Firefighters Union President Pat McOsker issued a pointed warning to the CIty Council on Tuesday over the planned “brownouts” in the city FIre Department — rolling closures of up to 28 stations every day and idling of dozens of ambulances.
He made the point that the actual cost to the city of $3.5 for the Michael Jackson funeral would avoid brownouts throughout the hot days of August at least if it was paid by AEG, the main beneficiary of the event and hundreds of millions of dollars in other gifts from the city.
What with the mayor and City Council being such good friends of AEG, that isn’t likely to happen. But McOsker didn’t completely waste his precious two minutes before the Council.
On Thursday, Fire Chief
Douglas Barry said no stations will be closed or
paramedic-ambulances taken out of service thanks to the mayor asking the Council to steal $13 million
from city reserve funds to reduce the impact of the $56 million cuts that were imposed.
But he admitted response times would be slower. That means that if you have a heart attack, there’s supposed to be ambulance teams on duty every so you’ll have a decent chance of survival.
But the same can’t necessarily be said if there’s a bad fire. Reduced staffing everywhere might sound better than closing some stations every day but it’s certainly a gamble unless you believe LAFD is overstaffed.
I suppose if something goes terribly wrong, you’ll get a letter of regret from your City Council member saying how sorry they are for your loss.
Officials from the city firefighters unions say the cuts are unthinkable and will certainly cost lives.
On Friday, July 18th, Mayor Villaraigosa instructed the Fire Chief to move forward on the Modified Coverage Plan (brownouts) beginning on August 6th. He did so after extensive discussions over the past several months with UFLAC leadership regarding the negative impacts that brownouts would have on public and firefighter safety. The Mayor has been repeatedly put on notice by Local 112 that brownouts will cause delayed LAFD responses, which will result in certain and unnecessary deaths in Los Angeles.
Much can happen between now and August 6th. The Mayor could pull back on brownouts prior to their scheduled start date. He has done so once already. But if he doesn’t, union members must understand exactly what these brownouts are: They are Mayor Villaraigosa’s cynical effort to leverage us in contract negotiations.
From the beginning, our Negotiating Team has been the only party at the table bargaining in good faith. Prior to negotiations we publicly offered to “share the sacrifice” with other city workers during these difficult times as long as the sacrifices asked of us are equal for all. In that vein, we made a series of reasonable offers at the table patterned after agreements recently reached between the City and its civilian unions. In response the City’s negotiators have made but one single offer to us. It contains pay and benefits reductions so severe and unequally targeted that they are insulting. It also is dramatically inferior to the deal struck with civilian workers only a few weeks ago.
If brownouts continue to move forward Local 112 will be ready. We are already speaking directly to the media and the City Council about the danger of the Mayor’s plan. We are also in the planning stages of a more organized and targeted public information campaign, and will ask union members to vote on an expenditure for that purpose at the August meeting. Our campaign will almost certainly include opportunities for union members to rally again, much as we did in May when 550 firefighters marched on City Hall.
For now, LAFD firefighters are asked to keep the faith, to keep working hard for the public we are sworn to protect, and to keep on message. And our message is as simple as it is honest: Don’t close fire companies and ambulances Mayor Villaraigosa: if you do people will die and it will be your fault.
Come on Ron, you know it’s a negotiating ploy from the LAFD union which doesn’t want to make any concessions. Playing the same hardball and scare- the-public tactics that the LAPD’s union is under its newer (since end Nov. 08), hard-line, head Paul Weber. It’s funny how some Republicans are all for “fixing the budget” by cutting services instead of raises taxes, EXCEPT when it comes to themselves, and especially if they’re union heads. Then they’re no different from AJ Duffy.
Anyway, it seems LAFD’s position is working, if they got some concessions already and today the mayor was in a photo op with his Weber of LAPD in a show of unity against the state. Normally Weber is trying to embarrass Antonio even though he and his allies have been the ones standing firm on increasing LAPD (Weber said he’d rather reduce the force than cut ANY salaries or benefits to existing officers). Common enemies make temporary odd bedfellows once in a while. And public pressure seems to be influencing the mayor more all of a sudden, since he blew Measure B so badly that it backfired on his buddy, uniting opposition to all things Antonio.
However, I have to add that blaming AEG for the budget shortfalls of the city and AEG is nonsense. Since when do we just arbitrarily make financial demands of any corporation or entity, to fund needs elsewhere? Frankly, that sounds more like the communist motto, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” While I think it’s unfortunate that the issue of who pays for the funeral and to what extent wasn’t discussed in advance, when it became clear that it would become a show as well, raising possible parallels to an Oscars event than a memorial, you can’t make retroactive demands. (A propos that parallel, Walter Moore actually made a good point: the awards shows close off public sidewalks for a week or more, with bleachers and security that keeps the public away, all of which is part of their “show.” In the Jackson case the LAPD was successful in keeping mobs OFF the streets and sidewalks: and it’s thanks to this success, that our grandstanding Trutanich is blaming the cops for being over-prepared. Makes no sense.)
Just on a practical note, the timing of this decision seems risky. Our peak fire season is upon us, and our mayor wants to cut resources? Like many of his other decisions lately, it just doesn’t make sense.
