The word is leaking out of City Hall from all directions: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is moving swiftly to get rid of 1,000 or more of the youngest and lowest-paid city workers without a strategic plan to preserve services or get rid of the people he once called "deadwood."
The mayor, who increasingly is showing signs of panic in the face of the budget crisis, has called department heads to a meeting Tuesday afternoon with the goal of making it clear that the target of his layoff plan are those with less than five years employment with the city.
He also is asking for a list of what public services they recommend eliminating and has drawn a line against cuts in police. It's unlikely he will hit the Fire Department given LA's propensity for natural disasters.
Those public safety departments account for half of all general fund spending.so the impact on other city departments, already are losing 2,763 workers to the Early Retirement Incentive Program, will be enormous.
Although the question of layoffs was raised nearly a year ago, there has been no strategic planning on how to minimize the impact on important services to the public. In fact, the City Council has repeatedly emphasized protecting functions that generate revenue instead of those that provide general public services.
The ERIP itself has been a disaster for many departments with key senior managers deciding to retire with $15,000 in cash and pensions sweetened with five years extra service credit, enhancing pensions by about 12 percent.
Those retirements have left gaping holes in the ability of some departments to operate and the random elimination of those at the bottom who actually do much of the work will compound the chaos and further degrade city services.
Union leaders are set to meet Friday with top officials and appear to be ready to fight even as many of their rank-and-file members are challenging the decisions they made on ERIP and new contracts that contained hollow promises of no layoffs and deferred pay raises.
The business community and Neighborhood Council leaders have stressed that pension reform is the critical issue since the burden of a $10.5 billion unfunded pension liability is draining the general fund and pushing the city toward bankruptcy.
The mayor, who increasingly is showing signs of panic in the face of the budget crisis, has called department heads to a meeting Tuesday afternoon with the goal of making it clear that the target of his layoff plan are those with less than five years employment with the city.
He also is asking for a list of what public services they recommend eliminating and has drawn a line against cuts in police. It's unlikely he will hit the Fire Department given LA's propensity for natural disasters.
Those public safety departments account for half of all general fund spending.so the impact on other city departments, already are losing 2,763 workers to the Early Retirement Incentive Program, will be enormous.
Although the question of layoffs was raised nearly a year ago, there has been no strategic planning on how to minimize the impact on important services to the public. In fact, the City Council has repeatedly emphasized protecting functions that generate revenue instead of those that provide general public services.
The ERIP itself has been a disaster for many departments with key senior managers deciding to retire with $15,000 in cash and pensions sweetened with five years extra service credit, enhancing pensions by about 12 percent.
Those retirements have left gaping holes in the ability of some departments to operate and the random elimination of those at the bottom who actually do much of the work will compound the chaos and further degrade city services.
Union leaders are set to meet Friday with top officials and appear to be ready to fight even as many of their rank-and-file members are challenging the decisions they made on ERIP and new contracts that contained hollow promises of no layoffs and deferred pay raises.
The business community and Neighborhood Council leaders have stressed that pension reform is the critical issue since the burden of a $10.5 billion unfunded pension liability is draining the general fund and pushing the city toward bankruptcy.
Ron Kaye
Targeting employees with less than five years has no rhyme or reason to it, except that these are the employees least likely to file lawsuits for unlawful termination.
There is no uniform spread of employees with less than five years' civil service. This will hit some departments far harder than others just by the chance distribution.
At this point, Mayor Villaraigosa is now the General Manager of every single City department since he and his friends in council have refused to let General Managers manage.
Maybe he should quit pretending and just lay off all the GMs, too.
Hey City employees with less than five years:
Are you going to take this lying down or are you going to fight?
It requires five years for employees to be vested in the pension system, and therefore, do not have much vested in the system, and are young enough to find other jobs.
If the voters of Los Angeles had gotten off their rear ends and gone to vote in March 2009, this incompetent Mayor would no longer be in charge of the City.
"It requires five years for employees to be vested in the pension system"
Really? From where inside your asshole did you pull that out
"young enough to find other jobs"
Because in this economy we all know being young is all you need to find another job, as opposed to something unimportant like having experience
5:03, go check the facts before you use vulgarities. Your second contradictory point requires no response.
The Mayor's lack of leadership is astounding!!! A hard freeze should have been put in place by the Mayor 2 years ago!!! Instead, he hired gang bangers and more than 1,000 new City employees!!! How irresponsible!!! Pure lack of judgment!!
Shame on us. Antonio never claimed to be other than a B.Ser. He asked us to dream. He makes promises without a clue of their implications. Stay tuned. We are just witnessing the beginning of the destruction of L.A.
To Anonymous @ 7:15 p.m.
It is "irresponsible" and shows a "pure lack of judgment" to just make sh&t up. There HAS been a hiring freeze for general funded positions (except public safety). Please identify the CITY department where "1000 gang bangers" have been hired. Are you suggesting that the recent graduates of the police academy are gang bangers? Where are the FACTS to back up your assertion?
7:51p.m., another hack on Antonio`s dole!
Facts? It would take a young person 30 years of service to be eligible to claim his pension. So yeah you pulled your number of 5 years from out of your asshole.
Understand the difference between "vested" and "drawing" a pension. If a person is subject to a lay-off prior to 5 years or less,h/she is refunded the contribution into the system. More than 5 years, a person is vested, and even if they leave the city & choose to leave the contributions in the system, they will draw a small pension when eligible after 30 years. And do clean your mouth with soap.
