by Garth Meyer
Redondo Beach union workers crowded city council chambers June 13 in the latest and largest of a series of appearances calling for a raise in base salary.
The groups included city office staff, engineers, planners, Public Works field men, emergency dispatchers and more.
Their cause was illuminated earlier this year when results of a salary survey of 12 similar nearby cities put Redondo Beach on the bottom half of the list – some jobs more than 25 percent below the market rate.
Lina Carillo, a Redondo Beach Police Department budget analyst and president of Redondo Beach Professional and Supervisory Association (RBPSA) advocates for raises in part to attract and retain employees.
“We want the city to act a little quicker, just on the salary side, rather than waiting until the end of the year. We feel it shouldn’t wait,” she said.
City workers (not including sworn police officers and firefighters/paramedics) are in a three-year contract in effect through Dec. 31.
Carillo made her latest appeal Tuesday to the council, backed again by co-workers in beige RBPSA T-shirts. Michael Grijalva, business representative for Teamsters Local 911, also spoke, while his black-shirted co-workers stood at their seats behind him.
At the end of the meeting, City Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., made a motion to put an item on a July agenda in closed session to discuss a city workers’ raise. Councilman Nils Nehrenheim seconded it and it passed unanimously.
Mike Witzansky, city manager, previously recommended $1.8 million in raises in a decision package now before the city council in 2023-24 budget talks.
“In many instances, our individual salary and benefits are below market,” said Witzansky. “In some cases significantly below market.”
The salary survey, commissioned using December 2022 data, studied “benchmark positions.”
Results showed Redondo Beach base salaries for front line office staff and Teamsters (streets, sewers and maintenance field workers) at 25 percent below market rate, with benefits packages taking it down to 18 percent. For para-professionals like Carillo (analysts, planners, Public Works engineers and supervisors), the pay is 15 percent below, but 3.5 percent below when adding benefits.
Witzansky said recent developments may help the situation.
“Over the last 10 years, we’ve (had to) invest in our long-term pensions and it’s been difficult to invest in salary and benefits,” he said. “Now we have an opportunity to make a much-needed investment in (employees).”
The reason, he pointed to, was the city’s 2021 refinancing of its pension-debt at a lower rate, projected to save more than $100 million over 20+ years.
The RBPSA sought five percent raises last year as part of the city budget.
Its strategy to go to the city council geared up in October “when the council voted to “raise their own salaries, higher than any other cities they compared themselves to,” Carillo said.
The city manager’s office negotiates all city-worker contracts.
“They completely see this as well,” said Carillo last week. “I just don’t know if the city council did, before the salary survey. From their perspective, it was, if the work gets done, hey, great.”
The city manager’s office, she said, has been “non-responsive to our requests” to open a negotiation in the midst of a contract. In turn, RBPSA switched to the current strategy to spur the city council to direct Witzansky to negotiate with them.
“We understand their concerns,” said City Councilman Todd Loewenstein., noting the $1.8 million up for discussion.
About 60 Redondo Beach employees make up the RBPSA. Teamsters have about 80 local workers and the Redondo Beach City Employees Association (RBCEA) 85.
Carillo, a 21-year city employee, pointed out that in 2009 the city approached employees to negotiate a mid-contract pay cut due to the recession.
“The same thing we did for you 15 years ago, that’s what we’re asking,” she said. “We are hoping this year we see money set aside, as a forethought.”
Peter Tucker, president of the RBCEA, spoke to the council Tuesday too, as he has on two other occasions.
“What we’re still after; we haven’t seen anything in COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) since (2009),” said Tucker. “We can’t retain. We can’t compete.”
He is Redondo’s senior building inspector, a 22-year city employee, and former 12-year Hermosa Beach city councilman.
What does he think of the $1.8 million?
“Ain’t going to work. I don’t think it’s going to be enough. I’d like to see a 10 percent CPI (Consumer Price Increase) just for the loss over the last 15 years. That would be fair. I know we’re not going to get that.”
In city budget talks on now, the proposed $1.8 million is one of more than 70 decision packages for the council.
“$1.8 million still won’t even get us to the median. We still have work to do,” said Carillo. “The city now (with the salary survey) has it in black and white what we’ve been saying. It hurt employee morale to see them sit on it.”
The salary study was funded as a budget item last year.
Witzansky emphasized that salaries plus benefits packages for police and fire are at or above market rate.
Negotiations for the next city workers’ contract are set to begin in late summer or fall, to encompass benefits too.
The current three-year city workers contract included an overall three percent increase.
“You always want to be an attractive employer,” said Witzansky. “The quality of our city services is (a result of) the quality of our employees.” ER
