LADWP Negotiations Update

After seven Mutual Gains bargaining sessions held in September, November and December, your bargaining committee has identified issues and solutions in the areas of retirement, recruitment, retention, staffing, training, inequity process as well as wages and benefits. These issues and proposed solutions were submitted to an executive bargaining committee comprised of myself, Frank Miramontes, Jim Barham and Russ Butow for the Union; David Wiggs, Frank Salas, Henry Martinez and Gerry Gewe for the LADWP. This executive committee has formulated from the work of the committees an overall settlement. This settlement framework has been submitted to the City’s Executive Employee Relations Committee (EERC). The EERC is comprised of Mayor James Hahn, President Pro-Tem Mark Ridley-Thomas, Council President Alex Padilla, Budget Committee Chairman Nick Pacheco and Personnel Committee Chairman Dennis Zine.

As you are aware, our MOUs do not expire until Midnight September 30, 2002, and, as of this writing, our agreement has been before the Executive Employee Relations Committee of the City Council four (4) separate times. Therefore, your Negotiating Committee has voted unanimously to suspend talks until the legally prescribed period of 90 days before expiration.

The request to begin bargaining early originally came from the DWP and the City, so the inability of the Mayor and the Council to respond in a timely fashion is astonishing. Apparently, they do not take us seriously enough and can only make decisions in a crisis environment.

JTI TO JOIN THE JSI - Most everyone has come in contact with the work of the Joint Safety Institute and our two administrators, Frank Miramontes and Chuck Kokoska. We have reached agreement with LADWP to form the Joint Training Institute to act as an advisory body on all issues of training for Local 18 members. As soon as we get the final approvals we will begin putting together a needs assessment.

ENRON/DEREGULATION DEBACLE - Every day the news unfolds about the evil empire of Enron and their links to the Bush administrations energy policy. While the congress holds investigations into Enron’s demise, the markup of both energy bills are stalled. However the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency has taken this opportunity to fill the void with its own brand of deregulation in the form of “vibrant wholesale markets” through the formation of Regional Transmission organizations. This is another good reason to be a vertically integrated utility that is publicly owned.

In unity,


BRIAN D’ARCY, Business Manager