Antonio`s "panic" will translate to his selling anybody at anytime to salvage his own hide. The man has no scruples.
*gargle gargle*
I don`t think Antonio is in a panic mode. He assigned Szabo as his financial guru. Szabo will solve the city`s economic crisis, a task his boss was incapable and/or unwilling to perform. OK, may be he was too busy doing yoga with Lu and others......
The focus is much too narrow and short sighted to get a handle on the real problem, let alone on a viable treatment to the budget ailment. one cannot entirely blame the City's employees for the poor judgment of those that have their "hands on the steering wheel". Employees had warned the City Council way in advance, and with enough time, for a viable way to handle this. The employees had voted on an ERIP proposal back in June of 2009, but the City Council dawdled and procrastinated, until the proposal was no longer viable, in their opinion.
It was, and continues to be, their self-induced fiscal illusions and suicidal spending habits that have proven them to be their own worst fiscal enemy. No one is saying that the budget crisis isn't real, but until you take care of the REAL causes, we are doomed to repeat history. For too long, and too many times, the first remedy to any City budget shortfall is to demonize the people who get the work done, and go after their pockets, which craftily diverts attention away from the root causes of the real deficiencies.
If the budget crisis is real and the City is in a "declared fiscal emergency", how about the City Council acting like we're in a fiscal emergency, and manage the entire City finances accordingly?
The Mayor and the City Council need to stop the politicking and posturing about their own futures and concentrate on curbing their spending, for starters.
The Mayor needs to determine priorities. he might consider whacking a few of his pet programs and departments that are non core.
Leadership,the courage to make the tough calls and common sense have been extinct for over a decade. ANIMAL FARM
lets all face it los angeles is bankrup there is no more money to waste city hall have wastes all on
unions and there special interest they got all youre money
there is no one we can blame ,they all done it in city hall
yet they all whant to run for another office are they out of there mind
they have not see the train coming there way just like the rest of the crooks democrats
you can not spend what you dont have
evty one in city hall are crooks and liars
RECALL the MAYOR!....Yes WE "CAN"!
Please note that personnel does have a plan for layoffs, over 8,000 hours in training was given to personnel employees for the layoff process. That is documented in a report from personnel's Maggie Whelan to city council last year. The layoff process is supposed to start at the top of the food chain. The city council did not implement it soon enough so now they are panicking. As executive management will protect their positions and buffer their support people at the top of the pyramid, it is now proposed to go after those with less than 5 years of service at the bottom.
Get Department Position Control Reports and you will soon find where the fluff and duplication of services are.
Finally, someone (Jan 26 6:01AM) gets it right. Yes, the main reason people with five years or less are being targeted is that there will be less "bumping" of the employees with less seniority. If you do layoffs traditionally-by function-you would most likely be eliminating positions filled by people with 15-20 years. The high seniority usually means the person worked in various jobs in various departments. That, in turn, means a lot of calculating of seniority, not only for the people in the initial cuts, but for anyone they displace who has less seniority. It's a domino effect, and for each person being displaced, personnel has to re-calculate seniority. It can takes months, and the city needs to cut asap. That's why they picked five years -- gives them enough cuts while keeping the seniority calculations needed down.
Thanks for my ERIP Little Tone' I'm loveing it
Thanks for my ERIP Little Tone' I'm loveing it
Thanks for my ERIP Little Tone' I'm loveing it
Thanks for my ERIP Little Tone' I'm loveing it
Thanks for my ERIP Little Tone' I'm loveing it
I'm almost ready to call it quits on this stinky city. I have more than 5 years but my morale is low. My office is short staff, the work (criminals) never get laid off....and I'm sick of busting my butt for a city that does NOT bust its butt for me!!! I rather clean houses in peace than to deal with this back and forth...and shady practices.
- Ungainfully employed....FOR NOW!
To understand why it is costing so much money withing the Police Department, you have to uderstand what the motivating force is. "Promotions". Managers, Supervisors, Sargents, Lutentents, Captains, as far as the eye can see, only have one function. Networking and finding allies for their next promotion. In my years with the Police Department, I have been amazed at the crooked, decietful, and deplorable way that Supervisors act and how they treat people. If these same people were working on the outside they would not last a week! They act like little Kings and Queens. The people that do the brunt of all the work are those same people the Mayor plans on laying off. I am retireing. And I can't wait to see the rats all running! Now that the Kings and Queens won't have the people with less time doing all their work, they now want to retire! The City is going to be in a real shambles! The truth is the City on a whole, has more CHIEFS than it does INDIANS! I would like to see these Supervisors do some work for a change and earn their "expensive" keep!
To understand why it is costing so much money withing the Police Department, you have to uderstand what the motivating force is. "Promotions". Managers, Supervisors, Sargents, Lutentents, Captains, as far as the eye can see, only have one function. Networking and finding allies for their next promotion. In my years with the Police Department, I have been amazed at the crooked, decietful, and deplorable way that Supervisors act and how they treat people. If these same people were working on the outside they would not last a week! They act like little Kings and Queens. The people that do the brunt of all the work are those same people the Mayor plans on laying off. I am retireing. And I can't wait to see the rats all running! Now that the Kings and Queens won't have the people with less time doing all their work, they now want to retire! The City is going to be in a real shambles! The truth is the City on a whole, has more CHIEFS than it does INDIANS! I would like to see these Supervisors do some work for a change and earn their "expensive" keep!