Oct 07 2013
LA County Workers Say They Are Fighting For All Residents In New Contract
Thousands of LA county workers walked off their jobs last Tuesday after their contract with the county expired at midnight and marched through downtown LA.
The workers want raises as well as a reduction in the number of caseloads for those County workers who are employed as social workers. They also want to close loopholes enabling corporations to avoid paying taxes since those taxes fund cash-strapped County services.
Last week’s march took place at Grand Avenue and ending on the south steps of the County Hall Administration in Grand Park. Several streets were blocked off in order to accommodate the protest.
LA County employs 100,000 workers of which SEIU represents approximately 55,000. Half of those earn $40,000 a year or less and have not received a cost-of-living increase in five years.
The county stated it is willing to negotiate a 6% increase in salaries. However, the proposed increase would be implemented incrementally, spread out over the next year and a half.
County Chief Executive Officer, William Fujioka justified it saying, “to give anything higher after coming out of recession would not be responsible.”
The workers have stressed that they are not planning a strike and resumed work on Wednesday.
GUEST: Lowell Goodman, Communications Director of SEIU Local 721
Visit www.seiu721.org for more information.
Contact the County Board of Supervisors:
The toll free number is (888) 807–2111.
Applicants who are hearing impaired, may use California Relay Service (800) 735–2922.
You may also e-mail your questions or comments to: aaboffice@bos.lacounty.gov
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