11,000 Los Angeles City Workers Initiate 24-Hour Strike, Picketing At City Hall, LAX Other Locations – Updated
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UPDATED with latest – From downtown to Los Angeles International Airport, thousands of city workers went on strike today for a scheduled 24-hour work stoppage prompted by what their union believes is a lack of good-faith labor negotiations, but municipal leaders said the city is continuing to operate — albeit with some disruptions.
The striking workers showed up overnight at City Hall, prompting a closure of some streets surrounding the iconic seat of municipal government. Early Tuesday morning, more workers began picketing at LAX, where some shuttle bus drivers were among those walking off the job, complicating travel for many people looking to catch flights. The picketing disrupted some traffic in the always-crowded LAX horseshoe, and clogged entrances to some terminals.
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Ahead of a planned rally at City Hall at 11 a.m. Tuesday, union members addressed City Council members and urged them to ensure “fair labor negotiations.”
“We are here. You hear us outside. We’re tired of the disrespect when it comes to bargaining,” said Simboa Wright, vice president of the union and a wastewater collection worker with more than 20 years of city service.
“We’re asking every last one of you as City Council members to assist and give the CAO (city administrative officer) authority to bargain (with us).”
Thousands more union members convened outside City Hall with picket signs.
City officials warned the public that the walkout by some 11,000 workers would lead to some service disruptions, but Mayor Karen Bass insisted that the city of Los Angeles is not going to shut down.”
“My office is implementing a plan ensuring no public safety or housing and homelessness emergency operations are impacted by this action,” Bass said in a statement on Monday.
“Like I said over the weekend, the city will always be available to make progress with SEIU 721 and we will continue bargaining in good faith.”
The workers represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 721 are fighting for higher wages and improved benefits, and they say contract talks have lagged.
The union and city officials will resume negotiations next Monday, SEIU officials confirmed.
PREVIOUSLY on Monday – Amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, more than 11,000 Los Angeles city workers are initiating a one-day walkout throughout the city tomorrow to protest contract negotiations between union officials and city leaders.
The workers plan to picket for 24 hours Tuesday outside City Hall, Los Angeles International Airport and other locations to protest “a refusal to bargain in good faith” — it marks the first such strike action in more than 40 years.
The employees, including sanitation workers, heavy duty mechanics, traffic officers and engineers represented by SEIU Local 721, voted overwhelmingly in May – with 98% approval – to authorize an Unfair Labor Practice strike if negotiations stalled.
Union officials said the workers will meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall for a march and rally, though picket lines will begin as early as 4 a.m. at sites throughout the city.
They won’t be the only ones.
Hundreds of striking hotel workers represented by Unite HERE Local 11 will also picket and rally Downtown at the InterContinental Los Angeles today and announce the filing of an Unfair Labor Practice charge against the hotel industry’s Coordinated Bargaining Group, which represents a majority of LA’s unionized hotel employers, including Hyatt, Hilton, IHG, and Marriott. The group of thousands of cooks, maids, dishwashers, servers, bellmen and front-desk agents at 46 Los Angeles area hotels are asking for higher wages and improved benefits and working conditions.
That’s in addition to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA members who will be picketing most of the major studios and streamers each day this week.
“Despite repeated attempts by city workers to engage management in a fair bargaining process, the City has flat-out refused to honor previous agreements at the bargaining table, prompting workers to file charges alleging unfair labor practices with the city of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board,” SEIU 721 officials said in a statement last week.
Mayor Karen Bass, who is in Washington, D.C. this weekend meeting with federal officials, said Saturday that Los Angeles officials are available around the clock “to make progress” on the contract negotiations.
“City workers are vital to the function of services for millions of Angelenos every day and to our local economy,” Bass said in a statement.
“They deserve fair contracts and we have been bargaining in good faith with SEIU 721 since January. The City will always be available to make progress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
“It feels like it’s ‘Strike Summer’ because it is,” SEIU 721 officials tweeted in late July. “But make no mistake — our fight for respect does not end with the summer. It ends with contracts that adequately protect and pay us.”
SEIU Local 721 represents more than 95,000 public sector workers in Southern California.
The union said the city of Los Angeles strike “comes at a watershed moment for the city, with officials preparing for the World Cup and Olympic Games in the coming years. Both events promise to have long-lasting impacts on the entire Southern California region, with a massive influx of tourists and athletes putting an enormous strain on the city’s frontline services, all on the world stage.”
It also comes at a time when the city is experiencing a more than 20% job vacancy rate across departments.
David Green, president and executive director of SEIU 721, told City News Service last week that 30-plus strike lines are expected Tuesday all across the city.
“We are going to be throughout the entire city striking to send a message that the city’s broken the law,” Green said. “They need to come back to the table, they need to fill these vacancies and they need to listen to the concerns of the public.”
He said residents might experience a lack of service Tuesday, whether it’s the “folks that pick up their trash, that protect the harbor, work in parks or that secure LAX.”
The union ratified a one-year agreement with the city in November 2022 with the understanding the two sides would return to the bargaining table immediately after the winter holidays, SEIU Local 721 Chief of Staff Gilda Valdez told the Los Angeles Times. The city and union would then negotiate over a number of smaller specific proposals, she said.
But the city has “reneged on their promise to negotiate on these issues,” according to Valdez, prompting the union to file an unfair labor practice claim with the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board over this
issue, along with claims filed over several other issues in recent months.
“We’re not going to tolerate unfair labor practices during bargaining or at all. We’re fed up,” Valdez said.
The most recent strike by Los Angeles city workers occurred in November 1980.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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