For the First Time in History, More Than 55,000 LA County Employees Will Walk Off the Job in Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike Set to Begin on April 28th at 7:00PM; Union Demands an End to LA County’s Rampant Law Breaking, Citing 44 Alleged Labor Law Violations To-Date
LOS ANGELES – Fed up with Los Angeles County management’s repeated law-breaking and failure to bargain in good faith, members of labor union SEIU 721 earlier today held a press conference and rally delivering a 10-Day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike Notice to the county. The ULP Strike will directly impact more than 55,000 LA employees represented by SEIU 721 as well as nearly 10 million county residents.
Though plans will be put in place to ensure that emergency health services continue unimpeded, SEIU 721’s LA County ULP Strike would be the first of its kind in Los Angeles County history. SEIU 721 LA County membership includes health, public health and mental health care professionals; social workers; parks & recreation staff; social services eligibility workers; public works personnel; clerical workers; custodians; coroner personnel; beaches & harbors staff; traffic & lighting personnel; and more.
“This is the workforce that got LA County through emergency after emergency: the January wildfires, public health emergencies, mental health emergencies, social service emergencies and more” said David Green, SEIU 721’s Executive Director and President, who has worked as an LA County Children’s Social Worker II for more than two decades. “From the San Fernando Valley to the San Gabriel Valley, from the foothills to the beaches, all across LA County, we get the job done. That’s why we have had it with the labor law violations and demand respect for our workers.”
BACKGROUND:
The 55,000 union strong LA County workforce has serviced nearly 10 million residents in a 4,084 square-mile service area through the COVID pandemic; through the recent Winter wildfires; and through non-stop emergency situations in healthcare, foster care, social welfare, traffic enforcement, street repair and much more for many years. Instead of being thanked by LA County management with good faith bargaining resulting in a strong contract, they have been on the receiving end of management’s repeated law-breaking, bearing the brunt of at least 44 alleged labor law violations during this contract bargaining cycle. These include:
- Refusal to bargain with union members in good faith
- Surveillance and retaliation against SEIU 721 members engaged in union activity
- Restricting union organizers’ access to worksites
- Contracting out of SEIU 721-represented positions
To add insult to injury, for years, LA County management simultaneously has been operating a taxpayer-to-private sector pipeline – funneling $7.7 billion in FY 2024-2025 to private firms while not requiring them to pay a living wage. Instead of privatizing good union jobs, those dollars should be staying in-house. And while claiming money is a problem, the Board of Supervisors somehow found a spare $205 million recently to buy a skyscraper in downtown LA that will serve as new office space for themselves and LA County management. These are the very same people telling the workforce – and taxpayers – that there is no money for more services or frontline staff.
