CITY'S COSTLY TRASH TALK WORKERS KEEP JOBS AFTER RACKING UP $7,000 IN CELL PHONE CALLS.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

Los Angeles city officials disclosed Friday that they reached agreement with a union to give 300 sanitation truck drivers stipends as high as $75 a month for cell phones after two probationary employees racked up more than $7,000 in personal calls on city-issued cells.

Under the deal with the Service Employees International Union, Local 347, a strong supporter of Mayor James Hahn, the Department of Sanitation agreed not to fire the two truck drivers, saying managers had failed to properly instruct them that it was wrong to make personal calls on the city's cell phones.

``It was really a failure on my part and all the way through my management to really communicate what the proper use of a city cell phone is,'' said Rita L. Robinson, director of the sanitation bureau.

``I think people honestly did their best to figure this out. In the meantime the young people need to be chastised properly, as we will do.''

The disclosure came as the Bureau of Sanitation was releasing cellular- phone records that the Daily News sought under the California Public Records Act. The Daily News made its request for the records Nov. 8.

Robinson and Julie Butcher, the union's general manager, insisted that their statements about the incident to a City Council committee Friday were unrelated to the Daily News' inquiry.

The phones are issued to the trash-truck drivers so they can communicate with each other, with customers and vendors and report incidents, according to Robinson.

The current policy, which is in writing but often not enforced, prohibits employees from using their city cell phones for personal reasons in all but a few cases.

``Any personal use of the city's cellular telephones should be limited to calls needed to respond to emergency situations or in circumstances where immediate action is necessary,'' the policy states.

It isn't clear whether the two sanitation drivers had reviewed the policy.

Butcher said they received their cellular phones from someone other than their boss, without detailed instructions on the proper use of the phones.

``I know it's common sense, but 20-year-olds don't tend to have much common sense,'' Butcher said. ``(They're) public employees, but I believe the employers have a responsibility to be clear.''

Cellular billing records reviewed by the Daily News show that the two employees racked up increasingly large cell-phone bills between May and October. In October, both incurred cellular charges of more than $700.

Most of the roughly 300 sanitation bureau employees who are issued city cell phones incurred bills of $50 to $75 a month. Robinson, the head of the 3,000-employee department, had monthly bills ranging from $44.58 to $116.62.

On Nov. 8, after the abuses were discovered and the Daily News requested the records, Robinson required employees with city cell phones to sign a form agreeing to limit their calls to official business except in special circumstances.

Robinson said she and other managers backed down from firing the sanitation drivers - both of whom were on probation and therefore not subject to civil-service protections - after conceding that they hadn't done enough to prevent the abuses.

Robinson said the city will recoup ``every dime'' of the illegitimate expenses by deducting them from the employees' paychecks. The workers also agreed to 30-day suspensions, Robinson said.

The Daily News requested documents detailing the disciplinary process against the two employees but Bureau of Sanitation officials said the records would not be available until next week.

City officials were not able to say how much of Los Angeles' 37,000- employee work force is issued city cellular phones.

Butcher and Robinson endorsed the proposal to eliminate city cell phones for all but a handful of high-ranking officials.

Lower-level workers would be expected to use their personal cell phones for work, then get reimbursed from the city for work-related calls. Instead of itemizing the calls, however, the workers would receive a flat payment of up to $50 or $75 a month, they said.

They presented their idea Friday to the City Council's Audits and Governmental Efficiency Committee, which did not discuss the proposal or the misuse by the two sanitation drivers.

Reached later, the committee's chairwoman, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, declined to either condemn the actions of the two workers or endorse the proposal to do away with most city cell phones.

``We need to find out more about the policies of the city,'' Greuel said. ``I don't know enough about the issue to comment at this point.''

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com