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LA & City Workers Reach Agreement

August 10, 2009

A recently ratified agreement covering about 20,000 Los Angeles city employees – members of AFSCME Council 36 – will prevent threatened layoffs and furloughs, avert wage cuts, forestall major service reductions and help the city balance its budget.

The deal, also unanimously approved in June by the Los Angeles City Council, covers members of AFSCME and five other unions affiliated with the Coalition of LA City Unions.

“We have seen the damaging effects of layoffs and furloughs in communities across the country, and we were determined to find a better way for LA,” says Cheryl Parisi, executive director of Council 36 and chair of the Coalition. “This is a big city solution, a partnership agreement between workers and city officials thinking big and thinking long term for the people of Los Angeles.”

Intended to save the city more than $500 million over two years, the agreement provides that there will be no mandatory furloughs, layoffs or wage cuts in Coalition bargaining units over that period.

The existing AFSCME contract is extended for two years, locking in current wages. Workers will also get cash bonuses of 1.75 percent in each of the next two years, plus an extra 1.75 percent raise in 2013.

A key component of the deal: an “Early Retirement Incentive Program” that will offer incentives to encourage as many as 2,400 employees to retire early.

Read more about the settlement here (PDF).

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