Union leaders who represent about 22,000 non-sworn city employees are expected to announce this morning whether their members have ratified a four-year labor deal with city management.
Cheryl Parisi, who chairs the Coalition of L.A. City Unions, told City News Service she feels optimistic that the contract will be ratified.
If approved, the contract would begin the process for restoring 5,000 city employee positions. It also calls for Mayor Eric Garcetti, the City Council and labor groups to create programs to help people from disadvantaged communities in Los Angeles be hired by the city, Parisi said.
Parisi, who represents a coalition of 19 unions that represent a variety of employees ranging from sanitation to Recreation and Parks workers, said the contract also contains provisions that ensures part-time employees are given enough hours so that they would have a better chance of qualifying for health insurance benefits.
The contract also calls for the wages of about 2,600 city employees to be set at $15 by Jan. 1, 2017, Parisi said.
Parisi and other union leaders are expected to officially announce the results this morning, which follows a tally conducted on Monday. If ratified by the unions, the labor deal would go next to the City Council, which would decide if it also would ratify the agreement.
City leaders and the union earlier this year announced a tentative agreement that lasts until June 2018 and calls for the workers’ pay to remain frozen for three years, followed by a 2 percent raise in the fourth year.
Retirement plans would stay the same for current employees, but new workers would see reduced benefits.
Though Garcetti and other city leaders had wanted employees to pay 10 percent of their health-care premiums, the deal does not include any increase in the employee premiums.
