Want a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
SEIU721REFORMERS
Guys,
Be sure to see and read the Los Angeles Police Protective League News Release at the bottom of this email!
Rafe
***
Thanksgiving Eve Candlelight Vigil
Wednesday, Nov. 21, 5:30 p.m.
@ The Mayor's Mansion (Getty House)
605 S. Irving Blvd., Los Angeles 90005
Dear Friend:
Billionaires and millionaires, led by Richard Riordan, are out to eliminate our retirement benefits. But what does Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa think? Will he support this scheme?
The mayor hasn't spoken out about Riordan's plan to destroy our city and our future. Will he stand with city workers or will he throw us under the billionaires' bus? Let's go to his house to ask him.
Come out on Thanksgiving Eve to ask the mayor to stand up for city workers. The press will be there. Bring your children and stand united with our families.
And remember: Don't sign Riordan's petition. Volunteer to stop him by calling the 721 Rapid Response Hotline: (877) 721-4968.
In unity,
Nady Maechling
LA City Engineer and SEIU 721 Executive Board Member
This email was sent to:
seiulocal7...@gmail.com
Just passing this along. Thank you. Included is Clive Grawe's email to the LA Times.
In solidarity,
Nady Maechling
Hello,
Below is an email from Clive Grawe to the LA Times. Thank you Clive!!!
Additionally, there's a reference here about one of our many valuable female Union leaders. She's an avid and effective organizer and mobilizer. She is on the Bargaining Team. Let's recognize her contributions and utilize her to her full potential. We need more members like Azar Nejad!!!
Terry Keating, retired MOU 8 leader, Bargaining Team Member, Regional Council Chair, mobilizer, strategist,and writer saw Azar Nejad's photo in the LA Times and tweeted such admiration and respect for Azar Nejad on Facebook.
Let's recognize our members and their talents.
In solidarity,
Nady Maechling
I think my e-mail to the reporter on Friday helped get the LA Times at the Union Meeting on Saturday judging from the article in Sunday's California Section (see thread below where I e-mailed the Reporter)! Great photo Azar!
I think this article was very positive for our cause and showed the empathy of some of the average citizens to our plight. I think our best ally is the Press, and we need to get our side of the story to the Media whenever possible.
Feel free to circulate this. However, someone might want to make a better pdf.
Clive
From: Clive Grawe
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 6:12 PM
To: Terhune, Chad
Subject: Fwd: Reminder: Campaign Against Riordan's Attack on your Pension Starts this Saturday!
Hi Mr. Terhune,
I want to thank you again for your series of articles in the LA Times that brought attention to the City of Los Angeles' Health Care Cutbacks. My health care and access to the Transplant center at Cedar Sinai has been restored for 2013!
Although, I believe your specialty area is health issues. I was wondering if you could pass on this e-mail along with the attachments to your fellow reporter who covers labor issues. Note that there is a big Labor Rally tomorrow at 10 AM (see attached flyer).
Now backed by Mayor Riordan the City of Los Angeles is trying to make drastic cuts to the Employees Pensions. Demanding that the current employee pension system be nullified and dictate that current employees pay 50% of their pension contributions! Note that this is more radical than that proposed by Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsion or Governor John Kasich in Ohio! Besides which it seeks to abolish the current agreement " authorize the City Council to terminate the existing DB Plans by any lawful method". Although I have seen articles in the LA Times regarding this, I believe a follow up article on the Employees reaction to these draconian measures is warranted and will give your readers a balanced view of this. By attending tomorrow's union meeting your reporter would be able to get valuable input from the affected employees and Union Representatives.
Thank you and your LA Times Staff for your balanced approach in reporting the local news,
Clive Grawe
Signature gatherers duel over Riordan pension initiative
Union backers work to dissuade voters as petition workers gather signatures for an initiative to switch new city employees into 401(k)-type retirement plans.
 Linda Cryer, a 911 dispatcher for the city of Los Angeles, waves a sign and cheers outside the Service Employees International Union headquarters. Union supporters are working to disrupt former Mayor Richard Riordan's attempt to qualify a pension initiative for next year's city election. (Patrick T. Fallon, Los Angeles Times / November 17, 2012) |
November 17, 2012, 9:06 p.m.
Bonnie Haviland is the kind of voter Los Angeles city workers are hoping will help them stop former MayorRichard Riordan's push to switch new employees into 401(k)-type retirement plans from the current taxpayer-backed pensions.
The Tarzana grandmother thinks younger generations shouldn't have to worry about a retirement tied to the ups and downs of the stock market. That's why Haviland, 72, refused Saturday to sign a petition seeking to put Riordan's pension measure before voters next May.
"I'm already retired so I don't have to worry," she said outside of a Vons supermarket, where a paid signature gatherer calling himself "Ace" had asked her to sign Riordan's petition. "But I feel sorry for those who do."
