Open Letter to the Daily News from AFSCME 3090 President Alice Goff

On behalf of the nearly 6,000 LA city workers I represent as President of AFSCME Local 3090, I object to the Daily News’ articles last Sunday and Monday insinuating that city workers are largely responsible for LA’s budget deficit. This accusation perpetuates the myth that city workers are fat cats simply collecting a paycheck instead of hard-working professionals who perform the vital work and services that make this city run.

Our members are the first point of contact for the citizens calling for police service. We provide customer service and process documents to bring in revenue that helps to make the Port of Los Angeles the most profitable on the west coast. We co-ordinate and run the programs in the parks, we answer the 3-1-1 calls requiring knowledge of the entire city service, we are the clerks who process the paperwork for building permits and extensions, we are in the libraries helping the inquisitive young person find that book for the report, we handle service requests for sanitation and street services. In every single City department, with the exception of Water and Power, our members provide critical services and support that keeps LA strong.

We, too, are single parents buying groceries, experiencing sticker shock at the gas pump, worrying when we drop our kids off at school about outsiders threatening the campus, and caring for ailing parents or other loved ones when we get off work. We are not a separate, privileged group – we are community members who make up the rich fabric of Los Angeles. We pay our taxes and fees for service like every other resident of the city. We work hard and expect fair and decent pay and working conditions just as you do.

We are Part of the Solution

Along with our sister and brother city unions, we have been meeting with the Mayor, the City Council and other leaders of City management to come up with creative and responsible ways to deal with this budget crisis. Last year we participated in a mutual gains process that set forth a new method for labor-management relations with the City. We are trying to be part of the solution.

To that end the Coalition of LA City Unions has proposed such ideas as expanding the pilot program for reducing the cost of workers’ compensation, bringing parking ticket collection in-house, reducing trash disposal and landfill costs by expanding our recycle programs, purchasing “plain” helicopters and retro-fitting in-house, and making fee changes in the city’s library system comparable to those of neighboring cities.

In March, the LA City Controller issued a report concluding that more than 500 police officers could be moved out of desk jobs and onto the street, replaced by highly skilled and trained civilian employees. We agree with this cost-saving measure. However, the report has been put on hold while plans to hire more police officers continue.

Scapegoating city workers and publishing their salaries online will not solve the problem of the budget crisis. Instead, we must  work together to solve this crisis, not pit wage earner against wage earner in an effort to diminish and further hobble a network of services already stretched thin.

While it may be legal for the Daily News to publish salaries of some public sector employees, is it ethical to invade our privacy? Since the Daily News is so eager to publish salaries, how about publishing what their editors make a year and how it compares to what their reporters make and the rest of the industry?

Sincerely,

Alice Goff
President
ACEA Local 3090 AFSCME
LA City Clerical and Support Services Employees