Sanitation workers will be on strike tomorrow August 8.
City employees who are represented by SEIU local 721, including sanitation workers, traffic officers and engineers, have authorized a one-day strike on Tuesday, August 8.
For Pacific Palisades residents that means garbage day on Tuesday will be delayed by a day.
CTN contacted Councilmember Traci Park’s office and spokesperson Jamie Page responded, “We are still waiting for specifics. Right now, it looks like trash days are being pushed back a day. So, if you had trash pickup scheduled on Tuesday–it will now be Wednesday, and throughout the week.”
Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian also recommended that airline passengers departing from Los Angeles International Airport plan to arrive an hour earlier than normal due to possible picketing at the airport.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News August 7 story (“Service Disruptions Warned as LA City Workers Ready for Tuesday’s One-Day Strike) “workers plan to picket for 24 hours at various locations, including City Hall and LAX.
“Union officials said the workers will meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall for a march and rally, though picket lines will begin as early as 4 a.m. at sites throughout the city,” the News wrote.
The union ratified a one-year agreement with the city in November 2022 with the understanding the two sides would return to the bargaining table immediately after the winter holidays, SEIU Local 721 Chief of Staff Gilda Valdez told the Los Angeles Times. The city and union would then negotiate over a number of smaller specific proposals, she said.
But the union said the City “refused to bargain in good faith.”
The union, representing more than 95,000 public sector workers in Southern California, voted overwhelmingly in May (98 % approval) to authorize an Unfair Labor Practice strike if negotiations stalled, which means tomorrow workers are on a one-day strike, hoping to prompt a new agreement.
In a statement last week, union officials said, “the city has flat-out refused to honor previous agreements at the bargaining table, prompting workers to file charges alleging unfair labor practices with the city of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board.”
The last strike by LA City workers was in November 1980.
Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement Saturday saying Los Angeles officials are available around the clock “to make progress” on contract negotiations.