Riordan is in the midst of gathering about 265,000 signatures to qualify a pension initiative for the May mayoral election. Changes are needed because pension costs are projected to continue rising even with recent changes made to retirement benefits by the City Council, Riordan has said.
The city faces a $216-million budget shortfall next year, due in part to ever-increasing pension costs, city budget managers say. Union leaders say starting a 401(k)-like plan would cost the city even more, at least initially.
Saturday was the kickoff of organized labor's attempt to derail the former mayor and multimillionaire businessman's initiative drive. After a morning rally, about 100 city union members fanned out to 7-Elevens, supermarkets and strip malls across Los Angeles to persuade voters not to sign Riordan's petition.
"When there's trash to be picked up, who comes to your house to do it? Even on the day after Christmas?" asked Aurora Wynnz, a community activist whom everyone calls "McGee." "They don't get Social Security. And Riordan wants them all to get 401(k)s. How has that worked out for you?"
Wynnz appeared to be having great success. One person after another signed a sheet asking the city clerk to cancel out their signature for Riordan's measure just in case they had signed the petition without really knowing what it was about.
Tracy "Love" Williams was one of them. Stopped by Ace outside Vons, he signed one petition to get a medical marijuana ordinance on the ballot, and then signed a second one that Ace presented to him, he said. When Wynnz explained what the Riordan initiative would do, Williams was upset that he had signed it.
"How do I know you're not lying too?" Williams asked. After some more persuasion, he took the clipboard. "OK, I'll sign this too."
Jason Elias, a union spokesman, said overall activity was light Saturday, probably because of the wet weather.
Elias said that one of his members was pushed by a signature gatherer outside an Eagle Rock Trader Joe's and that he was spit on by the same man at another store. Union members were told not to be confrontational with the petition gatherers but to make a counter argument to voters being approached, he said.
The union didn't call the police, he said, because the man left. "We got what we wanted — he wasn't able to get any more signatures at that store."
John Schwada, a Riordan spokesman, said city workers can best protect their retirement benefits by joining the former mayor's movement. The current taxpayer-backed pension system is outdated and could bankrupt the city unless serious changes are made, he said.
"All the people of Los Angeles deserve an opportunity to vote on an issue of such great importance to the city's future," Riordan said in a statement.
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
Dear Friend:
Last Saturday, hundreds of SEIU 721 members and allies kicked off the campaign against Richard Riordan's attack on our pensions. We are working hard with the Coalition of LA City Unions and community allies to prevent Riordan's plan from getting on the ballot.
Many of us are on the "Riordan Signature Busters" team. We are going to supermarkets and malls to confront Riordan's paid signature gatherers and to tell people "don't sign" his petition. We are also circulating adifferent petition that allows people to withdraw their name from Riordan's if they have signed it, but then change their mind.
I went with a team to Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza on Saturday. There were seven of Riordan's paid people there telling folks they had a petition to "save city jobs." As soon as my team began exposing their lies, people stopped signing Riordan's petition.
In Eagle Rock, Riordan signature gatherers assaulted one of our union brothers, a 22-year city employee. Butour brother wasn't deterred. He chased Riordan's goons away. Teams all over the city are blocking Riordan from taking our pensions.
City workers are going out each day urging people not to sign. Volunteer now and keep watch over your neighborhood: (877) 721-4968.
Riordan only has three weeks left. Let's stop him!
In unity,
Simboa Wright
LA City Sanitation Worker
Brian Hollenbaugh
Account Representative Capital Bankcard
Corporate Address:
One Federal Street, Second Floor
Boston, MA 02110
(877) 788-2836 Merchant Support
Local Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 802375
Santa Clarita, CA 91380
(818) 693-2088 Business Phone
(661) 360-4895 Dedicated Fax
www.capitalbankcardsocalifornia.com
"Helping Businesses Save Money One Business at a Time"
-----Original Message-----
From: "Los Angeles Police Protective League" <pressr...@lappl.org>
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 12:41pm
To: "Brian Hollenbaugh" <bholle...@capitalbankcard.com>
Subject: News Release: Riordan admits to ginned up pension plan
Los Angeles, November 19, 2012 – Richard Riordan has finally acknowledged that the pension initiative that he’s circulating for signatures was thrown together without any financial analysis behind it. To be blunt, Riordan has come clean that his claims of savings and plan costs from his initiative are made up and don’t have a shred of actuarial support.
In a Los Angeles Daily News story, Riordan admitted that he has not conducted any independent actuarial study to support his wild claims of bringing cost savings to the City.
“Riordan has rushed out an initiative with claims that he now admits are unsupported by any actuarial analysis. Every credible businessman would demand to see a thorough financial analysis before investing in any business opportunity, and would never make a major purchase based on solely on provocative Powerpoint slides and overstated claims without some financial data to back it up. Yet, Riordan has insulted voters of the City of Los Angeles by paying to put an initiative on the ballot that lacks even a rudimentary actuarial analysis to support the claims he has put forward in both public statements and the initiative preamble,” said Tyler Izen, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL).
