February 5, 2010—LA City professionals pressed the LA City Council to put off a harmful plan to lay off 1,000 employees. But Mayor Villaraigosa is pushing ahead with his plan. On February 4, he pledged to speed up implementation of the Coalition of LA City Unions agreement for early retirements and transfers—but also threatened to move forward with 1,000 layoffs.

"The City needs to work with us to fill specifically funded positions with general fund ones. We are pressing the Council to make intelligent budget decisions." -Michael Hunt, Transportation Engineer, Department of Transportation.

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December 16, 2009—Just three weeks after officially becoming members of SEIU Local 721, City of Los Angeles professionals and engineers on Tuesday presented their initial bargaining proposals to the City and demanded a comprehensive budget overview from the City. Core principles of the proposals include: ▪ An immediate end to furloughs ▪ No layoffs, cuts, takeaways or steps backward ▪ Ensuring public work is done by public workers

MOU 8 bargaining team members, from left: Terry Keating, Chad Doi, Nady Maechling, Bryan Low, Patricia Huck, Azar Nejad, John Hawkins, Eric Maya. Not pictured: Kris Flaig.

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December 2, 2009 — Members of MOU 8 have elected a bargaining team (seven members and two alternates) to negotiate with the City of Los Angeles starting later this month. Here are the results of the ballot tally conducted earlier today at the Public Works building:

Questions? For more information, send a message or contact Kevin Ihrke at 213-321-7522.

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City of Los Angeles engineers, professionals and supporters celebrate the Employee Relations Board's certification of SEIU as the official bargaining representative for MOUs 8 and 17.

November 23, 2009—November 23, 2009—The City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board officially certified SEIU Local 721 today as the bargaining representative for MOUs 8 and 17, which clears the way for contract negotiations to begin in December.

As they celebrated the Board's decision, members of MOUs 8 and 17 said they looked forward to going into contract negotiations, and working together with their City colleagues to make real improvements.

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November 17, 2009—Voting begins this week for the MOU 8 bargaining team election. MOU 8 members: Return your completed ballot by mail or hand-deliver it to Local 721 no later than Tuesday, Dec. 1. Ballots will be counted on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at SEIU 721, 500 S. Virgil Ave., Los Angeles.

If you haven't received your ballot at home by Friday, Nov. 20, call 213-321-7522 or send an email to request a replacement.

Meet the candidates for MOU 8 bargaining team (pdf).