Call and E-Mail the Mayor Now!

May 22, 2009

Stop Furloughs (Wage and Service Cuts) July 1st

Mayor Villaraigosa announced today that he plans to begin mandatory furloughs of up to 26 days on July 1st - a 10% service and wage cut. Furlough pay cuts slow down the economic recovery, decimate services, and are a budget band-aid, not a long-term solution.

Lawyers for Coalition Unions are working together and have filed Unfair labor charges to prevent unilateral pay cuts through furloughs. Our lawyers believe that it is illegal for the City to unilaterally change pay, hours, and working conditions that are set in our MOUs.

The Mayor thinks that the City has skirted the rules by declaring a fiscal emergency. However, a budget challenge, especially one which has been well-known for more than a year, is NOT an emergency.

The Coalition of LA City Unions worked with the Mayor for over a year on an LA Recovery Plan that benefits everybody - business, families, public safety and city services.

But he walked away. Now he's pushing partial solutions: layoffs, furloughs, and wage cuts that will devastate services, families and whole communities.

The Mayor needs to stop attacking workers and return to working with us. He has had our cooperation all along. Now we expect his.

It's urgent that you contact the Mayor now.

Get everyone you know to call, e-mail, fax and write the Mayor.

Let him know how 26 days of furloughs (a 10% wage and service cut) will affect the services you provide to residents as well as your own family.

Tell him:

"It's time to get real about an LA Recovery Plan based on early retirements that solves the full budget crisis, minimizes direct service cuts, and turns the local economy around at the same time. No more half measures and short-term band-aids. A 10% cut in the services I provide would mean…"

E-mail: angie.espinoza@lacity.org (Mayor's Personal Assistant)

• Phone: 213-978-0600

• E-mail: angie.espinoza@lacity.org (Mayor’s Personal Assistant)

Contact your Steward, Worksite Organizer, or Union office to learn about other ways to get involved in fixing the LA budget, preserving services and jobs, and fighting furloughs and wage cuts that hurt families and the economy.

Protect City Services & Your Family Now!

Fighting on All Fronts

• More than 1,000 city workers paraded in trucks, packed Council chambers and rallied at City Hall on Monday, May 18.

• The City Council passed a budget that included up to 800 more layoffs, on top of 400 already approved, and 26 furlough days—a 10% pay cut. Council instructed the CAO to bargain with unions over layoffs and furloughs.

• Your contract is protected. Any proposals negotiated must be approved by the membership before they're implemented.

• Each of the Coalition unions has filed unfair labor charges with the ERB against furlough wage cuts and demanded an expedited hearing.


“I’ve been dogging the Mayor for a week and yesterday I finally got him to talk to me. I said ‘Come back to the table and work this out.’ He told me he’s caught between a rock and a hard place but that he’s talking to the Coalition. He’s just not saying the right things. But he’s starting to hear us. We can’t let up now.”

Simboa Wright, Wastewater Collection Worker II