More than 11,000 service workers in Los Angeles are among the latest employees to go on strike this summer as people across industries as diverse as acting and nursing have demanded fair pay, better staffing, and more comprehensive benefits.
In the Los Angeles service worker strike — which includes sanitation workers, airport employees, traffic officers, and engineers — a core issue centers on hundreds of vacancies that have long gone unfilled. Union workers say they’ve had to shoulder added tasks due to those staffing shortages, and that has left people extremely overworked and forced to take on recurring overtime. These stressors have led Los Angeles city workers in the union to authorize the first strike they’ve staged in over 40 years.
The plan, according to the leadership of the SEIU Local 721 union, to which the city’s service workers belong, is to picket and rally in front of City Hall and at the Los Angeles International Airport for one day in a bid to “shut down” Los Angeles and compel the city to address their concerns. Service workers are integral to the city’s daily functions including everything from shuttle buses to trash pickup to airport operations, and disruptions are expected in all of these areas.
Happening now: LA City workers are congregating outside City Hall because we’re FED UP w/ the City’s blatant lack of respect.
We risked our health & safety to work the frontlines of the COVID crisis. We deserve respect — LA City, negotiate in good faith. #SolidaritySummer pic.twitter.com/DPoDlsrxKE
— SEIU 721 (@SEIU721) August 8, 2023
“The message we’re sending is that our workers are just fed up. They’ve reached a breaking point. And we need these folks in the city to come back to the table for the good of the city,” David Green, SEIU Local 721 executive director and president, told the Washington Post.
The union is calling the city out specifically for unfair labor practices and is accusing LA leaders of…
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