Oakland SEIU 1021 Members Minimize Redevelopment Losses

Published on February 1st 2012
Oakland workers bring their demands to the City Council.
Oakland workers bring their demands to the City Council.

Oakland SEIU 1021 members, together with community activists, packed City Hall Chambers for the second time in a week Tuesday, Jan. 31, to make sure the City Council took their concerns into account when finalizing budget cuts forced by the loss of Redevelopment monies. Their persistence and large numbers forced police to open the balcony, which quickly became a sea of purple t-shirts and picket signs.

The signs expressed members' concerns about the impact of slashing jobs and services to the community. Signs aptly read, "More you cut, the more you lose" and “We are an Enforceable Obligation.”

As part of a way to address the California budget deficit, Gov. Brown and the legislature passed a law requiring cities across the state to shut down their Redevelopment Agencies by Jan. 31 and send that tax money to the state. Because the City of Oakland used those redevelopment funds to support numerous projects and services throughout the city, the loss of those monies meant more budget cuts.

Seventy-three people turned in speaker cards to provide their input on the budget cuts since this was the second—and last—time they would get that chance.

Even with the abbreviated time and input from labor and the community—or maybe because of it—the Council seemed to have listened to what they were told. A group of four of them made a list of changes to the City Administrator’s proposed budget that was lengthier than it was substantial, but almost all of them were what unions and community people had asked for. Councilmember De La Fuente even thanked the unions and the community for providing great ideas on how to deal with the redevelopment crisis.

What the unions didn’t get was a much further reduction of job cuts. Some 105 full time equivalents (FTEs) were cut, but with some of them already vacant, the actual number of people being laid off will be less than 80. While the cuts to SEIU 1021 jobs are probably going to pan out to be less than 15—final numbers were still not available—some Local 21 workers will likely bump down to 1021 positions. Unions also didn’t get the extension of time they had demanded to review the sweeping reorganization of city government departments that consolidates power in the less-than-labor-friendly City Administrators office.

The unions did get the two-week extension of layoff notices, an apology from some council members for the callous, shotgun approach of sending out 2,500 layoff notices, and a recognition that the city had violated the layoff provisions of their contracts. Unions will also have the opportunity to bargain with the city to find ways to either find other positions in the city for those laid off and/or find ways to justify keeping some of their jobs being paid temporarily by the same bond and tax increment monies that have always funded redevelopment while they complete projects already in the pipeline.

The community got back many of the cultural programs dear to them. Funding was restored for Children’s Fairyland, the Oakland Zoo, Peralta Hacienda, Arts Grants, the Symphony in the Schools program, Neighborhood Service Coordinators, and the 211 Call Center.

The proposal passed the eight-member council on a 6 to 1 vote with one abstention.