“Last week, while flip-flopping on his promise to debate the LAPPL on the merits of his scheme, Riordan said, ‘Let’s not put the cart before the horse.’ How ironic, now that he has been caught putting the cart before the horse, Riordan is scrambling to buy an actuarial analysis that he can point to in support of his claims. That slipshod and reckless approach should be rejected. Thoughtful analysis and real solutions are needed to address pension issues – not sound bite clips and Charter changes that are poorly thought-out and extremely costly,” said Izen.
Texas, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Missouri, Wyoming and New York City have considered and rejected the same type of proposal offered by Riordan. The common reason for rejection was that it was too costly to close the pension system to new employees and switch to a defined contribution system.
Riordan told the Daily News, “I didn’t feel we needed one (a study) because we were basing our proposal on existing city studies.” The Riordan scheme ignores all of these published studies, as well as one done in 2005 for the City of Los Angeles showing the immediate and significant costs of closing the defined benefit plan to new hires and implementing a defined contribution pension proposal in its place for the new hires is higher than continuing to make the defined benefit plan open to new employees.
“Also troubling is that the Business Leadership of Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, of which the LAPPL is a member, voted to support the Riordan scheme without doing any independent due diligence to verify Riordan’s claims. We hope that the business community hasn’t decided to support a pension plan of such great impact based on unsubstantiated rhetoric by the Riordan camp,” concluded Izen.
Related Releases & Blogs:
- More double talk from Richard Riordan
- LAPPL challenges Richard Riordan to publicly debate his controversial pension plan
- Pension scheme that will cost hundreds of millions receives official title and summary
- Dine and Dash
- Reckless Richard Riordan
Contacts: Eric Rose (805) 624-0572 or Paul Haney (626) 755-4759.
About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at www.LAPD.com
Los Angeles Police Protective League
1308 West Eighth Street
Los Angeles, California 90017
phone: (213) 251-4554
 |
Los Angeles, November 19, 2012 – Richard Riordan has finally acknowledged that the pension initiative that he’s circulating for signatures was thrown together without any financial analysis behind it. To be blunt, Riordan has come clean that his claims of savings and plan costs from his initiative are made up and don’t have a shred of actuarial support.
In a Los Angeles Daily News story, Riordan admitted that he has not conducted any independent actuarial study to support his wild claims of bringing cost savings to the City.
“Riordan has rushed out an initiative with claims that he now admits are unsupported by any actuarial analysis. Every credible businessman would demand to see a thorough financial analysis before investing in any business opportunity, and would never make a major purchase based on solely on provocative Powerpoint slides and overstated claims without some financial data to back it up. Yet, Riordan has insulted voters of the City of Los Angeles by paying to put an initiative on the ballot that lacks even a rudimentary actuarial analysis to support the claims he has put forward in both public statements and the initiative preamble,” said Tyler Izen, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL).
“Last week, while flip-flopping on his promise to debate the LAPPL on the merits of his scheme, Riordan said, ‘Let’s not put the cart before the horse.’ How ironic, now that he has been caught putting the cart before the horse, Riordan is scrambling to buy an actuarial analysis that he can point to in support of his claims. That slipshod and reckless approach should be rejected. Thoughtful analysis and real solutions are needed to address pension issues – not sound bite clips and Charter changes that are poorly thought-out and extremely costly,” said Izen.
Texas, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Missouri, Wyoming and New York City have considered and rejected the same type of proposal offered by Riordan. The common reason for rejection was that it was too costly to close the pension system to new employees and switch to a defined contribution system.
Riordan told the Daily News, “I didn’t feel we needed one (a study) because we were basing our proposal on existing city studies.” The Riordan scheme ignores all of these published studies, as well as one done in 2005 for the City of Los Angeles showing the immediate and significant costs of closing the defined benefit plan to new hires and implementing a defined contribution pension proposal in its place for the new hires is higher than continuing to make the defined benefit plan open to new employees.
“Also troubling is that the Business Leadership of Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, of which the LAPPL is a member, voted to support the Riordan scheme without doing any independent due diligence to verify Riordan’s claims. We hope that the business community hasn’t decided to support a pension plan of such great impact based on unsubstantiated rhetoric by the Riordan camp,” concluded Izen.
Related Releases & Blogs:
SEIU Local 721 Reformers is an email address attempting to share information with SEIU Local Members, Stewards, Officers, Staff and Officials.
Rafe Garcia, Steward, is the custodian of this email address.
Those of us sharing, exchanging and participating in this forum are attempting to engage the membership to further the concept of a member driven Union.
We, you and all the rest of us have the best interests of the rank and file members, over 70,000 strong.
FOUNDED AUGUST 31, 2008