Since Culver City is hardly a blue collar community, labor union negotiations seldom are visible or associated the Heart of Screenland.
But second-year City Manager John Nachbar and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Muir have scaled probably the most imposing labor negotiation mountains of their careers by reaching a settlement on a three-year contract with the Police Officers Assn., rated the most difficult of City Hall’s six employee groups. The POA overwhelmingly approved of the terms.
With the Culver City Employees Assn., the Culver City Manager Group and the police management union all satisfied, the only outstanding agreements are with firefighters and fire management. They are close to settling, Mr. Nachbar said.
The City Manager and the CFO almost can exhale after opening talks last January, a hefty 10 months ago.
Mr. Nachbar said that City Hall gained 80 percent of what it sought at the outset of contract talks. Other sources said that while four unions did some surrendering, mostly they walked away from the table happy, convinced they obtained the best terms they could. That viewpoint was validated by the lopsided approval votes of the satisfied unions.
The Culver City Employees Assn., for example, recently voted 210 to 20 to accept a “slight” improvement in terms, thanks to a me-too clause activated after the Police Officers Assn. contract was settled.
Mr. Nachbar said that the new generally skinnier contracts will mean a $3 million annual savings for the city, and eventually that will grow to $10 million a year.
In a global season of severe financial cutbacks and some significant union concessions, fear-driven rumors have been fanned for months claiming that numerous employees would walk away from the city before the end of the year because of a gigantic reduction in healthcare benefits.
But because of a grandfathering clause and a grim labor environment, the city expects the number of departures to be much smaller than previously suggested. “I can’t tell you how many will leave, but it is not going to be a big deal,” one City Hall veteran said this afternoon.
The biggest name casualty apparently will be City Councilman Scott Malsin, whose family healthcare benefits would be sharply reduced if he stays on the job. The newspaper reported yesterday that he has told friends he will resign next month. However, he will return next spring, running for his two remaining years as a curious extra attraction to the next City Council campaign, which will open in January and climax in April.
Here is how City Hall has summarized its major accomplishments resulting from negotiations:
1. Creation of a second tier for all new hires with lower pension formulas and/or converting to final three year average earnings.
2. All current employees transitioning into paying their own share of the employee pension cost, or an equivalent amount through cost sharing.
3. All new hires paying their full share of the employee pension cost immediately.
4. Implementation of a cafeteria plan for health benefits, with fixed dollar amounts for each bargaining group and a 4 percent annual growth cap. This benefit is now a defined contribution.
5. Reducing the retiree medical benefit for the majority of current employees. With the exception of those grandfathered (those with 20 years of PERS service credit as of Dec. 31, 2011, or those reaching 25 years of employment with Culver City by Jan. 1, 2022), the benefit has been reduced and converted to a defined contribution.
6. Creating a new tier for all employees hired after July 1, 2011, that provides only the minimum required retiree medical benefit (the PEMHCA minimum).
(To be continued)
