Re “Nachbar Says City Hall Won 80 Percent of Goals in Labor Talks”
After saying that City Hall obtained 80 percent of its objectives during the recently completed contract talks with the toughest union, the Police Officers Assn., City Manager John Nachbar did not want to appear to be a braying winner.
“It was very long and arduous,” he said. “At the end, there was a significant amount of compromise, but in a way that enhances the city’s financial position going forward.
“By the time everything phases in, the annual reduction in operating expenses is approximately $3 million.”
Mr. Nachbar is a Middle Westerner, not given to expressive highs and lows.
Without altering his tone of voice, he said that his target savings at the outset of talks “was multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars below that.”
Careful, though, not to sound triumphant, the City Manager rejected any suggestion that he had exceeded his target.
“We started out with a goal that assumed what it would be if we got everything we sought. That never was going to happen, though, via negotiation because ultimately there has to be compromise.
“We probably got 80 percent of what we were seeking. A lot of the compromises were in short-term costs to gain long-term savings.”
It is generally conceded, though typically not for the record, that the safety agencies, the police and fire departments, are treated more gingerly than other employees. “It was that way long before I came to work here,” said a woman with almost 20 years experience. “I am not keen about it, but what can we do?”
Two lines drawing the most attention were raising the cops’ retirement age from 50 to 55 and having them pay the entirety of their 9 percent pension contribution. But there was a catch to the latter. Payment won’t hurt as much as it could have because the city agreed to advance POA members the majority of their 9 percent hike in their new year paychecks, covering a raise members will gain when the LAPD salaries increase, a nearly 60-year-old policy linking City Hall and the LAPD.
As with the other five city labor unions — three who have settled and two who are within an eyelash — all cops and firefighters will have their healthcare benefits reduced to employee-plus-one after Dec. 31, unless longevity (20 years or more) allows their cases to be grandfathered in.
(To be continued)
