We believe the three categories of workers that voted to decertify IAM as their collective bargaining rep were refuse (basic) and two units of skilled and general workers (basic and supervisory categories.)

We're hearing that among eligible ballots: roughly 60% of refuse workers voted to decertify; among skilled and general workers (supervisory classification) roughly 80% voted to decertify but the margin was close among skilled and general workers (basic classification), with roughly 51-52% voting to decertify; a little over half of the employees in the three units cast eligible ballots.

Based on the number of workers in these categories, we believe the decertification vote affected a little over 20% of the total City of LB workers IAM represented prior to the vote. The result would leave about 2,700 City of LB employees represented by IAM.

[Scroll down for further.

On April 11, the Long Beach Business Journal carried a detailed piece by its publisher, George Economides, on the then-impending vote; to view the Business Journal story, click here.

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We make no attempt here to evaluate the reasons that led the now-formerly IAM represented workers to decertify the union...but it's hard for an outsider to view the outcome as other than a windfall for Long Beach city management and perhaps a good outcome for taxpayers depending on what a Council majority and the now-unrepresented workers do next.

As to IAM's record with City Hall, the Long Beach City Council -- not city management -- ultimately decides the City's negotiating stances in closed sessions...and the LB City Council is currently nearly entirely Dem.

By LBREPORT.com's very unofficial tally, the Council's more pro-labor tilting incumbents include Councilmembers Gonzalez, Lowenthal, Uranga, Austin and Richardson. 8th dist. incumbent Austin narrowly won re-election in April 2016, nearly forced into a runoff by two candidates, one of whom was backed by local PAC seeking a more pro-business Council. 6th dist. incumbent Andrews avoided a runoff in April, overcoming the hurdle of a write-in with backing from a combination of LB's political establishment, business interests and organized labor. 2nd dist. incumbent Lowenthal, who'll exit under term-limits in mid-July, has endorsed Jeannine Pearce in a June runoff against Eric Gray; a candidate backed by the local pro-business PAC finished third; Ms. Pearce has close ties to organized labor, arguably making the race pivotal on the union/management issue...to the extent there is one.

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A number of newsworthy issues have arisen in the course of LB City Hall's dealings with IAM, which represents most of City Hall's non-public safety employees.

In mid-2002 under then-recently re-elected (by write-in) Mayor Beverly O'Neill, votes were scheduled for the last day of an outgoing Council and the first day of an incoming Council giving IAM represented workers a taxpayer-costly "pension spike" (enabled by Dem state legislators, endorsed by IAM.) The action retroactively boosted pensions, permanently draining LB taxpayers of sums that would no longer be available to provide basic taxpayer services.

In the 2006 election cycle, former Councilman and Mayoral candidate Doug Drummond said the Council's action had created "pension potholes" and criticized Mayoral candidate / Councilman Frank Colonna for participating in the 2002 (unanimous) Council votes. When then-political newcomer Bob Foster ended up in the runoff with Colonna, Drummond endorsed Foster who appropriated Drummond's "pension potholes" theme in continuing to hammer Colonna.

Foster took office in mid-2006. and thereafter recommended contractual actions with raises -- and without pension reforms -- with the three major City Hall employee unions that had endorsed him: a voluntary contract re-opener with raises for LB's police officers association (2007), and new contracts with IAM and the LB Firefighters Ass'n (2008). (The Council approved the 2007 LBPOA re-opener unanimously; in 2008, the Council voted 7-2 (Gabelich and DeLong dissenting) to approve the new IAM contract, and 8-1 (Gabelich dissenting) to approve the new firefighter contract.)

When it soon became clear that the City-agreed contracts weren't sustainable in the souring economy, Foster insisted that all City Hall employee unions agree to pay part of their raises to cover their pension costs, a reform advocated years earlier by LB Taxpayers Association co-founders Tom Stout and Kathy Ryan. (All of City Hall's unions eventually agreed to this, saving LB taxpayers sizable sums now and in the future.)

However to deal with the immediate situation in 2009, city management (presumably with the support of a Council majority) imposed roughly weeklong furloughs without pay on IAM represented workers. IAM objected, took the City's action to the Public Employee Relations Board and won a PERB ruling, upheld by a reviewing court in October 2014, awarding the furloughed IAM union members roughly $4 million in back pay.

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In August-September 2015, the City (with Council approval) agreed to make a non-pensionable one-time payment equal to 3% of the employees' base salary from the 12 previous months, extending IAM's contact for a year through Sept. 30, 2016 when LB's contracts with its police officers and firefighters also expire. The one year IAM extension cost LB's General Fund $1.9 million (payable from the fund that would otherwise provide police/fire/parks/libraries), drawn from LB taxpayers' surplus (which could otherwise fund infrastructure and the like.) LB's Harbor, Airport, Water and Gas & Oil budgets collectively took an additional $3.8 million hit. (A PressTelegram editorial basically echoed a City Hall press release at the time, calling this a "smart deal.")

An item on the April 19, 2016 Council agenda sought Council approval for findings and determinations regarding work usually performed by City employees and authorized city management to enter into a contract with a private operator for LB's new Civic Center for custodial, maintenance and security services. Richard Suarez, representing IAM, testified in opposition to the Council action and alleged that the City's action violated the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (after a meet-and-confer impasse, now awaiting an independent fact-finders findings.)

The Council went on to approve the management sought action (7-0, Mungo and Richardson absent) after city management's lead on the Civic Center transaction, Mike Conway, told the Council that he believed delaying action could create City liability in addressing City Hall's seismic issues.

Following the vote, Mr. Suarez told LBREPORT.com that IAM plans to examine and pursue all its legal options, including filing objections with PERB [CA's Public Employment Relations Board]. If PERB were (again) to find for IAM, it could make an award of a sum for the workers involved (roughly half a dozen we believe) against the City (which would ultimately be paid by LB taxpayers.)

LB city officials have been muted locally on the Civic Center transaction's April 20 financial close. LB's Mayor and City Council are currently seeking voter approval for a June 2016 ballot measure that would raise LB's sales tax to 10% (while it's 9% in Signal Hill/Lakewood and 8% in most OC cities) and could be spent for any general fund purposes...including Civic Center costs and raises for LB's police, fire and other city employee unions...including IAM.