Unions influencing El Segundo – Letter to the Daily Breeze by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the Daily Breeze newspaper (DailyBreeze.com) on Friday, October 14, 2012 in the Letters section. The Daily Breeze had a recommended 300-word limit at the time, but has since changed it to a strict 150-word limit. Are they trying to model their Letters to the Editor section after Twitter?

http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_19109058

Daily Breeze

dailybreeze.com

LAX TO L.A. HARBOR

Friday’s Letters to the Editor

Posted: 10/13/2011 06:39:27 PM PDT
Updated: 10/13/2011 07:39:17 PM PDT

Unions influencing El Segundo

As I predicted last July, El Segundo Mayor Eric Busch and his City Council majority 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.

Busch tried to rush the official contract approval with less than 24 hours for the public to even see the contracts, because the contract terms are still excessive, unsustainable and almost entirely one-sided in favor of the fire and police unions.

The contracts 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. They also guarantee no layoffs for three years, even if it bankrupts the city.

This bankruptcy trap ties the hands of the current and next City Council, taking away their most effective cost-control and bargaining tool.

The contracts include conditional cost-of-living-adjustment raises if revenues increase when any available revenues should be used to replenish reserve funds depleted during the recession.

The city manager’s poor negotiation results show he was outmatched and outwitted by the union negotiators and attorneys, he and some council members had a conflict of interest, or both.

Busch and Councilman Bill Fisher received thousands of dollars of campaign support from the fire and police unions. One fire union campaign letter sent on official letterhead threatened voters with “the possibility of our paramedics not being available when you need them” if Busch, Fisher and a third endorsed candidate were not elected.

The new fire union contract even pays educational costs and lifetime “special compensation” for a political science degree, which is unrelated to the job, except to run more effective campaigns to elect politicians who will maximize the union members’ compensation and pensions.

– Michael D. Robbins
  Former councilman, El Segundo

Posted in Daily Breeze Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Unions influencing El Segundo – Letter to the Daily Breeze by Michael D. Robbins

Potential Bankruptcy Trap – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Mike

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

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Potential Bankruptcy Trap – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

El Segundo, We Have a Problem – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, September 29, 2011 in the Letters section on page 3. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

El Segundo, We Have a Problem

The City Council has been negotiating new contracts with the City employee unions in secret for months now, but will only allow the citizens 24 hours to see these long, complex contracts before final approval. Mayor Busch has set a phony deadline of October 1, start of the new fiscal year, to approve the contracts. There is no legal or other requirement to do so.

Mayor Busch scheduled final contract approval for Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 5:30 PM. This non-standard day and early meeting time reduces public oversight even further. If Mayor Busch and the city employee unions were acting in good faith, they would provide the citizens sixty days, or thirty days as a minimum, to review and debate the union contracts they will be forced to pay.

Mayor Busch and the new city manager may be using smoke and mirrors to “balance” the budget, including unjustifiably optimistic current revenue projections and creating huge new debts for city taxpayers. They plan to issue up to $18 million in bonds to borrow money to pay for capital improvements that have traditionally been paid out of General Fund revenues (Sept. 26 CIPAC meeting agenda at ElSegundo.org).

Borrowing $18 million will allow them to minimize city employee burden-sharing and roll-backs of huge raises given during the recession, and to continue paying millions of dollars in excess and unsustainable compensation to fire and police union members and managers. Mayor Bush and his Council majority must stop spending money we don’t have.

Michael D. Robbins

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on El Segundo, We Have a Problem – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Adult Movie Theater – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mary Olinick

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 1, 2012 in the Letters section on pages 3 and 5. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit.

Adult Movie Theater

In response to Mr. Funk’s “hope” for an adult movie theater ad, I would defend his right to wish for something this community “may find offensive.” Fortunately, our city ordinances restrict adult movie theaters to Rosecrans Blvd. It’s not likely the owner there would want to downgrade his property by leasing to any kind of adult entertainment. Mr. Funk’s hope may never materialize.

Anyone reading or seeing the news must be aware of the crowds pillaging and looting the stores in England. Those shop owners could only “hope” that they had the right to use firearms to defend themselves and their property.

With regard to Jerry Chong’s article, Mr. Funk has overlooked the source of our downgraded credit rating. It was the congress that required banks to extend credit for mortgages to people who could not afford them. Yes, the banks sold bundles of the mortgages, but that is how they were able to extend even more credit to the “poor” who couldn’t afford the new houses.

