President's Message: 2013 Gave Us Many Challenges and Some Remain By Carlos Clayton, CAPE President

2013 was a tough year by any measure. Your CAPE Board of Directors and staff had an overly full plate starting on January 1, and more was added as each month passed.

Back to back salary and fringe benefit contract negotiations drew most of our attention and efforts. The extraordinary efforts of CAPE staff and our bargaining teams kept our efforts well focused and coordinated to present our very best positions at the bargaining table. I wish I could say the same for the County officials on the other side of the table. Their frequent delays, eleventh hour surprises, and frustratingly consistent inability to respond to CAPE’s detailed and well-justified proposals will be the hallmark of this year’s contentious labor relations.

Coming out of the economic downturn this year meant that most County departments have finally restarted hiring among CAPE-represented positions. Of course, that too brings its own challenge as County departments, especially the DPW, are overstaffed with outside contractors performing work that should be done by a County professional employee.

By all accounts, this year’s greatest challenge was brought on unnecessarily by County officials at the Fringe Benefit Contract negotiations table. There simply can be no excuse for the late and inappropriate demand by County officials to link discussions about retiree health reform to the CCU’s Fringe Benefit Contract negotiations. Retiree health care does not exist as a provision of the fringe contract, and discussions of it are inappropriate at the fringe benefits bargaining table. Even so, it was the late drop of the issue on the fringe table as a demand in exchange for County approval of adjustments to the County’s Choices contribution that really angered most County union leaders. Although we persevered and finally achieved a Fringe Benefit Contract agreement, if the County’s position had been responsible, it would have been done before the contract expired September 30th and in time for Open Enrollment in October.

In 2014, two of the five seats on the County Board of Supervisors will be changing hands. CAPE has already endorsed Hilda Solis in the First District, and good candidates with new ideas are lining up in the Third District. As part of our discussions with our new generation of County leaders, we’ll be trying our best to get laborrelations back to what it was a generation ago, when County officials approached their employees with the respect and admiration for the people who actually do the County’s heavy lifting providing the best services for Los Angeles County’s residents and businesses.

On behalf of our Board and staff, we wish you Happy Holidays & a prosperous and safe New Year.