Local 18 blocks move to circumvent Civil Service rules
By Local 18 President Frank Miramontes
Ever since the FSP four years ago, the DWP has been struggling with a dilemma. They have been trying to reduce staffing levels while trying to maintain a workforce capable of performing critically needed work. This situation was, of course, aggravated by last year’s SRP.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to deal with this dilemma. The right way is to immediately start promoting from within and hiring and training new people to perform our important jobs safely and reliably. The wrong way is to delay taking any action until staffing is dangerously low, then work people out of class while paying them low wages with no benefits. Recently the Department tried to do just that and was stopped dead by Local 18.
Last summer, there was a shortage of steamplant assistants (“SPAs”). The Department hired a class of SPAs on emergency appointments, and put them to work. When the test was given, few passed, and under civil service rules the Department had to let them go.
Now the Department got creative...much TOO creative. They bypassed a large number of people on the Open and Promotional Civil Service lists, rehired the emergency SPAs as part-time, exempt Customer Service Representatives, and put them back to work as SPAs. They ignored rules designed to put qualified trainees into important positions and tried to take advantage of people by paying them lower wages with no benefits. Local 18 challenged the move and forced the Department to rescind it.
We believe it is important to discourage the Department from violating the rules and procedures that protect our jobs and safety and the Department’s reliability. Every time the Department gets away with bending the rules, it erodes their motivation to hire and staff appropriately. In the long run, that is bad not only for the members, but for the Department as well.