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Villaraigosa for mayor When the votes were counted in April’s municipal election, the national media featured the rags-to-riches story of Antonio Villaraigosa, who came up from the streets of East LA, served in the state legislature and is now within striking distance of one of the most powerful municipal offices in the nation. They liked to note that Villaraigosa could become “LA’s first Latino mayor in 150 years.” While that is true enough, it misses the real story: Villaraigosa could become the first mayor of a major American city to come directly from the labor movement. He could be LA’s first UNION mayor. Ever. It’s not about race and nationality. We are far beyond that. This is LA! Maybe the most diverse city in the world. We are all here together. The question is, how can we all live together in peace and shared prosperity? Who has the creativity, the ability, the determination and the experience to protect and enhance the quality of life in LA for all its citizens? All too often, our elected leaders lack the experience and perspective of working people. There is a privileged class in America, and our leaders, even the best of them, too often come from it. A person like Antonio, who comes from the working class and rises to a position of prominence and importance, is all too rare. That is why the AFL-CIO launched its “2000 in 2000” campaign to elect union members across the country. That’s why we worked so hard for Antonio in the primary. Union members walked precincts and staffed phone banks to get out the labor vote. That’s why, although the experts throughout the campaign said that Kenny – I mean Jimmy – Hahn had a lock on first place, with Villaraigosa and Soboroff battling for second, when the votes were counted Antonio Villaraigosa was five percent ahead of the field. And that’s why it is so important that all of us who live in the City of Los Angeles go to the polls June 5 to elect Antonio Villaraigosa the next Mayor of LA. (See COPE endorsements on Page 5.) I should also mention that his opponent, as City Attorney, has not been a friend to Local 18. He fought us when we forced a fair election for the Retirement Board. Also, in 1993, he aggressively sought an injunction against our strike. So, based on past experience, we would anticipate a better relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa than with Jim Hahn. PG&E IS BANKRUPT, SoCal Edison agreed to sell its transmission lines to the state, and statewide rolling blackouts are a certainty when the system faces peak summer demands. The Department of Water and Power, its customers, and its workforce are largely insulated from the chaos that has engulfed the state’s energy resources. Why? Because the Union fought to preserve the Department’s generation capability. First, we fought to ensure that municipal utilities would be exempt from deregulation. We extracted this safeguard from policy makers who were rushing headlong into deregulation mania. Legislators agreed that the munis COULD join the ISO and the PX, but that it was optional. This was a big victory for us, and we’re reaping the benefits of it now. Next, we had to fight with our own management to preserve generation. As we entered the era of deregulation, our management became convinced that our generation resources were no longer viable. Remember, they closed Valley Generating Station. We had to fight with them just to commit the meager resources necessary to maintain the plant in case it would be needed later. Remember the “suits” they brought in? The Department paid millions to management consultants to come in and study our operations; gave them offices on the 12th floor. Their conclusion: Get out of generation. But we said no, and carefully and meticulously challenged their assumptions and conclusions. Management was counting the savings they’d reap when they closed the generating stations and cut the work force. We told them to count again. We said they were wrong, that our generation was viable and important for the energy security of the people of LA. We were right; they were wrong. The people of LA should know that if it hadn’t been for the active resistance by Local 18, they would now be in the same boat as the rest of the state, dependent on irresponsible, unregulated suppliers for their energy needs. LIKE SO MANY Angelenos, we at Local 18 were saddened by the death of longtime City Councilman John Ferraro. Mr. Ferraro, who has held his seat for more than three decades, was a consistent friend of Labor, and we will be working to ensure that his council seat remains Labor-friendly. As I’m sure you have all heard by now, David Freeman has left the DWP to become the state’s new energy czar. David H. Wiggs has taken over as interim general manager. We will continue with the same goals which we have pursued through the years of Freeman’s leadership: Working to keep the nation’s largest public utility viable and productive while respecting its workforce and improving work conditions and practices.
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