LAPPL Blog: The official blog of the Los Angeles Policy Protective League
The attack on Wisconsin workers is an attack on union members across the nation
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/24/2011 @ 04:50 PM
UPDATE 2/25/11 at 1630:
Our intention in the blog below was not to ask members or retirees to align themselves with a group or organization whose overall philosophy they disagree with. The paragraph about MoveOn.org and SEIU was not intended to be an encouragement to participate; it was meant to provide information on the far-reaching effects of the debate and concerns. However, these groups are at the forefront of the fight to protect collective bargaining, and as a Board, we do support any effort to preserve it so that our legal rights in California are not eroded.
In California the “law” that grants public employees collective bargaining rights, or “union” rights, is found in Section 3500 et seq. of the Government Code. It was codified into California law in 1968. It is known as the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act and was signed by then-Governor Ronald Reagan. In the City of Los Angeles the “law” that grants city employees collective bargaining rights is found in Section 4.830 of the city’s Administrative Code.
We urge you to follow the debate, regardless of the players, and beware of any movement in California, such as Assemblyman Mansoor’s bill, that would inhibit our ability to protect your rights and benefits as your collective bargaining organization or “union.” And we ask that you keep in mind that when we are able to bargain in good faith on behalf of our members, we can and do make the case that those who put their lives on the line every day are entitled to unique consideration and benefits that may not be appropriate or even affordable to provide to all government workers.
It is key to recognize that the economy is clearly the flashpoint of the debate and that our goal is to preserve the ability to work with City and state officials in the collective bargaining process, so that the League can continue to protect its members and, at the same time, be part of the fiscal solution in Los Angeles.
Madison, Wisconsin is 2,000 miles away from Los Angeles, but the political attacks against unions there to eliminate basic protections for workers warrant our full attention and strong opposition.
As widely covered by the media in recent weeks, Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, is moving to strip the majority of non-safety public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights. The shocking plan has prompted massive protests and a walkout by Democratic lawmakers there, and has led to increasingly large rallies across the nation.
An attack on the collective bargaining process in any of the 50 states is an attack on every unionized worker in America. California, long a pro-labor state, is no exception. Following the Wisconsin governor’s lead, a Republican state assemblyman from Costa Mesa has announced legislation to eliminate collective bargaining for pension benefits by California's public employees. While Assemblyman Allan Mansoor’s bill – aimed at addressing the increasing costs of retired public employees – stands little chance of passage in the Democrat-controlled Legislature, it serves as a reminder that we must remain vigilant and prepared to take action whenever our basic union rights are threatened.
The thinking behind these attacks is fuzzy at best. For starters, it’s bad politics. A new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows that Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. It found that 61 percent would oppose a law in their state similar to the plan in Wisconsin, and only 33 percent would favor it.
Union leaders and workers throughout the U.S. aren’t taking anything for granted. They are organizing and participating in rallies to show support for Wisconsin working families. More than 2,000 state and local government workers gathered at the State Capitol in Sacramento Tuesday night at a hastily organized rally to support their counterparts in Wisconsin.
A way you can help is by backing candidates who can be counted on to uphold the rights of unions and preserve the collective bargaining process. This is why we perform our due-diligence before every election to endorse only the candidates worthy of the support of the League and its members.
Our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin are under attack. They need and deserve our support. The time to pull together is NOW.
The Internet and social media: Let the user beware!
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/23/2011 @ 11:50 AM
We’re revisiting the topic to remind you once again: use caution online and in the social media world.
The reality is, when you create a personal presence in cyberspace, you must always assume that nothing you do will be private, no matter what privacy options you set. An ongoing investigation by the Wall Street Journal underscores our point. It found that one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet is the business of spying on users.
The Journal’s comprehensive study assessed and analyzed the broad array of cookies and other surveillance technology that companies are deploying to track Internet users. It revealed that the tracking of consumers has grown both far more pervasive and far more intrusive than is realized by all but a handful of people in the vanguard of the industry.
