLQLQRIÀFHXQWLODWOHDVWDQGHOLJLEOHIRUDVHFRQG
four-year term, he should have time to implement the recommendations if he and the Council are so inclined.
All in all, the victories on wages, concessions, job restoration, and revenue generation were remarkable, especially given the atmosphere of austerity that continued to pervade Los Angeles on the eve of the 2015 contract
negotiations. Despite the tensions that occasionally threatened to divide them, the Fix LA Coalition members
held together and moved collective bargaining in a new direction. While the recommendations of the Mayoral
Commission on Revenue Generation remain to be seen, let alone enacted, the fact that unions and their allies
KDGEHHQDEOHWRXVHWKHEDUJDLQLQJSURFHVVWRSXVKIRUUHIRUPVLQWKH&LW\·VÀQDQFLDOUHODWLRQVKLSVZDVE\
LWVHOI DQLPPHQVHO\VLJQLÀFDQWGHYHORSPHQW
47. Mayor Eric Garcetti, “Executive Directive No. 15, Subject: Equitable Workforce and Service Restoration,” April 2016, Online.
48. “Mayor Garcetti Drives Effort to Create Opportunities for L.A.’s Most Under-Served Communities,” April 29, 2016, Online.
49. “Letter of Agreement: Revenue, Between the Coalition of Los Angeles City Unions and the City of Los Angeles,” 2016.
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
27
Challenges to Community Organizations
What sort of challenges did membership in the Fix LA campaign pose for community organizations? Key
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5HYHUHQG7XOORVVEHOLHYHVWKDWWKHFDPSDLJQSUHVHQWHGVLPLODUFKDOOHQJHVWRLQVWLWXWLRQDOWKLQNLQJDWWKH1DWLRQDO$FWLRQ1HWZRUN´7KHPRVWGLIÀFXOWWKLQJLVIRUHYHU\RQHWRGLYRUFHWKHPVHOYHVIURPWKHLUSHUVRQDO
DJHQGDVZKDWHYHUPLVVLRQVDQGJRDOVWKH\KDYHVHWDQGWRVHHWKHQHHGVRI WKHFRPPXQLWLHVWKDWWKH\·UH
LPSDFWLQJµKHREVHUYHV´$VOHDGHUVRI RUJDQL]DWLRQVZHKDYHWRVHHWKHEURDGHUYLVLRQRI WKHFRPPXQLW\DQG
VHHKRZDWWKHHQGRI WKHGD\LW·VDOODIIHFWLQJFKDQJHDQGKRZZHDUHUHDFKLQJWRZDUGVRXUFRPPRQJRDOV:H
KDYHPRUHLQFRPPRQWKDQZHGRDSDUWVRWKDW·VRQHWKLQJWKDW·VYHU\LPSRUWDQWµ
%LOO3U\]OXFNLH[SHULHQFHGDQDUUD\RI GLIIHUHQWRE“No quid pro quo. Because we
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were a member of Fix LA…we
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helped each other.”
/HDGHUVRI %ODFN3RZHURUJDQL]DWLRQVH[SUHVVHGVLPLODUVHQWLPHQWVDQGGHFOLQHGWRSDUWLFLSDWHEHOLHYLQJ
that while unions would campaign on common good
REMHFWLYHVWKDWEHQHÀWHGWKHFRPPXQLW\DVDZKROHWKH\ZRXOGXOWLPDWHO\EHZLOOLQJWRVHWWOHIRUDGHDOWKDW
SURPLVHGKLJKHUZDJHVDQGVHFXUHEHQHÀWV´7KDWZDVDKXJHFRQFHUQDQGDJRRGQXPEHURI RXUDOOLHVDVZH
ZHQWLQWRWKH)L[/$FDPSDLJQWROGPHYHU\FRQÀGHQWO\DQXPEHURI WLPHV¶OLVWHQZKDW\RXJX\VDUHGRLQJ
ZLWKODERUWKH\·UHJRLQJWRVHOO\RXRXWDWWKHHQG2QFHWKH\JHWZKDWWKH\ZDQWWKH\·OOEHGRQHZLWK\RX·µ
3U\]OXFNLUHFDOOV´,KHDUGWKDWQXPHURXVWLPHVDQGKDGWRGHIHQGDQXPEHURI RXUGHFLVLRQVZLWKWKH)L[/$
FDPSDLJQZLWKDQXPEHURI RXUDOOLHVµ
7KH/RV$QJHOHV3ROLFH3URWHFWLYH/HDJXHUHSUHVHQWLQJRIÀFHUVRI WKH/$3'FXVWRPDULO\QHJRWLDWHGWKHLU
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IRUDOOWKHFRPPXQLW\JURXSVDQGHYHQVRPHRI WKHODERUJURXSVµ3U\]OXFNLVD\V´,WKLQNLWMXVWFOHDUHGWKHDLU
WKDWZHGLGQ·WKDYHWRGHDOZLWKWKDWLQWKHÀUVWSODFH,WWRRNRQHUHDOO\WRXJKGHFLVLRQDQGLWPDGHLWIRUXVµ
3U\]OXFNLDOVRIDFHGRSSRVLWLRQWRDQDOOLDQFHZLWKODERUIURPVRPH32:(5PHPEHUV$ORWRI WKHPKDG
ZRUNHGLQMDQLWRULDOVHUYLFHVDW/RV$QJHOHV,QWHUQDWLRQDO$LUSRUWDQGZHUHSDVWRUSUHVHQWPHPEHUVRI 6(,8
/RFDO´7KDWZDVDPL[HGEOHVVLQJIRUVXUHµ3U\]OXFNLVD\V6RPHFRPSODLQHGRI EDGH[SHULHQFHVZLWK
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Challenges to Community Organizations
