This thread posted for the benefit of Los Angeles City Councilmembers, so they know what is going on regarding Villaraigosa's budget plan. My pleasure. - Your Freindly Neighborhood Zuma Dogg.
We DARE you! DON'T take the offer!For those of you following the City of Los Angeles and the BILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT crisis it faces; and the just announced SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS ($7 Billion) that LACERS (L.A. City employee pension fund) LOSS in the stock market and real estate projects IN THE PAST YEAR ALONE; Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa finally addressed the media this week, by announcing that for the first time since the 80's (when only nine people were fired), the mayor may be forced to fire UP TO 5000 city workers if NO action is taken.
So it WILL NOT be 5000, because SOMETHING will be done. But I am here to predict, in the highest of certainty, that JOB CUTS WILL BE COMING TO THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES FOR THE FIRST TIME, BASICALLY EVER! (Because you can't even count only nine people being fired when you are talking over $7 BILLION in the LACERS bailout that will be coming out of the general fund. (City budget experts announced to council that 56% of each city dollar in 2012 will be going to the LACERS bailout, if DRASTIC measures are not taken. So any action, is merely to reduce the .56 cents of every city dollar (for all payroll and city operating budget) that will be going to the pension bailout.
Villaraiogsa will be presenting the "Plan A" to all the city unions which will prevent the city from firing ANY workers (insert laugh track) and allow Los Angeles to maintain it's historic streak of too many workers on the payroll and too generous of a benefits package, which is what got us here in the first place.
First, I will present the plan that will be offered to the unions, then present the "Plan B" (which at least keeps the unemployment line workers busy and working).
VILLARAIGOSA'S "PLAN A" TO CLOSE THE BUDGET GAP AND KEEP EVERYONE ON THE CITY PAYROLL!:
PLAN A:
* City will be offering "early retirement" to those who will take it. Usually, you need to offer 4000 early retirements to get 1000 people to take the offer. We will see how the numbers play out in THESE economic times. Although a reduced pension payout will be offered, most people will take that over a firing (then you could have to wait years or decades to see the money, if it's even there...who knows, anymore!)
* Union workers will be asked to pay 2% more into pension fund.
* Workers will be asked to work one hour a week, unpaid. NOT A FURLOUGH! Workers will be asked to work 40 hours a week, and get paid for 39 hours. (But then, does that affect the "full time/part time" status? Maybe the city needs to ask workers to work 41 hours for 40 hours of pay, if that is a factor.)
* Villaraigosa will be asking union workers to NOT accept the cost of living increase raises.
* It also assumes that Los Angeles City Council APPROVES all of the rest of the mayor's budget. (Hmmm? Do you really they are going to approve EVERYTHING? Even for a puppet council, a couple Councilmembers could cause a problem.)
IF THE UNION (EACH INDIVIDUAL UNION) DOES NOT ACCEPT THIS OFFER;
PLAN B: WORKERS WILL BE FIRED! And I am here to tell you kiddies...DO NOT THINK FOR A SECOND THAT THE MAYOR DOES NOT HOPE THE UNIONS REJECT THE DEAL, SO HE CAN START FIRING, RIGHT-A-F*CKING WAY!!!
That's right people, the mayor is running for Governor of California, maybe. AND ZUMA DOGG USED TO BE A MARKET RESEARCH DIRECTOR, and he can tell you, if you are running for governor...BEING ABLE TO SAY YOU REDUCED AN OVER-SIZED, OVER-FAT CITY PAYROLL SO THE CITY CAN KEEP IT'S HEAD ABOVE WATER IN THIS HISTORIC, ONCE IN A LIFETIME ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCE THAT WE HAVE NEVER SEEN!
He'll come out smellin' like roses! Look what happens to a Wall Street stock when they announce firings. You would think it would send the stock DOWN, cause it means the company is in trouble. BUT NO, the experts know, these companies are so fat, like L.A. City's payroll, it always is better, and the stock goes up.