We have been negligent in writing to say how much we appreciate the columns written by Chong and Plank. We are amazed at the research and writing skills of these gentle- men. They guarantee that the Herald is read.

Mary Olinick

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Never Forget – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Cindee Topar

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, September 15, 2011 in the Letters section on page 3. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit.

Never Forget

I would like to recognize the pilots and Flight Attendants who lost their lives on 9/11. I’m taking nothing away from the fire and police departments. They are heroes and they died doing the jobs they loved.

As Flight Attendants, we had been trained to comply with all demands of terrorists and hijackers to keep everyone calm. This has all changed since 9/11. Our workplace was used by terrorists as a weapon on mass destruction. Our jobs have been completely redefined; they will never be the same.

Flight Attendants and pilots were the very first to be killed and the first to actually give details to authorities regarding actual facts of what was going on in the planes. They gave vital information to dispatch about the number of men, what they were being told, and how serious this was.

Flight Attendants were killed guarding the cockpit; trying to protect the passengers and get the plane down safely. Two of United’s flight attendants were on the phone with our dispatch giving them details of where they were and what was going on. Never dreaming that in seconds they would be plunged into the second tower of the World Trade Center.

Our hearts go out to all who lost family and friends that horrible day. We will never forget.

Cindee Topar
Association of Flight Attendant
Government Affairs Chairperson

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Never Forget – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Cindee Topar

Out of touch – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in The Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, August 11, 2011 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.

Out of touch

Last week’s letter from Neil Snow demonstrates how much government union members and their political supporters are out of touch with the real world where the rest of us work, produce things and pay taxes.

Snow presented ludicrous objections to, and gross misrepresentations of, Michael Robbins’ well-reasoned recommendations to reform El Segundo’s city employee union contracts to keep the city from having a financial catastrophe.

He objected to Mr. Robbins’ recommendation that city employees pay all of their pension “employee contribution,” and at least half the total contribution, which is common in private industry, instead of the city paying the entire “employee contribution” and “employer contribution.” Snow misrepresented that recommendation, claiming that Mr. Robbins wanted to make “employees pay their entire pension.”

Snow is out of touch to expect taxpayers to continue paying all of the government union members’ pension contributions, and to expect that union members should never have to contribute a single dollar into their own pensions.

Further evidence that Snow and the government unions are out of touch with reality is that they oppose Mr. Robbins’ recommendation to “replace seniority-based compensation and job security with performance-based standards.” Rewarding high-quality performance encourages performance improvement. Rewarding years on the job regardless of performance increases the number of poor performers. It is basic human behavior to respond to rewards. Why would anyone oppose compensation and job security based on job performance rather than seniority, unless they are protecting employees who have a poor work ethic and substandard job performance?

Marianne Fong
El Segundo

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, El Segundo, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Out of touch – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong

Labor union overreach – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in The Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, August 11, 2011 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.

Labor union overreach

For many months now, the other side has had no substantive arguments, so all they can do is throw hate speech and deceptive pseudo-quotations at me.

If having highly paid workers with tons of benefits were the key to honesty and good performance, then the term “featherbedding” would never have been invented to describe union overreach that included incompetent, lazy, disloyal, dangerous employees who are getting overpaid to do practically no work.

Would we have better, more honest firefighters by paying each one $10 million instead of $150,000 to $357,000 per year in total compensation?

Their wildly excessive and unsustainable compensation has created a counterproductive royal family culture of entitlement. An El Segundo firefighter union member with $208,000 total annual compensation was recently arrested at Costco for shoplifting nearly $400 in merchandise. How much money would the union members demand to be honest? We’d really like to know, because apparently the current large payouts are not enough.

Smaller cities and rural areas throughout the country have always been able to get honest, competent firefighters with good work habits for far less than half the total compensation of El Segundo firefighters.

Labor unions like to suppress free market competition. They often use inappropriate tactics including coercion, extortion-like negotiations, implied threats of disruption, and use of campaign contributions like bribes. That’s why they promote the passage of labor laws that stifle competition and institutionalize their heavy-handed tactics. Even FDR, who supported private unions, recognized the inherent dangers of powerful government unions.

Michael D. Robbins
El Segundo

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, Crimes, El Segundo, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Firefighters Commiting Crimes, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Labor union overreach – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Doesn’t like unions – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marc Rener

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in The Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, August 11, 2011 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.

Doesn’t like unions

Neil Snow is the epitome of naivete that unions love in their members.

He knows nothing about the payoff and kickbacks (called contributions) made by unions to the politicians who gave them these ridiculous contracts.

