AFL-CIO pledges $75 million from pension trust funds to help L.A.'s rebuilding effort.

The AFL-CIO has committed at least $75 million to rebuilding the riot-torn commercial and residential areas of Los Angeles, neighborhoods in which many local union members live and work.

The money will come from two pension fund trusts, the Housing Investment Trust and the Building Investment Trust, which have combined assets of about $685 million. The trusts, holding money from more than 300 pension funds, invest on a national basis in socially progressive projects which sustain or increase union jobs.

"This is the most significant commitment made to one area," said Fund Administrator Steve Coyle.

The amount surpasses the $50 million earmarked for Oakland after last year's brush fire. But, according to an AFL-CIO representative in Washington, contracts to begin rebuilding in Oakland have yet to be signed and a quicker response in Los Angeles is being attempted.

According to Coyle, the Oakland situation was based on a "forward commitment. That's the only reason the money hasn't been spent." But, it is "absolutely unrelated" to the Los Angeles situation, where "we're talking about construction finance and permanent financing."

To help with immediate aid, the local AFL-CIO is providing truckloads of food. Meanwhile, national representatives for the Building Investment Trust survey damage.

Officials may set up a non-profit organization to facilitate the entire process, especially the disbursement of funds. "But that's just one of the ideas being considered" in the initial stages, said Coyle.

All work done with the money will be 100 percent union, he confirmed, adding "that's a requirement of the funding."

Coyle has support in local union leader Richard Icaza, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 770. "To me, Steve seemed sincere. He made a commitment that he would fund loans as early as July."

That timetable will work "if everything goes swimmingly," clarified Coyle, pointing out "you have to have drawings and permits" before getting funding.

"I hope it will be much sooner than that," said Ron Kennedy, executive secretary of the Los Angeles Building Trades Council, which represents about 100,000 local construction workers.

"The city should be cleaning out that area now," he said. Rebuild L.A. Chairman Peter Ueberroth "was talking about the $600 million. Let's spend that money now."

For the construction industry, where jobs have vanished in the recession, rebuilding "will mean decent-paying jobs and money going back into the system," said Kennedy.

Nearly 1,000 members of Icaza's Commercial Workers Union were idled by the riots, most of whom are supermarket employees, and about 30,000 members work and live in the South Central area. And many of Kennedy's 100,000-member union reside in the affected areas.

That's why "it's important that it's not rhetoric," said Icaza of the trust funds' commitment.

In addition to the $75 million, local union affiliates have donated money as well -- the largest so far was $100,000 from the United Auto Workers union.

Meanwhile, at least one local union previously gridlocked in contract negotiations with employers has altered and possibly reversed strategies in response to the riots.

Before the riots, the Restaurant and Hotel Employees Union Local 11, in recent deadlocked talks with the Hotel Employers Council over wage and health insurance benefits, vowed to underscore their position with staged acts of civil disobedience throughout the city.

In the first bargaining meeting since the riots, the two groups again failed to agree on health benefits for the workers, but union spokesman Matthew Walker said, "We're not going to involve civil disobedience in the short term. In light of recent events, it would be less appropriate than it would have been before."