That's right people, the mayor is running for Governor of California, maybe. AND ZUMA DOGG USED TO BE A MARKET RESEARCH DIRECTOR, and he can tell you, if you are running for governor...BEING ABLE TO SAY YOU REDUCED AN OVER-SIZED, OVER-FAT CITY PAYROLL SO THE CITY CAN KEEP IT'S HEAD ABOVE WATER IN THIS HISTORIC, ONCE IN A LIFETIME ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCE THAT WE HAVE NEVER SEEN!
He'll come out smellin' like roses! Look what happens to a Wall Street stock when they announce firings. You would think it would send the stock DOWN, cause it means the company is in trouble. BUT NO, the experts know, these companies are so fat, like L.A. City's payroll, it always is better, and the stock goes up.
AND VOTERS LIKE TO HEAR THAT A BUNCH OF PEOPLE GOT FIRED, cause most people's perception, besides the ones getting fired, is that there are already too many, overpaid workers, and too many of them get to coast cause they can't get fired. So people won't shed too many tears.
SO TO REPEAT: Although Zuma Dogg knows human nature, and sees the way it has gone with some other unions across the country in similar situations, and the ZumaPUTER predicts that many of the various unions senior leaders who will be taking the vote, will vote to REJECT the plan, so they don't take a cut; and let people get fired, because the city DOES need to reduce its' amount of workers.
SO THAT IS "PLAN B". THE MAYOR WILL BE FIRING PEOPLE. And I am here to tell the mayoral critics who thinks he wants to come off as saving all these jobs and keeping this streak of an overl-sized payroll the city can't afford...YOU WILL BE CALLING THE WRONG BLUFF, IN THIS CASE!!!
And I am told the "first in, first out" theory (cut by least seniority, newest workers cut first) is NOT true. And the managers can go through and fire the lazy workers and leave the best. (Performance based, I guess.)
AND, if workers do not VOLUNTARILY pay 2% more into retirement, ZUMA DOGG is here to say, the city will pass an ordinance that REQUIRES all CIVILIAN employees (no fire, no police) to pay more into their retirement fund. And I bet it can be more than 2%.
SUMMARY: Although Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is about to offer city union workers a plan to prevent anyone from being fired, it is unlikely that unions will accept all of this, and Zuma has a feeling the mayor secretly hopes they DO NOT take the deal, because the city actually needs to reduce the amount of workers on the payroll and there isn't a "Joe Public" out there who doesn't like to see that!
ALSO: At today's City Council meeting, DWPs "water shortage rate plan" (what some call an increase) was REJECTED by council, not because they wanted to reject it, per se. But because they were COMPLETELY unprepared and were not at all ready to vote. So they had to reject it, or EVERYTHING would have been included and passes. Council President Eric Garcetti stood up and blamed the lack of readiness to vote on what he THOUGHT was the fact that the motion (paperwork) sat in the mayor's office for 21 days, and they were waiting for the mayor to contact them. HOWEVER, someone who actually knew what they were talking about (from the City Attorney's office) instructed Garcetti that council DID ALSO have the motion and could act on it SEPARATELY AND INDEPENDENTLY FROM THE MAYOR. (In other words, either council didn't know what was going on, or Eric though he could blame the mayor, without getting caught. HE GOT CAUGHT!! So now, Nahai has to go back to the drawing board, and resubmit the entire motion. HOW UN-14 POINTS!!!
AND, Grieg Smith kinda got pretty flustered and frustrated finally at the public comment speakers like Zuma Dogg who have been complaining about the whole LACERS mess, and lack of leadership and action, especially when Zuma Dogg said during public comment regarding the budget and what it will take, "Councilmember Parks is the only one who knows what he is talking about, so the rest of you just shut-up!" WELP, more later, but bottom line, ZD hurt CM Smith's feelings when he only included Parks. So I "hugged it out" (conversationally with Smith), and I'll pick up on the Council meeting, including Dennis Zine pissing me off with his "fast and loose" interpretation and tolerance for the first amendment and Brown Act.
Posts
