Issue: LA City Workers Make Much More Than Private Sector

Date: Apr 28, 2015 

For almost a year, the labor groups representing roughly 20,000 Los Angeles city workers have battled at the bargaining table for people like Marshall Turner. 

Turner supports his union. Yet when it comes to his job, he's not complaining. A 59-year-old garbage-truck driver, he made $95,696 last year including overtime. His three decades of city employment enabled him to buy a four-bedroom Rancho Cucamonga home and provide for five children. He recognizes his privileged place in an economy that has grown increasingly bleak for blue-collar workers. 

"I feel blessed at the city of Los Angeles," he said recently over a ramen lunch during a break from collecting trash in South-Central. 

That sense of satisfaction is not misplaced — at least not when it comes to his paycheck. Among the city workers who are currently threatening to strike amid contract negotiations that have stalled over pay and other issues, many collect salaries higher than those who do similar jobs in both the public and private sectors, a Los Angeles Times analysis has found.  (Read the rest.) 

-cw

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 35

Pub: Apr 28, 2015

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