But why should that surprise me? Coming from a man who said a couple of years ago, “There are no illegals here” during a protest in downtown L.A., what should I expect? His most recent comments regarding the Michael Jackson “funeral” were equally dismal. That was not his funeral, it was a public celebration of his life, which is fine, but call it what it is. The funeral was a private affair with the family, and they paid for that. Celebrity Events that are widely publicized, offer tickets on the Internet via a lottery system, and have million+ people vying for a seat do not qualify as a funeral. I should think that Michael Jackson’s philanthropic sensibilities would rather have seen the millions spent upon his death go to help
someone in need.
Am I missing something? Where was the hardball tactics in the negotating with the 22,000 other city employees? Why did the mayor think that the other iunions like fire and police were not going to ask for exactlty the same kind if deal?
Oh, I get it. Cutting back library hours and street sweeping won’t scare the public and the mayor can say that he tried his best but what could he do.
Since LAPD is no longer bound by the consent decree, I understand 300 officers are immedlaetly able to be released to street duty. When can we expect that to occur and doesn’t that take off the pressure of hiring new cops for a while?
To comments 1 and three above:
This is about the FIRE Department, not PD. Further, whenever anyone needs help in the city, be it a heart attack, or car crash or (god forbid) a cat stuck up a tree-it is the LAFD who shows up…Not the Police, not DWP, not librarians…fire fighters. The LAFD is stretched thin already, if money needs to be cut lets begin with the Mayors’ travel budget, just last week the city spent an enormous amount of money so that our mayor could take a trip through Europe.
Come on Ron, you know it’s a negotiating ploy from the LAFD union which doesn’t want to make any concessions. Playing the same hardball and scare- the-public tactics that the LAPD’s union is under its newer (since end Nov. 08), hard-line, head Paul Weber. It’s funny how some Republicans are all for “fixing the budget” by cutting services instead of raises taxes, EXCEPT when it comes to themselves, and especially if they’re union heads. Then they’re no different from AJ Duffy.
Anyway, it seems LAFD’s position is working, if they got some concessions already and today the mayor was in a photo op with his Weber of LAPD in a show of unity against the state. Normally Weber is trying to embarrass Antonio even though he and his allies have been the ones standing firm on increasing LAPD (Weber said he’d rather reduce the force than cut ANY salaries or benefits to existing officers). Common enemies make temporary odd bedfellows once in a while. And public pressure seems to be influencing the mayor more all of a sudden, since he blew Measure B so badly that it backfired on his buddy, uniting opposition to all things Antonio.
However, I have to add that blaming AEG for the budget shortfalls of the city and AEG is nonsense. Since when do we just arbitrarily make financial demands of any corporation or entity, to fund needs elsewhere? Frankly, that sounds more like the communist motto, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” While I think it’s unfortunate that the issue of who pays for the funeral and to what extent wasn’t discussed in advance, when it became clear that it would become a show as well, raising possible parallels to an Oscars event than a memorial, you can’t make retroactive demands. (A propos that parallel, Walter Moore actually made a good point: the awards shows close off public sidewalks for a week or more, with bleachers and security that keeps the public away, all of which is part of their “show.” In the Jackson case the LAPD was successful in keeping mobs OFF the streets and sidewalks: and it’s thanks to this success, that our grandstanding Trutanich is blaming the cops for being over-prepared. Makes no sense.)
blue susan please contact me ron@ronkayela.com
Just on a practical note, the timing of this decision seems risky. Our peak fire season is upon us, and our mayor wants to cut resources? Like many of his other decisions lately, it just doesn’t make sense.
But why should that surprise me? Coming from a man who said a couple of years ago, “There are no illegals here” during a protest in downtown L.A., what should I expect? His most recent comments regarding the Michael Jackson “funeral” were equally dismal. That was not his funeral, it was a public celebration of his life, which is fine, but call it what it is. The funeral was a private affair with the family, and they paid for that. Celebrity Events that are widely publicized, offer tickets on the Internet via a lottery system, and have million+ people vying for a seat do not qualify as a funeral. I should think that Michael Jackson’s philanthropic sensibilities would rather have seen the millions spent upon his death go to help
someone in need.
Am I missing something? Where was the hardball tactics in the negotating with the 22,000 other city employees? Why did the mayor think that the other iunions like fire and police were not going to ask for exactlty the same kind if deal?
Oh, I get it. Cutting back library hours and street sweeping won’t scare the public and the mayor can say that he tried his best but what could he do.
Since LAPD is no longer bound by the consent decree, I understand 300 officers are immedlaetly able to be released to street duty. When can we expect that to occur and doesn’t that take off the pressure of hiring new cops for a while?
To comments 1 and three above:
This is about the FIRE Department, not PD. Further, whenever anyone needs help in the city, be it a heart attack, or car crash or (god forbid) a cat stuck up a tree-it is the LAFD who shows up…Not the Police, not DWP, not librarians…fire fighters. The LAFD is stretched thin already, if money needs to be cut lets begin with the Mayors’ travel budget, just last week the city spent an enormous amount of money so that our mayor could take a trip through Europe.
I heard something about this recently on a network news program.