Thousands of Los Angeles city employees, including sanitation workers, lifeguards and traffic officers walked off the job on Tuesday for a 24-hour strike demanding higher wages and alleging unfair labour practices.
Picket lines went up before dawn at Los Angeles International Airport and other locations, and a large rally was held later in the morning downtown at City Hall. SEIU Local 721 said mechanics, engineers and airport custodians are among the more than 11,000 LA city workers who are striking.
The union said its members voted to authorize the one-day walkout because the city has failed to bargain in good faith and engaged in labor practices that restricted employee and union rights.
“City workers are vital to the function of services for millions of Angelenos every day and to our local economy,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “They deserve fair contracts and we have been bargaining in good faith with SEIU 721 since January. The city will always be available to make progress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
Strikers said some employees earn so little they can’t afford to live near their jobs, sometimes making 100-mile (160-kilometer) commutes.
“You can’t work for the city and live in LA,” said Marce Dethouars, 54, a sanitation worker who resides east of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley.
Destiny Webb, a college student who manages a city pool, said she and her fellow marchers downtown were calling for a 40 per cent to 50 per cent raise and more resources at LA facilities that are poorly staffed.
“A lot of us are students, and what we get paid does not help us at all,” said Webb, 21. “So with inflation and everything, it’s not working.”
The union said it expects about 300 lifeguards working at dozens of city swimming pools would strike. The Department of Recreation and Parks said some pools were closed on Tuesday.
