Business Manager’s Report

The Department, the Mayor and the Governor

 By Brian D’Arcy, Business Manager, Local 18

With the new year—and I hope that all of you and your families celebrated joyous, healthy and safe holidays—we turn our attention back to the people and issues that affect our jobs, lives and security. It is always wiser to think ahead and anticipate than to be unprepared and simply react.

The Department of Water & Power Gets a New General Manager

Late last year, Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn appointed Ron Deaton as DWP’s new General Manager (chief operating officer). Previously, Mr. Deaton had served ably as the City’s Chief Legislative Analyst, reporting to council members and working to keep Los Angeles operating on a fiscally and legally responsible basis.

Naturally, as General Manager, Mr. Deaton will have a major impact on the working conditions, careers and futures of our members. I am pleased to report that IBEW Local 18 has enjoyed a mutually productive and respectful relationship with the Department’s GMs for nearly a decade. In fact, for example, we were instrumental in bringing Bill McCarley on board as GM several years ago, and that turned out to be a strong selection for DWP, our Union and the Department’s ratepayers. We certainly hope to continue our partnership with Mr. Deaton.

This will be critical because, as you know, we will likely begin negotiations in the Spring for a new three-year agreement with the Department. We are prepared for long and tough bargaining as we seek to work out the very-best possible contract for you before the expiration of the current agreement on September 30. We will bargain hard, and in good faith, and expect the same from DWP. Our long-standing policy is no contract, no work.

Organized Labor and the Upcoming L.A. Mayoral Election

On December 16, 2004, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, representing some 800,000 working people and families, endorsed incumbent Mayor James Hahn for re-election to another four-year term. Mayor Hahn secured more than the two-thirds votes he needed to be endorsed in the March 8 primary election and the possible run-off later in the Spring.

At that meeting, several unions indicated their support for other mayoral candidates, most notably City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, a proven friend of organized labor. That, of course, is their right, even as the Fed, as a group, formally endorsed the mayor.

Mayor Hahn has appointed a number of union officers to key city boards and commissions, and he has generally been a friend of working people. I will keep you posted on our Union’s political activities in the upcoming municipal elections, which also include races for City Council and other citywide positions.

The “Governator” as Terminator

It sounds like the plot of a preposterous film, a, well, Schwarzeneger “epic”: the “Terminator” comes in, blows up everything and, somehow, everyone is better for it. It may have worked on the silver screen, but in California, under the “governator”, it surely is not working—especially for working people and families.

Simply put, Governor Arnold is declaring war on two of his (many) favorite targets: the state legislature and public employees and their families.

• The 120 members of the legislature (80 Assembly members and 40 State Senators) is a primary whipping boy for the governor. That’s because it is solidly Democratic and its leaders are supportive of the kind of progressive agenda that benefits working men and women, children and families, education and adequate healthcare, and the poor, aged and infirm—essentially, the people who go to work, pay their taxes and don’t want to be ripped off by big corporate interests.

The “governator” has two things in mind for the state legislature, one drastic, the other downright apocalyptic. First, he wants to take away redistricting rights from the legislature and its staff and put it in the hands of a panel of retired judges. That may sound good, but remember that the legislature is already weakened by term limits, and some of the most progressive members come from districts whose residents sorely need their agenda. Placing reapportionment into the hands of “non-political” jurists could threaten the security of some—maybe many—of those pro-union, pro-family legislators who are our friends. The governor complains that the redistricting process is too political; well, of course it is—it is all about voting blocs in political districts! It is, more or less, the essence of politics. And speaking of politics, with a gutted legislature, who becomes even more powerful up there? Don’t ask.

Even more dangerously, Herr “Terminator” wants to reduce the legislature to a part-time status. He suggests that the world’s sixth-largest economy can be run on a part-time basis! Who needs the legislature as long as Governor Arnold is there full-time to look after things for us? Think of it this way: with a part-time legislature, Democratic controlled or not, the only full-time people with influence and “clout” in Sacramento will be the lobbyists and staffers—none of whom are elected by the people—and, of course, the “governator”. Doesn’t that make you feel safer?

Like a playground bully, the governor threatens to go over the head of the legislature and try to scare Californians through ballot initiatives into adopting his radical plans to transform state government (to transform it so that his power will be almost completely unchecked, and his corporate pals will have the run of the capitol). Believe me, we are keeping an eagle eye on this!

• Then, there is his assault on the pensions of public-sector working people.

Currently, public employees or, more accurately, men and women who work for public entities like DWP, MTA, school districts, cities, counties and the state, can rely on a fixed, guaranteed, easily understandable and secure pension when they retire from their careers of service. All of us know how important our pensions are for our retirement and family security.

Governor Arnold, who, needless to say, has no worries about retirement security, wants to shred the public employees’ retirement safety net. Instead of the tried and true guaranteed fixed benefit (pension), he proposes a morale-shattering two-tier retirement/pension system. Starting in 2007, new public-sector employees would have to contribute money into a 401(k)-style retirement account, with a choice of investment funds. The state would also put money into this fund. The payments for retirees—their pensions—would then be based on how well their investments did. In essence, new public-sector hires would have to become amateur financial analysts in order to guesstimate how much money they will receive upon retirement!

Additionally, this radical and risky pension realignment would diminish the influence of Cal-PERS, the massive public employee retirement system, which over the years has used its huge stock holdings to pressure corporate America into adopting more union- and working people-friendly policies.

The “governator” says this is sound fiscal policy and a way to rein in spiraling pension costs. Don’t believe it! His risky pension “reform” would also come with a huge price tag: the administrative costs of handling hundreds of thousands of individual retirement accounts would make the entire pension system far less efficient than it is now. Not only would his “reform” not help at all with balancing the state budget, it would increase budgetary pressures for years to come!

As organized labor and the media point out, this is a titanic crap shoot, one that dangerously plays with the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of working men and women. We will fight long and hard to prevent the “terminator” from blowing up the state pension system!

In unity,

BRIAN D’ARCY, Business Manager