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A message to LA City professionals from Michael Hunt, Department of Transportation and MOU 17 Bargaining Team Member.
We are bargaining but the City’s Executive Employee Relations Committee has not given instructions to their chief negotiator – so we haven’t been able to move forward. I joined more than 400 SEIU members at City Council on Wednesday, February 24, to tell them about the negative impacts furloughs have on our jobs and to get the City moving on bargaining. Here’s some of what I told them:“I’m special funded and my furloughs do nothing to help
solve the budget problem. Who’s going to explain to all of these
people that their concerns aren’t going to be addressed because the
city is furloughing people they don’t need to?”
After
my testimony, Councilmember Rosendahl immediately pulled me out of the
audience to discuss this issue in more detail. He assumed that because
we had joined SEIU back in November 2009, that we were no longer being
furloughed. He was unaware that we’re still beholden to the furloughs
with our old contract. He wants to see this issue resolved as soon as
possible and will assist any way he can. He asked me to keep him
informed of our progress.
I sat down with Councilman Rosendahl on Tuesday, March 9. Keep reading to see the letter I sent him after our meeting.
Tuesday, March 9
Dear Councilmember Rosendahl,
As an SEIU 721 member, I would like to thank you and your staff for taking time out of your very busy schedules to listen to me and my union brothers earlier today. I hope that we were effective in conveying our concerns regarding the City’s fiscal crisis and the negative impacts the proposed layoffs would have to City services. Per your request, I have summarized my concerns mentioned during our meeting.
Current furloughs and a shortage of staff has created major issues and concerns such as:
- Projects falling behind schedule
- Grant funding potentially being lost and having to be paid back
- Engineering services being contracted out
- Reduced safety and increased liability
- Construction coordination efforts are falling short
I specifically mentioned four large sized projects in your district that are currently all being constructed at the same time in roughly the same area: I-405 northbound HOV lane project, Sepulveda reversible lane project, Skirball Center Dr. widening project and the Skirball Center project where an additional building is being constructed by the Skirball Center.
I explained that I had major concerns that due to a lack of personnel and time (due to furloughs) construction coordination efforts for these four projects are falling short (i.e., Construction impact areas have not been established for the I-405 project by the Transportation Construction and Traffic Management Committee.
I stated that this concerns me because construction on the I-405 project is to commence with the demolition of the Sunset Blvd. bridge come March 22, 2010. Without proper worksite traffic control plan reviews and approvals, coordination of haul routes, and proper detour plans in place, traffic congestion will be an absolute nightmare.
These issues currently exist without layoffs, which begs the question as to what will happen when the City decides to actually layoff city employees. I gave a couple of examples of how we can help prevent layoffs and reduce the City’s general fund deficit. We can start by filling specially funded positions (like the two I have in my section) with general funded employees. We can get creative in finding ways to fund employees such as tapping into other special fund sources like the Coastal Transportation Corridor Trust Fund.
Again, I would like to thank you for your time and I look forward to future meetings with you and your staff to ensure we preserve as many jobs and services that this great City deserves.
Michael C. Hunt, P.E.
Transportation Engineer
Special Projects Section
LADOT