These findings bring us to four principles of smart Internet and social media use that cannot be overstated:
- There are many ways of uncovering online information and e-communications intended to be private.
- “Privacy” settings are not foolproof or final.
- If something is relevant to an investigation, a subpoena can force a social media company or e-mail service to provide the information.
- Investigators will look at not only your profile, but those of your friends to find information and pictures of you to serve their purpose. In many cases, users may not even know that friends have posted information about or pictures of them.
The Internet and social media are convenient and powerful communication tools. But like anything powerful, they must be used with care, and with an appreciation for their risks and possible unintended consequences.
Congratulations to new state senators Ted Lieu and Sharon Runner
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/18/2011 @ 03:12 PM
Our congratulations go out to Assemblymember Ted Lieu and former Assemblymember Sharon Runner on their election this week to the California State Senate. Both endorsed by the League, Lieu and Runner secured solid victories and under new election rules, will be sworn in and seated immediately.
Ted Lieu’s and Sharon Runner’s long history of support for public safety and law enforcement, and their advocacy for crime victim’s rights bode well for all Californians and will make them excellent state senators. We look forward to seeing and supporting their efforts to improve our state and address its many challenges.
More information on Ted Lieu and Sharon Runner can be found on their websites.
More library funding? Yes. Budgeting end-runs? No.
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/12/2011 @ 09:52 PM
In a city with serious financial shortfalls, there’s no doubt that tough decisions have to be made. That’s what the Los Angeles City Council members have been elected to do - make those tough decisions in the best interest of the people they serve. But they have to be made the right way and “budgeting by ballot box” creates more problems than it solves.
Our opposition to the well-intentioned but short-sighted Measure L has garnered some attention that ridiculously casts the police union against libraries and children, with some saying it’s a “typical me-first attitude” and “If you give them a choice between themselves and children, they're going to choose themselves." These malicious and offensive comments clearly aim to cloud the issue and divert the focus of our opposition.
It’s not about libraries – it’s about the budget process. The measure, up for voter approval on March 8th, proposes to lock up additional funds for a single purpose. And that’s exactly what it’ll do: lock up money through a mandate that it be spent only on libraries, regardless of what emergency needs might arise or how the financial picture might change down the road.
More money for libraries is a good thing. Now, what Measure L proponents should do is find ways of funding the increase they’re creating this end-run for. Finding a source to bankroll increased library funding is the responsible way to back this important municipal service, and also the way to ensure that other essential services don’t have to be cut further to accommodate the mandate.
Since it appears that this measure will pass, the League has simply gone on record to warn residents that they should expect to see further reductions in other areas of priority such as police and fire services, parks and recreation, and street services.
We aren’t against libraries or their patrons. We’re against end-runs that circumvent the proper budgeting process, which is after all, the job our city council has been elected and is well paid to do.
He murdered a police officer – help keep him in prison
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/08/2011 @ 07:41 PM
In four weeks, the Solano State Prison parole board will meet to decide on Voltaire Williams’ request for parole.
Back in 1989, Williams was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy in the brutal 1985 ambush and assassination of LAPD Detective Thomas C. Williams. As he was picking up his son from a Canoga Park day care center, Detective Williams was hit by eight shots fired from an assault weapon. His truck was riddled with bullets, as were nearby walls and even the interior of the school.
The killing or attempted killing of a law enforcement officer is the ultimate attack on public safety. Fellow law enforcement officers, Angelenos, and concerned citizens across the state and nation must send the message that brazen attacks like these will result in the harshest penalties and will always mean a lifetime forfeiture of the assailant’s freedom.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League has sent a letter to the parole board apposing Williams' release. We encourage you to honor the memory of Detective Williams and support his wife and two children by also writing to the Solano State Prison parole board and urging them to make Voltaire Williams serve out his full sentence.
