Employee Unions: We Have No Confidence in City Manager

Amid cries of "Fairness! Honesty! Respect!" Tuesday night, representatives of multiple unions for city employees delivered the results of a vote of no confidence over the performance of City Manager Bill Workman to the Redondo Beach City Council.

About 98 percent of the 297 votes received expressed no confidence in the job Workman has been doing—what Brad Sweatt of the Redondo Beach Firefighters Association called a "2 percent approval rating."

The city of Redondo Beach about 410 employees under Workman's purview. Employees in the City Clerk, City Attorney and City Treasurer's offices do not report to Workman.

"We do not want to be here tonight, but we have no choice," Sweatt told the council as he stood with representatives of the Teamsters, Police Officers Association, Police Officers Association Management Unit, Redondo Beach City Employees Association, and Redondo Beach Professional and Supervisory Association. "We've been pushed into the corner, and we refuse to stay quiet any longer."

More than 200 of the city's employees—many wearing shirts with the acronym CORE, for Coalition of Redondo Employees—attended the meeting to show their support.

The demonstration and vote have their roots in a 6 percent wage and benefit cut that all city employees took more than 5 years ago to help the city stay afloat during the recession. Wages have not yet been restored to that level.

"The city has refused to negotiate in good faith with the same labor groups that rushed to the city's aid," CORE said in a news release. "Morale among city employees is at an historic low."

According to CORE, Redondo Beach city employees have the lowest overall compensation of cities in the South Bay.

"We are a family—a family of dedicated individuals looking out for each other," Sweatt told the council. "The city employees have not been considered … an important asset—an asset that has been depleted over time."

In a statement released Monday after CORE announced its intention to demonstrate at Tuesday's meeting, Workman said the city council has approved last, best and final compensation offers for each of the employee unions. The offers were delivered Nov. 13.

"We care about our City employees," Workman wrote. "The City is a healthy, high performing organization that pays competitive wages.

"At this time, the City is presently engaged in a labor dispute where public employee unions wish for the City Council to pay wages far beyond (the) City's financial capacity," he said. "The City is only now emerging from the financial distress caused by the Great Recession and the significant revenue take-aways by our State and Federal Government."

Workman, who has been Redondo Beach's city manager for nine years, also blamed increasing costs from California's Public Employee Retirement System, or CalPERS, for the lack of wage increases.

"(CalPERS) is so generous and costly that City tax dollars that might … otherwise be used for wage increases have been mandated by the State to pay for skyrocketing employee pension expenses," he said.

In separate letters, others came to Workman's defense.

"We feel compelled to communicate our support and appreciation for Bill Workman," read a letter signed by all members of the executive team. "Bill's reputation as a committed, ethical, honest and transparent city manager is well known and is one of the City's strongest recruiting tools. Those of us who worked for Redondo Beach before Bill was hired can testify to the positive changes he has brought to the organization—professionalizing it, increasing accountability and navigating it through the worst recession in American history."

City Treasurer Steve Diels, who served on the Redondo Beach City Council until he was termed out in May of this year, also wrote a letter in support of Workman, saying that the city manager "has steered the City clear of financial disaster."

Diels noted that the employees' concessions during the recession helped the city avoid steep layoffs.

"Sadly, there is no quick fix," he wrote. "Sound financial principles should not be sacrificed for short term gain … I thank the Redondo Beach City Employees for weathering these difficult times and for their efforts to save the jobs of their colleagues. I ask that we not forget long term goals and sound principles as we strive to address difficult problems."

Nevertheless, Sweatt told the council Tuesday night that the issue "is not just about wages and benefits."

"This is about what we consider a lack of integrity and ethics and plain old just doing the right thing," Sweatt said. "Please understand: this is not a personal attack. This is not just about money. This is about how we are treated and how it affects the citizens of Redondo Beach. Please do not ignore us. The CORE is here to stay. The CORE wants nothing more than our motto: fairness, honesty, and respect.”

Workman did not address the issue Tuesday night. Due to regulations from the Brown Act—California's open meetings law—members of the City Council could not comment on the no confidence vote during the meeting because it was not an item on the agenda.

The council did agree to receive and file the results of the vote.