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Mechanics, lifeguards, traffic officers and others marched in
picket lines at city hall and the Los Angeles International
Airport, saying city management has engaged in unfair labor
practices in contract negotiations.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721 said
more than 11,000 workers went on strike in what the Los Angeles
Times called the first major walkout of city workers in decades.
Outside the City Hall tower, hundreds of picketers in purple
T-shirts and city uniforms marched through closed downtown
streets, banging drums and ringing cowbells while hoisting signs
in English and Spanish declaring "Striking for Respect."
"We're essential workers out here and we worked through the
pandemic. We never wavered. And so just bargain in good faith
and that's all we're asking. And when you don't bargain in good
faith, this is what happens," said marching city worker Alfonzo
Williams.
Some city services were unavailable as 40,000 nonstriking
workers tried to pick up the slack, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
said in a statement.
A number of the city's 55 swimming pools shut down, and trash
pickups were pushed back a day. Passengers departing from Los
Angeles Airport were advised to arrive an hour earlier than
usual in case of delays.
"The City of Los Angeles is not going to shut down," the mayor
said on social media, later adding: "The City will always be
available to make progress with SEIU 721 and we will continue
bargaining in good faith."
The walkout is the latest in series of organized labor job
actions in Los Angeles.
Hollywood writers have been on strike for three months, and
actors went on strike three weeks ago. In July, thousands of
hotel workers in Los Angeles staged a three-day strike over
wages, benefits and working conditions. That followed a
three-day strike by Los Angeles School District workers in April
that canceled school for 420,000 students.
(Reporting by Jorge Garcia in Los Angeles, Brendan O'Brien in
Chicago and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis, Sharon Singleton and Cynthia Osterman)
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