LA WATCHDOG - Bloomberg reporters Chris Palmeri and Rodney Yap have created quite a commotion with their February 7th Bloomberg expose which stated that our Department of Water and Power had “the highest paid employees in the City of Los Angeles, earning on average 40% more than other municipal workers, even those with identical job titles.”
But do not blame these extraordinary compensation and benefit arrangements on DWP and its management.
Rather, the responsibility for this very expensive fiasco that sticks it to Ratepayers to the tune of more than $250 million a year belongs to the super secretive Executive Employee Relations Committee (the “EERC”) and, in particular, the fiscally imprudent axis of Mayor Villaraigosa, Eric Garcetti, the former City Council President and wannabe mayor, and Council Member Dennis Zine, the former chair of the Personnel Committee and candidate for Controller.
Unfortunately, these three ethically challenged politicians do not have the decency to excuse themselves from the collective bargaining “negotiations” with campaign funding Union Bo$$ d’Arcy, the public be damned business manager of the IBEW, DWP’s domineering union.
Talk about a conflict of interest! No wonder “negotiations” are conducted behind closed doors.
This extraordinary level of salaries and benefits is compounded by exceedingly burdensome work rules that result in an inefficient work force.
This explains why IBEW construction work crews working on our water mains cost twice as much as budgeted and took twice as long as planned.
No wonder campaign funding IBEW Union Bo$$ d’Arcy refuses to allow “benchmarking” of DWP’s operations, despite the strong recommendation of the last two charter mandated Industrial, Economic, and Administrative Surveys.
After all, according to Union Bo$$ d’Arcy’s rules, nothing happens at his DWP without his say so.
To help the Ratepayers and City Council get a better understanding of this situation, DWP needs to prepare a detailed, thorough, and objective analysis of its compensation and benefits arrangements with the IBEW.
Following the August 2011 suggestions of Council Members Parks and Perry, DWP should also analyze why its four medical plans cost 50% more than similar plans for City workers and why these plans are not subject to competitive bidding.
The independent report should also investigate other IBEW related deals, including the over $10 million of payments to the highly questionable Joint Training and Joint Safety Institutes that essentially absorbed IBEW employees and overhead when union dues fell because of DWP’s downsizing in 2000.
Of course, one of the major concerns is whether DWP management will be allowed to prepare such an independent analysis given the political clout of campaign funding IBEW Union Bo$$ d’Arcy.
Will the politically appointed DWP Commissioners allow DWP management to develop an independent and thorough analysis? After all, the IBEW was the largest contributor to the Mayor’s 2005 campaign.
And will the Energy and Environment Committee be a force for transparency now that Jan Perry, a great proponent of Ratepayers Advocate, has been replaced by union financed Jose Huizar, one of the Garcetti led IBEW Eight that emasculated the ballot measure for the Ratepayers Advocate because of the opposition of Union Bo$$ d’Arcy?
But Ratepayers have the absolute right to know the extent of the IBEW Labor Premium that has been estimated to add up to 5% to 10% to our DWP bill as well as the impact of the overly restrictive work rules.
And that is why 78% of the voters approved the Ratepayers Advocate to oversee the operations and finances of our Department of Water and Power.
The scandalous IBEW Labor Premium, coupled with the City’s runaway personnel costs ($740 million over the next four years) that are sucking the life blood out of City services for the benefit of a few, justify the immediate abolishment of the EERC.
They also highlight why the collective bargaining process must be conducted in an open and transparent manner and not behind closed doors where our round heeled politicians prostitute themselves to the campaign funding unions.
And these fiscally irresponsible actions by the EERC, along with the lack of proper oversight by our Elected Elite (including IBEW financed Controller Wendy Greuel) and their cronies, are living proof why we need an empowered and independent Financial Control Board to ensure that the City lives within its means by truly balancing its budget, by maintaining and repairing its streets and infrastructure, and by properly funding its $10 billion underfunded pension plans.
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee and the Ratepayer Advocate for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. Humphreville is the publisher of the Recycler -- www.recycler.com. He can be reached at: [email protected]) –cw
Tags: Jack Humphreville, LA Watchdog, Brian d’Arcy, Union Boss d’Arcy, IBEW, DWP, LADWP, Los Angeles, union negotiations, Mayor Villaraigosa, Eric Garcetti, Dennis Zine, Wendy Greuel
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 13
Pub: Feb 14, 2012
