LA shutdown threatens as more than 11,000 city workers plan to join hotel staff and Hollywood actors and writers who have been walked off their jobs for ‘negotiating bad faith’ with City Hall
- More than 11,000 LA city workers will go on strike on Tuesday
- Their union accuses City Hall of refusing to negotiate salaries in good faith
- On strike, they would join Hollywood actors and writers and hotel workers
More than 11,000 Los Angeles city workers are on the verge of going on strike, further paralyzing a city ravaged by strikes organized by multiple unions.
Tuesday morning sanitation, traffic cops and mechanics will be pecking throughout the city, including outside LA City Hall and LAX Airport, their union SEIU Local 721 said.
The union, which represents Southern California city and county employees, said the one-day strike is in response to the city’s “refusal to negotiate in good faith” during negotiations over higher wages.
It noted that more than a thousand airport employees are members, including custodians, mechanics and shuttle drivers. If it goes ahead, it would be the first major city workers’ strike in at least 15 years.
The city workers will join Hollywood actors and writers as they strike simultaneously for the first time in more than 50 years, shutting down the nation’s film and television industries.
More than 11,000 Los Angeles city workers are on the verge of going on strike, further paralyzing a city ravaged by strikes organized by multiple unions. Pictured is a strike by hotel workers in LA on July 21
Sanitation workers, traffic cops and mechanics will be pecking around town Tuesday morning, including outside LA City Hall (pictured) and LAX Airport
LA hotel workers also staged a three-day strike last month, coordinated by Unite HERE Local 11, representing thousands of cooks, maids, dishwashers and clerks from 46 LA hotels.
Unemployment in the US is at its lowest level in about 54 years this year, according to the US Department of Commerce.
Low unemployment is a sign that the demand for labor in the US is high. Employees are therefore less replaceable and likely to have more bargaining power when negotiating with their employers.
Los Angeles City Hall is struggling with a vacancy rate of more than 20 percent in some departments, according to ABC7.
SEIU Local 721 union members voted 98 percent in favor of the move to launch a strike over unfair labor practices if negotiations stalled.
Union officials said workers will meet outside City Hall at 11 a.m., but picket lines would begin as early as 4 a.m. at other locations in the city.
Despite repeated efforts by city workers to engage management in a fair bargaining process, the city has flatly refused to honor previous agreements at the negotiating table, prompting workers to file unfair labor practices charges with the city’s Employee Relations Board Los Angeles. ,” SEIU 721 officials said in a statement last week.
SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America strike outside Netflix’s offices in Los Angeles, California on August 4
Tuesday’s strike is expected to cause disruptions at LAX (pictured), the Port of Los Angeles and City Hall
LA Mayor Karen Bass said the city was actively looking for a solution.
“City workers are vital every day to the functioning of services for millions of Angelenos and to our local economy. They deserve fair contracts and we have been negotiating with SEIU 721 in good faith since January,” Bass said in a statement Friday.
The city will always be available to make progress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“We are going to shut down the City of Los Angeles,” said David Green, executive director and president of SEIU Local 721, told The Washington Post.
“The message we are sending is that our workers are just fed up. They have reached a breaking point. And we need these people in the city to come back to the table for the good of the city.”