Schools but not cities – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Edward Caprielian

The following letter to the editor was published in the Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, March 22, 2012 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.

Lack of visibility and public input during city employee union contract negotiations

Schools but not cities

Question: Are Manhattan Beach residents afforded public hearings on city employee labor negotiations such as those provided between the Manhattan Beach School District and its teachers?

Answer: Absolutely not! The Educational Employment Relations Act requires hearings by school districts to “enable the public to become informed” and provide the public “the opportunity to express itself” and to “know the positions of their elected representatives” before negotiations.

The Meyers-Milias Brown Act covering local government labor relations requires no such public hearing, but neither is there a prohibition. The Manhattan Beach City Council, true to its historic repressive policy of not informing the public and respecting our intelligence, prohibits such efforts.

Question: Has the Manhattan Beach City Council (MBCC) barricade produced fiscal responsibility?

Answer: Absolutely not! Present contracts are replete with fiscally irresponsible provisions including diminished management authority; requiring salary increases but prohibiting decreases; allowing “stealth bonuses” for “extra duties” without required qualifications; and deficient disciplinary procedures including employees receiving pay while being investigated for misconduct with no provisions for deducting income earned from outside employment while on administrative leave.

Because elected officials and managers receive pay and benefits equal to or more than employees, they too benefit from these deficiencies including personnel policies resulting in inadequate measures of managerial performance and “investment vehicles” resulting in accrued vacation and sick leave paid out at current salary rather than when accrued.

Question: Consequently, are Manhattan Beach residents condemned to having not one iota of input into these MBCC decisions representing 70 percent of our taxpayer dollars?

Answer: Absolutely yes!

Edward Caprielian, Manhattan Beach

Note by Michael D. Robbins on March 22, 2012:

This very important letter points out serious deficiencies in the in both existing state law that allows local government employees to unionize and engage in collective bargaining, and in the actual common practice of secret contract negotiations between city employee labor unions and the city council members they helped to elect and can replace at their next election.

There is an inherent and unavoidable conflict of interest created when government employees are allowed to unionize and then practice their undeniable and well-protected First Amendment free-speech rights to actively campaign and contribute money and in-kind contributions to elect and thus hire their future bosses who will determine their salary, benefits, and pension increases. Often, there is insufficient or even zero representation at the “bargaining table” for the voters and taxpayers.