Torrance City Council – A Town Hall Style Conversation About Local Politics

The City Council is expected to formally approve this coming Tuesday a labor agreement with AFSCME and two smaller collective bargaining units representing library employees and crossing guards.  The agreement includes a $261,000 thousand payment for retroactive pay and a three month accelerated promotion on the back end of the deal at a cost of $185,000.  Former Mayor Scotto and Councilmember Sutherland criticized the agreement in a recent Daily Breeze article claiming it was an indicator that that the unions would be running the show in Torrance.

The payments in and of themselves are significant as the City is currently operating under a tight budget.  The much larger concern, however, is the precedent the payouts set for future labor negotiations.  These payouts represent something more than what other City Public Employee Unions received in recent agreements and those unions will almost certainly press for the same treatment in future negotiations.  Agreeing to the payouts essentially eliminates key leverage City officials have in labor negotiations.  Without the threat of delayed pay increases due to stalled labor negotiations, the unions can hold out on other contractual provisions until they get what they want.  This weakened negotiation position could force City officials to concede on contractual points that they might otherwise fight.

One of these lesser known contractual provisions included in the proposed agreement is called “Release time.”  This common provision in labor negotiated agreements is designed to allow employees paid time-off to participate in union activities such as meeting with management, holding negotiations, or attending union meetings and hearings on personnel matters.  The practice has been harshly criticized by some, including one legislator found here who claims that “receiving a taxpayer funded salary to be nothing more than a political operative for a union organization is inherently wrong.”   The co-author of Shadowbosses is quoted in the same article as stating that:

“Official [Release] time is a ruse for getting taxpayers to support union activities in the government workplace, including the lobbying of legislators for ever-more benefits. This effectively subsidizes unions so they can spend more dues income on political organizing. And it’s all done without taxpayers’ knowledge. It’s a shadowy practice that must be stopped.”

The proposed Torrance agreement takes the common “Release Time” provision a step further by allowing the Union President “paid release time of two days per week [Tuesday and Wednesday] to conduct Union activities.”  This paid release time is in addition to the release time typically afforded by the Clause.  The provision also allows the Union President to receive overtime pay for conducting City business during scheduled release time days.

This provision was included not only in the AFSCME agreement, but in that with the Torrance Library Employee Association (TLEA) as well, which represents 88 City library employees.  City officials have provided no details as to what union activities would require the TLEA Union President’s attention for a minimum of 16 hours per week.

Increased union strength under the new Council should not be unexpected to Torrance Residents.  Mayor Furey, and the rest of the recently elected Council (Councilmembers Ashcraft, Weideman, Goodrich, and Rizzo), relied heavily on Union support to win the election.  Councilmember Goodrich is currently employed by the California Association of Public Employees (CAPE) and Mayor Furey and Councilmember Rizzo are drawing pensions as former public employees.  Rizzo retired from the Torrance Police Officer Association.  His estimated pension is listed publically here at an amount of nearly $167,000 per year.

On only the second round of voting, Mike Griffiths received the requisite 4 votes from the sitting Council members to receive the coveted appointment.  Griffith’s received 3 votes in the first round with Councilmembers Barnett, Ashcraft, and Rizzo voting in his behalf.  Mayor Furey cast his vote for Ray Uchima, while Councilmember Goodrich opted for Alex See, and Councilmember Weideman selected Milton Herring.

Prior to voting, the Council heard from most of the candidates themselves as well as many members of the community.  At least 12 people rose to speak on behalf of Ray Uchima citing his 19 years of service to the community, ability to attract business to Torrance, as well as his ability to resolve challenging view obstruction disputes as a member of the Planning Commission.  Uchima stated that he planned on running in the past election, but withdrew to better care for his ailing father.

Several folks also spoke on behalf of Jimmy Gow noting his love for Torrance, the city of his Birth, and his dedicated involvement with community matters.  A letter from Betsy Butler recommending him was also read by one supporter.  For his part, Jimmy Gow expressed how the death of his father had motivated him to seek the appointment as you can’t wait to live your dreams.

One resident received a hearty applause throughout the room when he confessed that he did not vote for Leilani Kimmel-Dagastino in the past election, but felt that the Council should honor the will of the people by selecting her for the position as she was the highest finishing non-elected candidate in the past election.

Others suggested Sue Herbers as they felt that were an election to be held today for the vacancy that almost certainly she would win based on her many years of service to the City as City Clerk.

In the end, however, the consensus on the Council was for a man that did not speak publicly on his behalf at the meeting nor had any supporters do so.  That’s not to say he doesn’t have strong support from the community as many in attendance seemed pleased with the decision and eager to welcome the only non-party affiliated member of the Council.

Patrick Furey, the Current Vice-Chair of the Traffic Commission and son of Mayor Furey, expressed his displeasure with former Mayor Scotto and Councilmember Sutherland in remarks appearing on his public Facebook page.  In those remarks, Furey claimed the pair suffered from sour grapes and that they were no longer considered his friends.  His statement in full reads, “Sour grapes. Attacking the wonderful city employees that make Torrance such a great place to live. Attacking the working class. Honestly embarrassing – especially the remarks of two people I used to consider friends.”

Both Scotto and Sutherland expressed concern in a recent Daily Breeze article about an agreement that was reached between the City and the Union representing approximately 500 City employees.  According to the Staff Report, the agreement includes a $261K one time pay-out to Union members for back pay.  The agreement also includes an accelerated pay increase on the back end of the deal in the amount of $185K.

Scotto equated the payments to a signing bonus and commented that it was an indication that the “unions are going to be running the show” under the Furey administration.  Sutherland claimed that the Union was trying to get more with the new Council and that they got it.  He was also quoted as stating that the “Unions have all the power.  They did a lot of work to get these people elected and they put in a lot of money, a lot of effort.  I hate to say it, but it paid off.”

Patrick Furey was also critical of the local paper and author Nick Green.  His remarks included the statement that the “Daily Breeze is going belly up. Readership is down 50% from 2010. Bad writing, creating news rather than reporting it, extreme views that are out of touch. It’s no wonder whatever candidate they endorse tends to lose.”

The Daily Breeze had endorsed Tom Brewer for mayor in the past election and has printed several stories targeting the campaign tactics of Patrick in his role as the Campaign Manager for his father’s successful mayoral bid.

Mayor Furey has not publically commented on the Daily Breeze article.  It should be fascinating to hear what he has to say about the subject, if anything, at the Council meeting tonight where the union agreement will be a hot topic along with an appointment to fill Furey’s unexpired council term.