Union integrity? Unions can and do recruit aliens, both legal and illegal, as members? S.E.I.U. ring any bells?

So much for the English-speaking Americans workers the unions claim to protect.

The billions of taxpayer dollars to “save” GM? Stockholder shares became worthless, yet 40 percent went to protect the union pensions.

In his letter to the editor in last week’s paper, he “parrots” from union manuals every propaganda terminology and definition. He writes, “‘scabs’ . . . is an euphemism for someone who cannot get a job on their own merit.”

He writes, “Employees who would accept lower wages, no bargaining rights and no job security do an inferior job. Lateness, no show, stealing.”

“Now just imagine those types of employees who would agree to those terms. And now imagine they are firefighters and police,” writes Snow.

Tell that to the non-union waitress at the Kettle restaurant in Manhattan Beach, or the non-union Federal Express Drivers, secretaries, auto mechanics, every person in the U.S. military, the 80 percent (280 million) of Americans in this country who are non-union. Sainthood of unions?

Fact: On March 17, 2011, an ex-L.A. fire captain, union member, is convicted of murdering his girlfriend; he is still eligible for his union pension.

Fact: On March 13, 2010, four Manhattan Beach police officers, union members, were suspended; one officer, union member, was fired.

Fact: On April 18, 2011, a $160,000 a year El Segundo firefighter, union member, was arrested for shoplifting.

Wrong again.

Marc Rener
El Segundo

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, California, Crimes, El Segundo, Firefighter Union Corruption, Firefighters Commiting Crimes, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Doesn’t like unions – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marc Rener

Unsustainable Collective Bargaining – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor by Michael D. Robbins was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on July, March 14, 2011 in the Letters section on pages 3 and 6. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit.

Unsustainable Collective Bargaining

My June 23 letter was not intended to imply guilt by association for all firefighters because one was arrested for shoplifting. That case exemplifies how the politically active government employee unions have fostered an insatiable appetite for and sense of entitlement to other people’s hard-earned money.

The firefighter and police unions have an even greater conflict of interest, and they are the greatest cause of our city’s financial problems that threaten our city’s future. They are sworn employees in positions of authority and public trust, which they have abused by endorsing candidates who will give them the biggest compensation increases. Deceptive political fundraising under the misperception of charity is another problem. And few live in and have any allegiance to our city.

I am glad Mr. Kip Haggerty noticed the bigger issue here and quoted FDR regarding the inherent conflicts between government employment and unionization. I too am offended by the notion that government employee compensation must only go up and never down, regardless of economic conditions and revenues.

Despite all the claims that city employees made concessions and took pay cuts, their pay rates were never reduced. The huge inappropriate raises given during this recession of 11.25 percent to 32.3 percent were never taken back.

They took temporary unpaid furlough days, which are essentially unpaid vacation days, and are not serious concessions, to avoid layoffs. We lost work hours and services directly proportional to the tax dollars saved. The unsustainable compensation remains, and the out-of-control pension costs grow substantially each year.

Michael D. Robbins

Posted in El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Firefighters Commiting Crimes, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Unsustainable Collective Bargaining – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Imperial Field – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Beth Muraida

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Mike

The following letter to the editor by Beth Muraida was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, July 14, 2011 in the Letters section on page 3. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit.

Imperial Field

I wish to invite the public to the Planning meeting tonight. The subject is the property at 640 E. Imperial. Currently there is a field that ES Little League developed for rookie and Challenged children to play, as well as an unused school.

City wants to zone for single/multiple housing. ESUSD needs revenue. The only way to accomplish that is to lease the property to a developer. ESUSD needs the City to rezone for a planned assisted living and single/multiple use development. To generate maximum revenue, the property will have to be developed the max. The same overdeveloped noisy neighborhood is happening all over town. What will the value of property surrounding this project become?

The field ESLL provided is the only green space available on the north of town. Children use it daily. The field provides a quiet greenbelt between neighbors and whatever is developed. What if the City were to lease the field space creating a park giving the Schools continuous revenue, and a more downsized plan?

Politicians ran campaigns providing the community with assistance living, costing residents five-$10 thousand per month. Wouldn’t it be better to place this on Kansas and Grand, where there is business zoning?

City makes serious decisions about overdeveloping every square inch we citizens have enjoyed for many years as quiet neighborhood. Make your voice heard by the decision makers that don’t live near this project, so they won’t experience any of the side effects except the revenue generated for the schools.

Beth Muraida

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