L.A. Mayor Bass Tries to Calm City on Verge of Worker ‘Shut Down’

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attempted Monday to ease fears that the city will “shut down” on Tuesday when over 11,000 municipal workers, including airport and sanitation workers, go on strike to protest her administration’s bargaining tactics, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“The City of Los Angeles is not going to shut down,” Bass said, contradicting Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721 president David Green, who vowed to do exactly that with the walkout.

As Breitbart News reported Monday, the powerful union is downing tools to protest what it calls a lack of good faith in collective bargaining by the city over new contracts. Municipal workers will join Hollywood writers, Hollywood actors, hotel workers, and a variety of other workers who have launched strikes and labor actions in the city in recent months. The SEIU claims the city is not negotiating fairly because it wants to combine negotiations over future pay with negotiations over many other labor demands.

Bass, who has been on the job for less than a year, is scrambling to reassure residents that vital services will still be provided. But according to the Times, trash pickup will not happen on Tuesday and will be delayed by one day for the rest of the week; airport security workers will be allowed to report for duty, but other airport workers will not; and there may be delays in the cleanup of homeless encampments. Libraries, preschools, and day care centers will remain open, as will emergency services.

The only consolation for Bass is that the strike could be even worse: further north, in San Jose, municipal workers are going on strike for three days next week to protest low wages and poor retirement benefits that, they say, have led to staff shortages.