Solano State Prison
Parole Board
P.O. Box 4000
Vacaville, CA 95696
Voltaire Williams CDC No. E17796
401(k) plans are not the solution
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/07/2011 @ 04:15 PM
Some self-styled experts are suggesting the replacement of public pensions with 401(k)-style retirement plans as one solution to municipal and state budget shortfalls. But recent facts and figures show why this is a non-starter.
A study commissioned by Retirement USA found that Americans aged 32 to 64 are facing a staggering retirement savings shortfall of $6.6 trillion. And, 87% of businesses surveyed acknowledged that a 401(k) plan would not provide retirement security for their workers.
401(k) plans are not a viable solution. On Forbes.com, Edward Siedle explained some of the 401(k) system’s major problems and why it has failed American workers. According to Siedle, the system is a hoax that will precipitate the greatest retirement crisis in the history of the world. He writes, “In other words, employers understood that offering a plan that purported to provide for workers’ retirement security, without obligating the employer to pay retirement benefits, was helpful in building their businesses. However, employers privately acknowledged that these 401(k) plans were not sufficient to provide for workers’ retirement. For 30 years employers chose not to share this little secret with the workers.”
Won't the proven failure of the 401(k) plans eventually translate into an aging population who must rely on their children and social services just to get by? And it would undoubtedly force retiring Californians to leave for the greener pastures of other states because they’d no longer be able to afford to live here. How would this exodus help the economy?
In stark contrast to the failed 401(k) scheme, the pension system covering Los Angeles police officers has existed since June 7, 1899. Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions (LAFPP), even after the global economic downturn, is currently 91.6% funded. Members contribute up to 9% of their pay bi-weekly, which for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, will amount to $120,287,911. Sizeable as this amount is, it doesn’t even constitute the majority of the system’s funding; the lion’s share of LAFPP’s funding comes from returns on the fund’s investments.
It’s absurd that even as it becomes clearer why 401(k) plans don’t work, some still want to shove more American workers into these retirement schemes – the same ones that are on the verge of provoking a massive retirement crisis. These broken plans will prove woefully inadequate for millions of Americans reaching retirement age. That’s why we hope to see more respected business publications like Forbes shed light on the danger and inadequacy of private companies’ 401(k) plans and help everyone understand that largely self-supporting pensions are not the problem.
Studies and articles like these only strengthen our opposition to proposed 401(k) systems for public safety employees. It’s already failed millions of hardworking American workers, and it would surely fail our members.
Team LAPD joins the fight against cancer
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/03/2011 @ 02:02 PM
Protecting public safety is just one of the many ways LAPD officers serve the community. Last year, officers held their 10th annual “Angels Community Book and Toy Drive,” they participated in several blood drives, and they stepped into the ring with deputies from the Sheriff's Department for the 17th annual "Fight for Life" boxing tournament benefitting City of Hope.
Now, a group of LAPD officers have signed up with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program and joined the fight against blood cancers. They’ve formed Team LAPD, who will train for the 2011 LA Marathon and raise funds for cancer research. With the support of their family, friends and colleagues, the team hopes to raise $35,000.
There’s a special significance to this goal since three of Team LAPD are themselves battling cancer. Five-year olds Nathaniel and Ryan, and 16 year-old Freddy are all putting up a brave fight against acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a debilitating cancer of white blood cells that has, over the last four decades, shown increasing survival rates thanks to ongoing research into new treatments and therapies. This is why Team LAPD is training to raise these urgently needed research funds.
We encourage everyone out there to join Team LAPD in their fight against blood cancer by pledging their support on the team’s page or by getting involved in any way they can. Team LAPD is also on Facebook.
When you can’t win with facts, resort to spin
By LAPPL Board of Directors on 02/02/2011 @ 03:11 PM
Jack Humphreville, the self-proclaimed LA Watchdog, does not like our December 22 blog, “Pension holidays aren’t just ‘ancient history.’” In his latest CityWatch rant, Jack is upset with many facts and issues we raised. Let’s take apart his spin and insert some facts.
