Results tagged “layoffs”

The Los Angeles Unifed School District yesterday voted to cut 5,200 jobs from its payrolls in an effort to solve an anticipated $640 million budget deficit. "The latest layoff figures include pink slips for 2,252 teachers, 574 counselors, librarians, school nurses and psychologists and 2,370 administrators," reported the Daily News. "That would virtually eliminate school nurses and librarians, increase class sizes in fourth through eighth grade to a potential high of 44 students in middle school, and boost counselor loads to 1,000 students each." The district will soon examine 1,500 more job cuts to custodians and office workers. Meanwhile, L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa released a list identifying the first 542 jobs identified to be slashed from the budget. In total, 4,000 are slated to be cut. more ›

Looks like it. The board of the L.A. Unified School District is poised to vote on the large layoff package to fight off their $640 million budget shortfall (to compare, the city of L.A. is currently facing a $212 million shortfall and an expected $484 million deficit next fiscal year, starting in July. They are planning on sacking some 4,000 employees). more ›

Yesterday during the meeting of the Los Angeles City Council, alternatives to laying off up to 4,000 employees was discussed. But in order to see those results, the mantra of "sharing the sacrifice" reared its head again. LA Times' Steve Lopez poses the question: "Would you take a pay cut to save your co-workers' jobs?" A 10% cut to a worker paid $50,000 a year would mean $5,000 less annually. If that happens, it won't be the first time many city employees have taken a cut. more ›

When the going gets rough... Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today took the initiative to shut down two city departments, slashing 52 positions and saving $3.2 million from the city's coffers, currently suffering a $212-million budget shortfall. The affected departments are Environmental Affairs (EAD) and Human Services. more ›

In addition to the 1,000 city worker layoffs already being discussed, the Los Angeles City Council today took action to add 3,000 more workers to that list after a financial firm yesterday downgraded the city's financial outlook from "stable" to "negative," according to the LA Times. The city is facing a $212-million deficit and a $484 one next fiscal year beginning in July. more ›

What will Los Angeles look like if we don't survive the current fiscal crisis? Or perhaps the question should be, what will Los Angeles look like several months from now due to thousands of layoffs? Last week, KCET's SoCal Connected recapped the budget shortfall, currently above $200 million--and when the new fiscal year begins on July 1st, the deficit shoots up to over $400 million. more ›

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is not willing to risk the city's insolvency so he's becoming more aggressive with fixing the more-than $200 million budget problem, saying he's willing to triple the number of proposed layoffs, up to 2,000 more... more ›

"There just aren't unlimited options here," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told the L.A. City Council when he visited for a two-hour Q&A session. "We can't continue to say no to everything. We can't say no to layoffs, no to furloughs, no to department eliminations. . . . The fact is we can't sustain this business model." more ›

As the L.A. City Council tried to save 1,000 jobs by planning to spend 30 days to find alternatives, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa put his foot down and said now is the time, citing that everyday without a solvent budget means four more threatened jobs. The list includes 60 sworn firefighters, 15 custodians, 15 IT systems analysts, 26 tree surgeon assistants (and 16 of their supervisors), 60 library messenger clerks, 20 librarians and 59 child care associates, to name a few. You can see the whole list here (.pdf), which was posted by CityWatchLA. The Mayor is scheduled to testify about the budget cuts and other measures at today's City Council meeting at 11:15 a.m. more ›

By the end of Wednesday's marathon session of the Los Angeles City Council, where the budget crisis was being attacked head on, elected officials had taken action on several items, saving the city $6 million of the $218 million deficit. A small but good amount of money, but insignificant as the group also added $10 million in costs, reported the LA Times. more ›

That amount of savings is more than laying off 1,000 non-police city hall jobs, which would save the city $65 million. The proposed cuts to police translates to "canceling plans for hiring 103 officers and laying off 616 probationary officers in the academy and the department," according to the LA Times. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council last year vowed to keep policing levels current at 9,963, but a budget crisis--now $218 million--is making that promise more difficult to keep. more ›

One way to save some or all of the 1,000 employees threatened to lose their job under a current proposal to help save Los Angeles' current $208-million budget shortfall is to transfer them to open jobs in proprietary revenue-generating departments like the Airport, Port and LADWP. Speaking to that, Councilmember Janice Hahn suggested taking that move seriously, calling for a "major Match.com" service to quickly transfer employees. Over 300 vacant positions have been identified, says Hahn. more ›

The controversial budget-saving move to cut $500,000 from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs grant program was saved this morning after a proposal to cut the Transient Occupancy Tax (hotel guests pay that), which funds the grants, was killed this morning during a City Council meeting. However, the department stands to lose nearly 50% of its staffing, currently at 63. 11 will leave due to the Early Retirement Incentive Program and another 16 could be axed if the proposed 1,000 citywide layoff plan passes. If that happens, Cultural Affairs will be left with 36 employees. more ›

There's nothing sexy about a city government's budget, no matter how you color it. The city of Los Angeles is facing so much red ink--currently $208 million--it's going to start bleeding out onto the streets and into your daily life. And that's exactly why you should know what's going on. If pot holes annoy you, get ready for more of them. If slow police response times anger you, you might be waiting even longer in the near future. City services demand money and well, that money isn't there. more ›

Hyperbole or not, Councilman Richard Alarcon was on a tear in today's city council meeting going after city staff (and perhaps himself in a round-a-bout way) for, what he says, was the easy way out of the budget mess: by proposing to layoff 1,000 employees. more ›

