More than 11,000 L.A. City workers walked off the job on Tuesday as part of a one-day labor strike. The demonstration is expected to disrupt operations at Los Angeles International Airport, the Port of Los Angeles, and Los Angeles City Hall.
The workers are represented by SEIU Local 721. The union says the city has failed to bargain with its members following the ratification of a one-year agreement last November.
According to Local 721, the plan was to return to negotiations after the holidays to hash out smaller demands. The city did not hold up its end of the deal and “reneged on their promise to negotiate on these issues,” SEIU Local 721 Chief of Staff Gilda Valdez told the Los Angeles Times. The union has now filed an unfair labor practice claim with the City of Los Angeles’ Employee Relations Board.
“We’re going to shut the City of Los Angeles down,” the union’s President David Green told LAist.
Tuesday’s strike follows a swarm of local labor strikes – from Hollywood writers and actors to hotel workers represented by Unite HERE Local 11.
SEIU Local 721 and the city are set to return to the bargaining table on August 14. Mayor Karen Bass issued the following statement ahead of Tuesday’s strike:
"City workers are vital to the function of services for millions of Angelenos every day and to our local economy. 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."