Business Manager's Report
Looking Back: 2002 Was A Good Year for Local 18 Members
Looking Ahead: We're Working to Make 2003 Even Better!

It was a pretty good year, 2002. Despite a deeply conservative, anti-union, anti-working people administration in the White House. Despite a badly performing and very erratic economy that continued to wreak havoc on the savings, pensions and futures of tens of millions of hard-working American men and women. Despite continuing limited progress in the so-called "War on Terror", which may well end up hurting Americans the most if the Bush Administration continues with its onslaught against our fundamental and cherished civil liberties here on the "home front."

As we begin the new year, let's look back on the good things we accomplished together for our mutual behalf.

The new agreement with DWP

Our new three-year contract with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, which was overwhelmingly ratified by the membership, runs from October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2005. It yielded, among other things, an across-the-board 14% wage hike over the life of the pact — specifically, a 4% raise in year one, a 5% raise in year two, and another 5% increase in the last year. I am very pleased to confirm what most of you already probably know: this wage-hike package pencils out to a significantly higher figure than the current — or projected — national inflation rate.

Other negotiating highlights included:

• An unpenalized retirement option at minimum age 50, with 30 years service
  
• An enhanced retirement formula, providing for 2.3% of an employee's highest salary, at age 55, with 30 years service
  
• A "Favored Nation" clause, providing equality with any benefits negotiated by any other DWP or Los Angeles City Employees Retirement Plan
  
• An "Option Full Allowance" 50% pension continuance to a qualified spouse or domestic partner
  
• An amendment to the pension "cap" formula, allowing retirees to qualify for up to 100% of their highest year's salary
  
• Full family dental insurance coverage
  
• A "longevity premium" for most of our classifications, pending qualification
  
• Job retention language — keeping our people at work
  
• Improvements in recruitment, staffing and in closing workplace and contractual inequities

Negotiations, while long and sometimes grueling and frustrating, actually produced an agreement months before the expiration of our last contract. The early accord, in itself, marked an unprecedented accomplishment; a sign, I believe, of generally positive and mutually respectful labor-management relations at the Department. The increasing cooperation between both sides bodes well for both Local 18 and its members, and for the DWP and the millions of people and businesses it serves.

I wish to thank every member of the Local 18 Bargaining Committee for their tireless work, dedication and commitment to securing the best possible contract for our brothers and sisters. Great job!

Elsewhere in this newspaper, you will read about the new leadership, but continuing service, of both the Joint Safety and Joint Training Institutes. Both of these entities represent triumphs by Local 18 — in conception, in securing Department support and participation, in the solid proposals developed and, above all, in the implementation of new, significant safety and training standards. Please take the time to read about how these bodies work long and successfully on your behalf.

Union prestige and political activity

Local 18 continued to bolster its stature as a "can-do" politically active and influential member of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. City politics, of course, flows through both our veins and the corridors of the Department. We continue to be — and must be — active in municipal politics, as a union and as an integral part of Brother Miguel Contreras' County Fed. Aside from self-interest, we are merely following the guideline of Samuel Gompers, the founding father of the American Federation of Labor almost 110 years ago, who said: "organized labor must support its [political] friends and fight its foes". Believe me, brothers and sisters, we take this advice to heart!

We had a winning political year in 2002:

• Most, important, at the local level, we helped spearhead the fight that defeated the ill-conceived and economically ruinous notion of secession, of breaking up our great City into smaller squabbling and jealous kingdoms. So-called "leaders" in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley preached the gospel of "better services, lower taxes, improved safety protection and freedom from the clutches of Los Angeles City Hall". It was a false gospel and it fell flat on its face, as it should have. Conveniently behind their rhetoric lay the realities of thousands of lost unionized jobs, increased contracting-out of municipal jobs and services, higher fees for city services, anticipated breakdowns in police and fire assistance, an end to renter-friendly housing policies, and an illusion (nothing more than that) of a smaller government being more responsive to you. Good riddance to that idea: secession failed horribly in 1861 and would not have worked in 2002.
  
• Our Union has developed and now enjoys a new and closer working relationship with Mayor Jim Hahn and his key City Hall staff people. Even though we strongly supported Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2001 mayoralty election, we have built a bridge to the mayor and we are grateful for this. Not coincidentally, Local 18 has reached out to a number of Los Angeles City Council members, both veteran and new, and we are confident that, if and when the time comes for a decision on an issue of importance to us, we will have the votes to prevail.
  
• Statewide, we re-elected pro-union Governor Gray Davis and elected an entire Democratic slate of constitutional officers, a nearly unprecedented political sweep on behalf of unions and working men and women. As in the battle against secession, organized labor led the fight to re-elect the governor and other Democrats to both houses of the State Legislature. The Democrats continue to handily control the State Senate and Assembly, which is very important when it comes to getting our legislation through (see below). We have friends in many places, in many offices, in Sacramento, along with a fistful of IOUs which we will use when it is appropriate. Similarly, we earned a lot of credit with Mayor Hahn for leading his fight to prevent city secession; once again, we have cards to play at City Hall in the future, when needed.
  
• New municipal elections, for half of the City Council, are set for Tuesday, March 4, with runoffs, if needed, on Tuesday, May 20. We have a good chance to elect two long-time, proven labor "warriors" to the Council: Martin Ludlow (District 10) and Antonio Villaraigosa (District 14). Both men have excellent records of support for organized labor and its agenda. Ludlow worked for the Los Angeles County Federation and for then-Assemblyman Villaraigosa. Villaraigosa, both as an Assemblyman and then Speaker of the State Assembly, was one of our strongest supporters in recent memory. His door, his ear and his heart were always open to us. Both men deserve our enthusiastic support; they will be strong additions to the City Council and advocates for our goals.

Important state legislation

As noted above, the Democrats retained control of the State Legislature, making it easier to draft and pass important pro-union, pro-working people bills. During 2002, both Local 18 and our segment of the electrical industry (utilities) did well with respect to bills that were signed into law — or defeated. Our Sacramento legislative-advocacy team, headed by Art Carter, won a lot of battles, including:

AB 57 (Wright) — Electrical corporations; procurement plans: the first step in getting investor-owned utilities back into electricity procurement. We supported — signed into law.
SB 1038 (Sher) — Renewable energy: provides more revenue to new and emerging renewable-energy technologies. We supported — signed into law.

SB 1078 (Sher) — Amount of renewable energy used by utilities: raises amount of renewable energy that utilities buy, from 10% to 20% by 2017; requires prevailing wages to be paid on the construction of eligible renewable energy resources and for operations and maintenance. We supported — signed into law.

SB 1269 (Peace) — Power plant facility and site certification: use a plant-building permit within a certain time or lose that permit and pay a fine. We supported — signed into law.

SB 39xx (Burton/Speier) — Maintenance standards: heavily lobbied bill (xx means expedited) gives Public Utilities Commission and Independent Service Operators authority to set reasonable maintenance standards, and enforcement and inspection rights over merchant generating plants. We supported — signed into law.

A number of other bills that we opposed were defeated; still others have been held over to the current legislative session and will be carefully watched.

In unity,


BRIAN D’ARCY, Business Manager