A coalition of labor unions led by a local branch of the SEIU has accused Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti of neglecting the city’s pressing issues while focusing on his presidential aspirations instead.
Hundreds of municipal employees who have been working without a contract stood on the steps of City Hall last week chanting, “Stop campaigning! Fix L.A.!” after Garcetti returned from recent out-of-state trips supporting Democratic candidates for Congress. Union workers claimed he had shied away from the bargaining table and failed to fulfill promises, then marched through downtown protesting the mayor.
“Mayor Eric Garcetti, stop rubbing elbows with major donors and roll up your sleeves and work with us to hammer out a fair contract,” said SEIU member Lamont White during a pre-march rally. SEIU Local 721 represents more than 10,000 city employees.
Garcetti said he has authorized the city’s bargaining team to close a deal while he has been canvassing for out-of-state candidates ahead of the November midterms.
My News L.A. reported:
The members of Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters and other unions also marched into a City Council meeting and caused several disruptions… Some also said that Garcetti should focus more on fixing the city and less on exploring a run at the presidency as he travels the country…
Mayor Garcetti, who keeps presenting himself as a presidential candidate, has spent much of his second term engaging with people who don’t live in Los Angeles. He has faced continued scrutiny over his travel schedule as the city has experienced a homeless epidemic, unsanitary streets and sidewalks, and a recent outbreak of flea-borne typhus.
An investigation by a local television station broadcast last week revealed that the city failed to respond to nearly 1,300 calls to pick up garbage within an area which government officials have since designated the “Typhus Zone,” resulting in “armies of rats” suspected of spreading the disease. Typhus is transmitted by fleas, which are carried by rodents.
NBC 4 Los Angeles reported:
Seconds after talking to us last Friday, the mayor got into his S-U-V to head to the airport, according to an aide. Over the weekend Garcetti tweeted photos of himself campaigning for candidates in Mississippi and Oklahoma, while that trash piled up even higher.
Garcetti also recently stumped for Democrats in Nevada and Ohio and has repeatedly traveled to political battleground states like Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.
Many of Garcetti’s excursions have been related to a political action committee he established last year. The Democratic Midterm Victory Fund has contributed to congressional candidates running in at least 12 states. According to the Los Angeles Times, the PAC “is boosting the mayor’s national profile and allowing him to forge alliances with party leaders.”
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Garcetti said he expects to decide on his potential presidential candidacy by March 2019. Meanwhile, L.A. County health officials announced on Friday that they “expect to continue to see clusters of flea-borne typhus” throughout the region, where at least 92 cases have been confirmed since the outbreak began in the summer, according to NBC News.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter @Near_Chaos.