28
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Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
29
Challenges to Unions
The success of Fix LA is an exhibit of the potential rewards that can be achieved for unions through Common Good bargaining. Even within this successful campaign, however, the two leading unions, SEIU 721 and
AFSCME Council 36, faced considerable challenges. Proponents of a Common Good bargaining approach
had to face internal opposition from within their own organizations, as well as initial distrust on the part of
some community organizations.
7KHFDPSDLJQLQ/RV$QJHOHVEHQHÀWWHGIURPWKHVWURQJVXSSRUWRI WKHSUHVLGHQWVRI WKHWZRODUJHVWSXEOLF
VHFWRUXQLRQV$OLFH*RII RI $)6&0(&RXQFLODQG%RE6FKRRQRYHURI /RFDO,WLVGLIÀFXOWWRIRUHsee how this campaign could have proceeded without their support, but even then proponents of the new
approach had to overcome internal resistance from skeptics who were concerned about the campaign’s added
costs as well as its potentially disruptive impact upon professional relationships with City negotiators that had
been cultivated over the years.
As detailed elsewhere in this report, other unions that were members of the bargaining unit expressed similar concerns at the prospect of breaking with a well-established routine. They viewed their responsibilities as
HOHFWHGXQLRQOHDGHUVLQPRUHFORVHO\GHÀQHGWHUPVWKH\ZHUHH[SHFWHGWRSUHVHQWWKHLUPHPEHUVZLWKWKHEHVW
possible contract and other concerns beyond that were largely the domain of other jurisdictions.
Some unionists were concerned about the prospect of turning collective bargaining into an “arms race” of
sorts by bringing an increasing number of community allies to the table. Others worried that Common Good
bargaining might lend credence to the attack on public sector collective bargaining advanced by Supreme Court
Justice Samuel Alito in the Harris v. Quinn decision of 2014. Alleging that public sector collective bargaining
was an inherently political act, Alito signaled his intentions to strike down state laws that allowed unions to collect mandatory fees from the workers they represented in collective bargaining on the theory that mandatory
fees infringed workers First Amendment rights to free speech. Alito might well have achieved his desire in the
case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association in 2016 if not for the unexpected death of Justice Antonin
Scalia, a death that left the court evenly divided and existing state laws intact.
Josie Mooney accepts the premise that public sector collective bargaining is unavoidably political, but argues
that unions need to nonetheless persevere down that path. “The dilemma we have is that these are not mandatory negotiating points because they can walk away from the table, so what we have to do is create enough
power in the community so that it is not in their interests to say no to us so then we can force them to negotiate with us over restoration of jobs or training,” she says. “It’s not okay to say I’ll show up if you buy a table at
my fundraiser, so it cuts both ways,” she continues. “These have to be authentic relationships that understand
that this has to be long term commitment, not done in the short term but a proposition about how we’re going
to restore democracy in America, how we’re going to make a difference in communities, how we’re going to
raise wages and create good paying jobs and that requires education on everyone’s part.”
