The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, October 13, 2011 in the Letters section on page 5. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit.
Potential Bankruptcy Trap
Exactly as I predicted last July, Mayor Busch and his City Council majority “negotiated” and approved new city employee union contracts in secret, letting the new and unproven city manager do the “negotiating”, then rushed the contracts through a public City Council vote as a mere formality.
Why did Busch try to rush the “official” contract approval with less than 24 hours for the public and Council members to even see the contracts? Obviously, Busch was trying to hide the contract terms, which are still excessive, unsustainable, and mostly one-sided in favor of the fire and police unions.
In some ways, the new contracts are worse than the old ones. They still give automatic “longevity” and annual “step” pay raises, and excessive and unsustainable six-figure compensation and pensions, including redundant “special compensation” and automatic overtime pay, but also guarantee no layoffs for three years even if it bankrupts the City. That ties the hands of the current and next City Council, taking away their most effective cost-control and bargaining tool.
The contracts include conditional COLA raises if revenues increase from their depressed levels. That money should be used to replenish reserve funds that were spent down during the recession.
The city manager’s poor contract negotiation results show he was totally out-matched and out-witted by the union negotiators and attorneys, he and some Council members had a conflict of interest, or both. Mayor Busch and Councilman Fisher received thousands of dollars worth of campaign support from the fire and police unions.
Michael D. Robbins
El Segundo Police Officers' Association (ESPOA) Exposed