City Hall’s tense and fragile contract negotiations with four of its six labor unions will remind you of old times, when you delicately visiting your infant’s bedroom at midnight:
You pad through the darkened house on tippy toes so as not to disturb a shallow sleeper, and the “shhh” sign always is on.
All negotiators are tiptoeing through City Hall these spring days, too, because City Manager John Nachbar and his team are trying to convince unhappy union leaders to make concessions.
Most, if not all, of the leverage is on one side of the table because Culver City is as strapped as thousands of American communities. One union negotiator said reluctantly that ammunition is available, but he did not sound persuasive or helpful.
This is Give Back or Else season everywhere in the country, not just in Middle West states with Republican governors and legislatures.
No one at the intersection of Culver Boulevard and Duquesne wants to be quoted about name, and a blind man would find more smiles at San Quentin. Every day brings a new chapter of the Brothers Grimm.
“Things are not going good,” said a person from inside negotiations.
“We are negotiating. The other side is dictating more than negotiating.
What Is the Difference?
“If you didn’t know we were in California, you would think we were in Wisconsin,” the person said. “I am not naive, but I believe it is in the best interests of everyone for fair, reasonable people to prevail.
“No winners and no losers here, except for the citizens.
“One of the larger problems is that we have a Management side with no institutional memory (Mr. Nachbar having arrived last Aug.16).
“We live in Los Angeles, where everything can change quickly, and so we end up relying on staff to keep the city going. It’s not the managers who are going to keep the city going. It will be staff.
“And if they keep disrespecting staff, they are not going to have the loyalty that they automatically come to rely on.
“I have not been in Culver City that many years, but this is the worst I have seen. There is no willingness to compromise. No middle ground. No meet in the middle.
“I was expecting to see an attitude that says ‘We are in a crisis, so let’s put our heads together and work out something, come to a solution we all can love with.’ But oh, no. That was my ultimate optimist side speaking. That is not how it’s playing out. How could I have been so naïve?”
The worst outcome, said the worker, would be to impose a contract on us, closely followed by dreaded layoffs.
“I believe if we said yes to all of their demands, we still will face major layoffs. They already have a plan, I am sure.”
What choices do your union have?
“That is what we will figure out in the coming months,” he said.
(To be continued)