Questions of the scope of public sector unionism need to be carefully considered, but to view lessons from
Fix LA solely in terms of labor’s ability to gain leverage at the bargaining table clearly misses the point. Some
community organizations in Los Angeles were reluctant to join the Fix LA Coalition precisely because they did
not believe the City unions would ultimately be able to look beyond the latest round of contract negotiations
and that once a deal had been agreed upon they would not hear from them again. Union members of the Fix
LA Coalition invested time and effort in community causes that bore no relation to the City contract, not just
to dissuade people from this view, but because they regarded this as an essential facet of working in a partnership. The development of long-term relationships speaks to perhaps the most important lesson that can be
GHULYHGIURPWKH)L[/$FDPSDLJQWKDWODERUQHHGVWRFRQVLGHUZKDWLWPLJKWFRQWULEXWHWRWKHZLGHUFRPPXnity, rather than merely what the community can add to a contract campaign.
Challenges to Unions
30
Conclusion: Are These Accomplishments Replicable?
Fix LA was successful in transforming what appeared to be a bleak horizon for public sector workers into a
victory for both present dues-paying union members and local residents living in deprived communities who
ÀQGRSSRUWXQLWLHVKDUGWRFRPHE\7KH&RDOLWLRQ·VFRQWUDFWZLWKWKH&LW\UHSUHVHQWVDQHIÀFLHQWDQGHIIHFWLYH
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7KLVFRQWUDFWYLFWRU\ZDVRQO\DFKLHYHGWKURXJKDQLQQRYDWLYHDSSURDFKWRFROOHFWLYHEDUJDLQLQJWKDWEURXJKWD
diversity of stakeholders to the table and insisted that non-mandated issues like revenue generation, the miniPXPZDJHDQGMREUHVWRUDWLRQVKRXOGEHVXEMHFWWRQHJRWLDWLRQ,QGRLQJVR)L[/$ZDVDEOHWRWLHDUDQJHRI ORFDOIDFWRUVWRDEURDGHUGHEDWHFRQFHUQLQJWKH&LW\·VPDQDJHPHQWRI ÀQDQFHVDQGSXEOLFVHUYLFHV
&RQFHUQVRYHUVRFLDOZRUNHUV·FDVHORDGVWKHFRQVHTXHQFHVRI a large tree planting effort, and alleyways loaded with broNHQFRXFKHVZHUHVSHFLÀFWR/RV$QJHOHVEXWWKH\ZHUHQRW
XQLTXH0XQLFLSDOVHUYLFHVDQGXUEDQFRPPXQLWLHVDUHXQGHU
strain all across America and herein lie opportunities for public
VHFWRUXQLRQV:KHUHHOHFWHGUHSUHVHQWDWLYHVPD\EHLQHIIHFWLYH
as problem solvers, the public workers who protect and sustain
our cities have leverage and natural ties to working communiWLHVWKDWSODFHWKHPLQDXQLTXHSRVLWLRQWRSURSRVHDQGSXUVXH
&RPPRQ*RRGVROXWLRQVDORQJVLGHFRPPXQLW\DOOLHV
It was not a set of special
conditions that guaranteed
success... it was the careful
planning and implementation
of a common good strategy.
Los Angeles may well have a reputation as a progressive city but this study has demonstrated that the chalOHQJHVFRQIURQWHGE\ODERUXQLRQVDQGFRPPXQLW\RUJDQL]DWLRQVZHUHQRWXQXVXDORQHV7KHXQLRQVLQYROYHG
in Fix LA were not extraordinarily wealthy, their members were not of an unusually militant tradition, and the
0D\RUDQG&LW\&RXQFLOPHPEHUVZHUHQRWQHFHVVDULO\SUHGLVSRVHGWRJLYHLQWRWKHGHPDQGVWKHFRDOLWLRQ
PDGHLQWKLVFDPSDLJQ
,WZDVQRWDVHWRI VSHFLDOFRQGLWLRQVWKDWJXDUDQWHHGVXFFHVVLQWKLVFDPSDLJQUDWKHULWZDVWKHFDUHIXOSODQQLQJDQGLPSOHPHQWDWLRQRI DFRPPRQJRRGVWUDWHJ\
8QGHUDVVDXOWIURPDGYHUVDULHVWKDWKDYHQRLQWHUHVWLQUHOHQWLQJSXEOLFVHFWRUXQLRQVFDQQRWDIIRUGWRDFTXLesce and rely upon dated methods while their members are erroneously characterized as a privileged special
LQWHUHVWJURXS,WEHKRRYHVXQLRQOHDGHUVWREHERWKFUHDWLYHDQGSURDFWLYHDVWKH\HQJDJHZLWKWKHLUPHPEHUV
LQHIIRUWVWRUHYHUVHWKHWLGHVRI SULYDWL]DWLRQFRUSRUDWL]DWLRQDQGDXVWHULW\7KHVXFFHVVRI )L[/$VXUHO\ZDUUDQWVFRQVLGHUDWLRQDVDWHPSODWHRI FRPPXQLW\ODERUFRDOLWLRQEXLOGLQJHOVHZKHUH
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
31
Appendix A: Organizations in the Fix LA Coalition
Coalition of L.A. City Unions
AFSCME LA City Local Unions
Laborers Local 777
LA/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council
Operating Engineers Local 501
SEIU Local 721
Teamsters Local 911
Community Participants
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)
Churches in Action, Los Angeles
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
Community Coalition
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Food and Water Watch - California (FWW)
Jewish Labor Committee, Western Region (JLC)
Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA)
Korean Resource Center (KRC)
Labor United for Universal Healthcare
LA Voice PICO
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
National Action Network (NAN)
One LA-Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF)
People for Community Improvement Center (PCI)
People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER-LA)
Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE)
Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE)
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Appendix A: Organizations in the Fix LA Coalition
32
Appendix B: Terms of Agreement Between the Coali-­
tion of L.A. City Unions and the City of Los Angeles
Item
COLA Management Proposal
Zero
Salary Ranges
Increase salary structure to Protected Salaries Protected salaries, step increases, 15-­steps with 2.75% for each step.
