DWP CONTRACT EVOKES CONCERN IT MAY SET A PRECEDENT FOR OTHER UNIONS.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Divided City Council members faced with voting on a lucrative contract for 8,000 DWP workers expressed serious concerns Wednesday with the five-year deal, saying approval might prompt other unions to make similar high-cost demands.

Council members - who will formally consider the contract after Labor Day - said they are awaiting an opinion from City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo on what latitude they might have in renegotiating the pact, which would offer a minimum 16.25 percent pay hike that could surge to 30 percent if inflation climbs.

Still, a majority said they remain undecided or leaning toward approval, noting the agreement already has been ratified by union members.

Only two councilmen - Bernard Parks and the Valley's Greig Smith - said they are leaning toward opposing the deal, with Parks calling the $69 million cost of the minimum raises ``exorbitant.''

The Department of Water and Power's union is the only one in the city that for about a decade has negotiated contracts in which salary increases are tied to the consumer price index.

Parks said he's particularly concerned because the contract doesn't include a reopener clause if the city encounters a financial emergency. And because DWP workers typically earn more than their counterparts in other city departments, Parks and Smith also said salary parity needs to be addressed.

``That has to stop; it's not right,'' Smith said, adding that the contract also appears ``tilted'' more toward the union than ratepayers.

The proposed pay hike comes in the wake of an 11 percent increase in water rates imposed last year and another rate increase proposed.

Only Council members Jan Perry and Eric Garcetti said they were inclined to support the deal.

``We made a commitment,'' Perry said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was backed during his campaign by the union representing the DWP workers - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18 - also has raised concerns about the legality of reopening contract talks.

The IBEW has ratified the contract, and its president, Brian D'Arcy, has threatened a strike if it isn't adopted by Oct. 1. The DWP Commission approved the pact Tuesday, but the City Charter gives it no authority over giving raises.

Councilman Dennis Zine said he believes technically there is the opportunity for further negotiations because the council hasn't yet acted formally on the deal.

Zine chairs the council's Personnel Committee that is set to consider the contract. He also was a member of the city's Executive Employee Relations Committee that backed the contract in June while Mayor James Hahn was still in office.

But Zine - who cited confidentiality provisions of the EERC and the council's two closed sessions that resulted in negotiating instructions given to DWP negotiators - said he has ``serious concerns'' over how the IBEW contract would increase disparities among city unions.

``Some of them are requesting openers regarding their (cost-of-living allowances),'' Zine said. ``That's what's happening; it's opened this issue for other unions. I think we have to be fair to all city employees ... we also have to be respectful to the taxpayers who pay the bills.''

Councilman Tony Cardenas, whose Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee also will hear the contract after the holiday, said he hasn't made a decision. But he questioned whether the DWP could afford the raises should inflation climb steeply and said he is concerned that the DWP has not yet detailed a contingency plan in the event of a strike.

DWP General Manager Ron Deaton said the utility has ``ideas'' on how it would respond if workers strike but declined to be specific.

Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said she is worried about the potential fiscal impact on the city and the precedent the contract could set for future negotiations with other unions, but noted, ``No one wants a strike in the city.''

Beth Barrett, [phone]

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com

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SOURCE: Los Angeles City Council 

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