We pointed out that if the City had not taken “contribution holidays” and “simply made all its required annual payments, the system would’ve currently been funded at over 100%.” And we noted that the “pension reformers of today remained silent as the government shirked its pension obligations, helping to create the current situation.”
Looking to shift the blame, Humphreville plaintively asks: “where was the leadership of the PPL while the City was stiffing the Fire and Police Pension Plans (‘FPP’)? ” The answer: LAPPL leadership knew that if the City skipped payments and then had to make them up later, it would be the City’s choice. It’s the pension reformers, not us, who seek to bury the history of skipped payments and how that money would have multiplied in the markets if it had been contributed.
We also pointed out that the current pension plan is 91.6% funded. While acknowledging that this fact is accurate, he states “the ‘Actuarial Valuation and Review of Pension and Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) as of June 30, 2010’ indicates the unfunded liability is $5.9 billion based on market values, implying a funded ratio of 67.6%.”
This is an example of changing the facts to suit your argument. Jack, your comparisons are apples and oranges, the pension system is soundly funded. The OPEB, for benefits such as retiree health care, is not the pension system.
Jack then tries to change more facts, claiming that the unfunded pension liability number he has “…is based on an Investment Return Assumption of 7.75%, a level that is considered unsustainable over time and substantially higher than what is permitted in Corporate America.”
First, as a long term rate of return, 7.75% is sustainable. The actual long term performance of the plan has validated the approach used by our pension fund. Also, there are sound reasons why the public pension systems use a different funding ratio than corporate plans. GASB, the independent agency that provides accounting standards for public plans, has approved the approach used by the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System. Sorry, Jack, but changing the numbers because they don’t achieve the negative result you want won’t fly.
Working himself into full fury, Jack claims, “The Annual Required Contribution (“ARC”), the FPP Board of Commissioners relies on phony baloney, actuarial accounting techniques that peg the unfunded liability at $3 billion, implying a funded ratio of about 83%.” Now we know we are diving into numbers mumbo jumbo, but we simply have to point out the many fallacies underlying that rant.
Jack is apparently comfortable with the actuary deciding what the total liability of the plan is; he just doesn’t like the same actuary then calculating what the unfunded liability is. So, rather than intelligently analyzing how that number was arrived at, he resorts to calling the actuarial accounting “phony baloney.” Well, thanks for the cogent argument.
Jack wrongly claims that the “the City’s General Fund will be required to contribute $500 million to the FPP in 2011-12, or 37% the $1.357 billion total annual payroll, representing over 11% of the General Fund. This is an increase of over $110 million from the previous year.” Actually, the percentage of the General Fund paid to the pension system is within the historical range of what the City has paid, in good times and bad.
Jack next tries to question the recently adopted new pension tier, saying, “There is also no guarantee that this new tier is actuarially sound since it relies on an unsustainable Investment Rate Assumption of 7.75% and it allows officers to retire before the age of 65.” As stated above, the assumption rate is sustainable. And apparently, Jack wants 65-year-old police officers on patrol.
He wrongly asserts that, “Coupled with the unfunded liability of the Los Angeles City Employee Retirement System, the City has an unfunded pension liability for its two principal pension plans of over $15 billion assuming the market value of assets and a realistic Investment Rate Assumption.” It is important that you note how Jack changes the actual facts. The $15 billion number is a number he and other pension opponents created by using a Treasury bond rate for the return rate of pension funds. The approach has been rejected by the Government Accounting Standards Board, which sets accounting standards for government agencies. Fitch ratings called this approach "unrealistic, " yet it is the approach opponents insist on using to sell their point.
Having invented a parallel universe of financial facts and assumptions, Jack then closes by wondering why the City does not have a plan to address the universe he created – fascinating.
Jack didn’t like us pointing out the actual history of how we got here, claiming that was “spilt milk.” We can only guess he won’t be too happy with us pointing out his fabricated numbers to try to make today’s reality seem extremely dire.
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