and career earnings.
Workers pay an extra 10% for family healthcare. No out-­of-­pocket costs towards premium.
5HGXFHEHQH¿WVWRVWDWHUDWH
Maintained full wage protection.
Healthcare
Workers' Comp Result
4.75% Pay Increase
Supervisional Different Pay
Reduction from 5.5% to 2.75%.
Remains at 5.5%.
Acting Pay
Reduction from 5.5% to 2.75%.
Remains at 5.5%.
Lead Pay
Reduction from 5.5% to 2.75%.
Remains at 5.5%.
Promotional Step Reduction from 5.5% to 2.75%.
Placement
Bilingual Pay
Flat rate to $25 or $50 per person.
Shift Differential Pay
Union-­Sponsored ([WUD%HQH¿WV
Union Sponsored Training.
Overtime
Family/Medical Leave
Remains at 5.5%.
Reduction from 5.5% to 2.75%.
Maintained existing rates of 2.75% and 5.5%.
Remains at 5.5%.
Eliminated.
Protected.
Eliminated.
Protected.
&KDQJHGH¿QLWLRQRIKRXUVZRUNHGVRWKDW
Protected.
compensated time doesn't count toward 40 hours.
Limit eligibility for FMLA and CFRA.
Protected.
Fixing Los Angeles and Remaking Public Sector Collective Bargaining
33
Appendix C: Further Reading
Saqib Bhatti, “Dirty Deals: How Wall Street’s Predatory Deals Hurt Taxpayers and What We Can Do About
It,” Roosevelt Institute, Nov. 18, 2014, Online.
Saqib Bhatti & Stephen Lerner, “Organizing in a Brave New World,” New Labor Forum, Fall, 2016, Online.
Rachel M. Cohen, “Teachers Unions are ‘Bargaining for the Common Good,’” American Prospect,
June 16, 2016, Online.
Ron Galperin , “L.A. Streets: Road to the Future,” Los Angeles City Controller, July 31, 2014, Online.
Joseph A. McCartin, “Bargaining for the Common Good,” Dissent, Spring, 2016, Online.
Mary Cathryn Ricker, “Teacher-Community Unionism: A Lesson from St. Paul,” Dissent,
Summer, 2015, Online.
TRIP, “Bumpy Roads Ahead: America’s Roughest Roads and Strategies to Make our Roads Smoother,” July,
2015. Online.
Wallace C. Turbeville, “The Detroit Bankruptcy,” Demos, Nov., 2013. Online.
Acknowledgements
The Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor would likely to kindly thank the following people for
contributing to the creation of this report: Walker Foley, Peter Kuhns, Stephen Lerner, T.J. Michels, Josie Mooney,
Cheryl Parisi, Bill Pryzlucki, Molly Rhodes, Amy Schur, Jono Shaffer, Marilyn Sneiderman, Rev. K.W. Tulloss, and
Gilda Valdez.
Interviewees
Walker Foley, Southern California Organizer, Food and Water Watch
Peter Kuhns, LA Director, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
T.J. Michels, Fix LA Campaign Director, SEIU Local 721
Josie Mooney, Chief Negotiator, SEIU Local 721
Cheryl Parisi, Executive Director, AFSCME Council 36
Bill Pryzlucki, Director and Lead Organizer, POWER LA
Jono Shaffer, Deputy Director, SEIU
Rev. K.W. Tulloss, President, National Action Network Los Angeles
Gilda Valdez, Chief of Staff, SEIU Local 721
Appendix C: Further Reading
34