[Mayor] Villaraigosa, a former union organizer, has threatened that if the deal is not passed, he will impose more than seven weeks, or 36 working days, of unpaid furloughs, for an overall pay cut of approximately 14 percent. “I’ve had discussions with other union leaders, and I see a path to getting agreements across the board,” Villaraigosa said. “But as I said, if the bargaining units choose not to approve this, we’ll just have to move ahead with 36 days of furloughs.”
The proposed budgetary agreement also includes the elimination of cash overtime for city workers, an additional 1.5 percent salary decrease in exchange for an extended Christmas holiday, the elimination of several hundred positions, most likely leading to layoffs, and cuts to police and fire services. Incredibly, the plan purports to cut $100 million from the city’s 10,000-strong police force without laying off a single officer.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/labd-a27.shtml
