EAA MEMBERS URGED TO RATIFY 3-YEAR CONTRACT.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

About 7,400 city employees represented by the Engineers and Architects Association would receive a 3 percent annual raise under a three-year contract proposed Wednesday by city and union officials.

The EAA said it will recommend that its members accept the offer, which comes after a months-long series of job actions at the city's airport and ports to protest disparities with wages paid to Department of Water and Power workers. The proposed raises would cost taxpayers an additional $10 million to $12 million a year.

Bob Aquino, the union's executive director, refused to comment on the proposal, saying details will be sent to members with their ballots. Results will be released Jan. 10.

But Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the proposal a ``win-win'' for both the city and EAA members, who are currently working under a contract imposed by the City Council.

The mayor refused to discuss any details of the proposal or to comment on the contract dispute with the EAA.

The mayor chairs the city's Executive Employment Review Commission, which determines contract offers to city workers. The EERC voted 5-0 to recommend the offer.

City Council President Eric Garcetti said he was glad to see the prospect of an end to the labor strife.

``I think this shows the city treats its employees well and respects the taxpayers,'' he said. ``No one benefits from a dispute.''

Councilman Dennis Zine, chairman of the council's Personnel Committee, said the new contract would provide security for the workers.

``More importantly, it brings a successful conclusion and allows us to move forward,'' he said. ``And we will work to avoid problems in the future.''

The union staged a two-day job action last summer and has held a series of one-day demonstrations at Los Angeles International Airport and the Port of Los Angeles, where the union claimed it had slowed service to cruise lines and affected other shipping operations. City officials denied it had a major impact.

Talks between the union and the city have continued, however, and the EAA issued a notice last week to workers to hold off on future job actions.

The proposed agreement allows each side to save face: Villaraigosa can claim he refused to cave in to pressure from a union, which endorsed his election over then-Mayor James Hahn, and the union can claim it got more money for its workers.

It was never clear how much support the EAA had for its job actions. At the peak of its picketing, officials estimated about 1,600 of its 10,000 members walked off the job.

The EAA is one of the higher-paid unions, with salaries averaging $75,000 a year. Its members hold key jobs in virtually every office in the city, from airports to traffic, planning and public works.

In rejecting the past contract offer, which called for no increase the first year and phased in raises totaling 6.25 percent through the end of the contract, Aquino cited the lucrative deal Hahn gave to DWP workers.

The DWP contract was for 3.25 percent a year for five years, but it included an escalator clause to account for inflation that could have driven its costs up by 31 percent. But that clause hasn't been used since the contract was signed.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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