VOICES-On Friday, August 22, the City Council discussed and voted (Council File Item No. 14-1112) to reach a settlement of the lawsuit between Brian D'Arcy et al (representing IBEW Union #18) and Ron Galperin (in his capacity as LA City Controller).
The lawsuit was created when IBEW#18 refused to provide documents relating the the financial dealings of the DWP-IBEW#18 Joint Safety Institute (JSI) and Joint Training Institute (JTI).
This lawsuit "...seeks a receivership for the IBEW Union #18 JTI and JSI Trusts; and/or pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(2)/(e)(2), significant exposure to litigation in relation to JTI and JSI trusts, including payment of funds into the trusts."
At the heart of the controversy is the need for transparency and the full accounting of the DWP funds transmitted to the Trusts, DWP's activities to represent the City's interests on the Trusts and the continued future funding of the Trusts.
While the DWP proceeded with the funding of the Trusts for fiscal year 2014-15, pursuant to the DWP-IBEW#18 management-labor Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the City Controller announced that "out of good conscience," he did not feel comfortable releasing the funds to the Trusts. According to the City Attorney, under the Charter, the ultimate decision on the transfer of the funds is made by the City Council.
The CF#14-1112 settlement releases the funds to the JTI and JSI but only if DWP and the IBEW#18 create acceptable procedures to propose and administer their budgets and to report these financial activities to the DWP and to the City. The District Attorney will continue to investigate JSI’s and JTI’s past financial activities.
At the same time, the CF#14-1112 settlement creates a new DWP-IBEW#18 labor-management Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU is said, in the CF#14-1112 document to save someone (?the City, ?the DWP, ?the DWP ratepayers) $ 456 million over the next 4 years and $ 5.2 billion over the next 30 years.To understand these activities, one must recognize that the DWP is a self-funded, self-operating, "proprietary" City Department owned by the citizens of the City of Los Angeles. The DWP General Manager is an "at-will" appointee of the Mayor of Los Angeles. Most of the DWP's customers (ratepayers) are residents of the City.
The City administration (Mayor, City Council, City Controller and City Attorney) have a vested interest in DWP activities in behalf of the DWP customers and the citizens of the City.
IBEW#18 is an employee union working for the benefit of over 2/3 of the DWP employees. JSI and JTI are trust funds administered by DWP and IBEW#18 senior personnel.
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There are elements of distrust throughout these events: The City Controller may not be satisfied that the JSI and JTI funds are being used solely for the benefit of the DWP Employees or that they are being used for political purposes.
The people and the City Administration have long been unhappy that DWP employees with the same Job Descriptions as City employees earn more than City employees and that is due to the "success" of IBEW#18 labor negotiations. IBEW#18 did not want to take the effort to report JSI and JTI funds usage. IBEW#18 may have wanted to make its activities efficient and/or may think that its JSI and JTI financial dealings are "privileged communications."
When you take all of these factors into your consideration, do you think that these issues are resolved? Do you want more transparency? More reports? Can you handle all of that material?To misquote the movie, "CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH?"
(Daniel Wiseman is a long-time Neighborhood activist and an occasional contributor to CityWatch. He has served as an NC Budget Advocate. The views expressed here are his own.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 71
Pub: Sep 2, 2014
