LA Unions Avoid Furloughs In Deal To Pay Health Care Costs
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Thousands of city workers agreed to pay for their retirement health care in a move aimed at avoiding more than a month of furlough days, union officials said on Wednesday.
The Coalition of City Unions announced nearly 20,000 workers across fifteen of 19 bargaining units represented by the coalition voted to approve amendments which extend the contracts about one year until 2014.
"We voted with the best interests of Los Angeles residents in mind," said Tim Butcher, a heavy duty Truck operator with the Bureau of Street Services. "The changes to our contracts will end furloughs immediately, and
that means we can get back to work for the people of this city."
Under the agreement, workers in the unit that voted to approve the deal will defer scheduled pay raises and begin paying 4 percent of their salaries to pay for health care if they retire after July 1.
In exchange the city guaranteed full medical coverage including future premium raises.
The vote also averts 36 days of furloughs called for in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed budget released last week for those groups that ratified the agreement.
Four of the coalition's employee units did not vote in favor of the agreement. Those workers, including deputy city attorneys, clerical workers and some engineers, still will incur any furloughs in the city's final budget.
They also could have their retirement medical subsidies frozen under a plan moving through the City Council. That plan has not been passed.
(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
