City Council OKs DWP Labor Deal
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday in favor of a new labor agreement reached this week between the city and the union representing 92 percent of workers at the Department of Water and Power.
The agreement announced late Wednesday night is estimated to save the utility $6.1 billion over the next 30 years and control rates for DWP's electricity and water customers, according to projections by utility and city officials.
Council members voted 14-0 to instruct their chief labor negotiator and the city attorney to finalize the settlement agreement, the labor contract and the adjusted pension tier.
The Board of Water and Power Commissioners are expected to vote on the finalized agreement in the next few weeks.
Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a union that represents 8,200 DWP workers, still need to sign off on the agreement, which also includes a settlement of a lawsuit between the city and members of the DWP pension system.
DWP officials are contemplating rate increases for the next three years, which they say would be reduced by about 2 percent under the agreement.
The deal also would postpone a 2 percent cost-of-living raise scheduled for Oct. 1 until 2016, which officials project would save the city $385 million over four years and $3.9 billion over 30 years.
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