10 percent of the 1,000 city hall employees to be laid off in a current budget saving proposal are city attorneys. It's safe to say, like any employee with a threat to the job, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is not thrilled. So at last night's meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee, Chief Deputy City Attorney Bill Carter read a poignant statement on how losing city attorneys means costly unintended consequences. "Our office does not create liability, other departments do," he said. A portion of his statement is below: more ›

Perhaps the most sobering news that came out of yesterday's 11-hour L.A. City Council budget committee session was a request to see a layoff plan that included police and firefighters. The current proposal to layoff 1,000 employees, which was not recommended by the committee late Monday evening, left public safety jobs off the table, but Councilman Bernard Parks, the former LAPD Chief, wanted to see the "grimmest picture" possible, according to the LA Times. The council is faced with a $208 million budget shortfall this year and will be up against a $484 million one come July 1st. more ›

Close to ten hours into a Los Angeles City Council budget committee meeting late Monday night, the money-saving move to layoff 1,000 employees was not approved, despite a $208 million budget deficit. At first, the layoffs were approved by Councilmembers Bernard Parks, Greig Smith and Bill Rosendahl with Paul Koretz and Jose Huizar against it, but Rosendahl quickly balked, siding against the layoffs. more ›

A mid-year budget report addressed to Mayor Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council last Friday evening had sobering, but not surprising news. Los Angeles is in deep financial trouble and it's going to take years to get out of it. more ›

One has to wonder that if politics are involved with a current mid-year budget report, expected to be offiically released this afternoon, that in part examines 1,000 city hall layoffs as a budget solution. The City Attorney Office could see 100 members of his office go while the Mayor and City Council offices see a zero reduction and the City Attorney himself is ready to fight it, according to the LA Times. more ›

A preliminary version of a report that details over 1,000 layoffs will be released today by city officials. According to the Daily News, here are some of how the 1,003 layoffs could go, which doesn't affect the staffs of the Mayor's or City Council: more ›

Amid the process of letting 2,400 city of Los Angeles employees retire early--a move to help save a dwindling city budget--a draft internal letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times indicates plans to sack at least 1,000 employees. "Revenues are significantly lower than original projections and we are prepared to make tough decisions, including layoffs and cuts in less-essential city services to our constituents," notes the letter, referring to tax revenues. more ›

The gauntlet has dropped again. After a few exit announcements that were noted yesterday, former LAist Contributing Editor Elina Shatkin today tweeted "can now add 'former Los Angeles Times staff writer to my resume.' I was laid off this morning." Shatkin, the amazing and brilliant writer that she is, had graced the Times' food and entertainment sections. more ›

There are some staff changes happening at the Times this week. Tina Daunt, who wrote at the paper for 20 years, is among an unknown number of people laid off. Last night, she wrote on her blog: more ›

No details are publicly available until the plan is ratified by union members, but today the City Council took action that reverses this week's earlier decision to cut nearly 1,000 jobs and institute 26 days of furloughs that would help the city fight a $405 million budget shortfall. Instead, the Coalition of L.A. City Unions gave up $78 million in "hard concessions" and will have to contribute an extra .37 percent of paychecks towards the city's pension fund, which will cover the early retirement of some 2,400 employees, according to the LA Times. Although 22,000 employees have membership in this union, other unions may still experience layoffs and furloughs, which could prompt lawsuits. more ›

It's a few minutes shy of 10:30 a.m. and the Los Angeles City Council is in session, however behind closed doors as councilmembers decide on a labor deal. Earlier this week, the council voted to cut close to 1,000 jobs and institute 26 furlough days, but only as a back-up plan if talks didn't go through by the end of the month. The city faces a $405-million deficit and an earlier plan to let thousands of employees retire five years early was found to only save the city a minimal amount of money. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he refused to let any plan go forward that would compromise public safety jobs. A panel this week worked to find a way to reverse this week's decision, which may be voted upon later today. more ›

Although the L.A. City Council yesterday voted to move forward with cutting close to 1,000 jobs, many through layoffs, and making employees take 26 days off through furloughs, they still plan to negotiate a deal with a union to avoid such action. The council called their move a safety net, buying time so they can find a way to avoid the job cuts and furloughs while still eliminating a $405-million budget deficit. more ›

After long deliberations in public and behind closed doors, the Los Angeles City Council today voted to go ahead with a budget-saving plan to eliminate 926 positions and 26 furlough days for civilian employees. However, many members see the decision as a temporary move, which gets the ball rolling on the layoff and furlough process, but buys time to make alternative arrangement to save jobs. The vote “is a safety net, in the event that we aren’t able to come up with an agreement,” Councilman Richard Alarcon was quoted saying in the Los Angeles Times. An agreement with unions must be made before September 28th, when furloughs will begin. Yesterday, the city of Long Beach, LA County's 2nd largest city, voted to eliminate hundreds of jobs to balance the budget. more ›

As the corridors of city hall in Los Angeles are abuzz with the pending outcome of budget talks, which could lead to nearly 1,000 layoffs, Long Beach councilmembers yesterday approved their $2.5 billion budget. "Citywide, 297 positions will be eliminated and up to 150 workers laid off under the new budget plan, which is a decrease from the original budget proposal that would have eliminated 312 positions and laid off 161," reported the Press-Telegram of the $20.3 million in cuts. "About 30 police officers may still get laid off, but the number of firefighters on duty at any given time will now drop from 137 to 133, instead of to 130." more ›

Facing a $405-million budget deficit, Mayor Villaraigosa earlier this summer asked city employees to share the sacrifice. A major deal was struck with civilian union employees by letting 2,400 employees retire early within five years. That plan needed City Council approval and with months of no action, things have changed. more ›