Column: Is L.A. Councilmember Kevin de León a political dead man walking?
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is in a quandary.
It’s been hit hard by a series of downgrades announced by the city of Los Angeles.
In 2017, the city announced a plan to cut the L.A.’s public workforce by 10,000 workers, or approximately 13 percent.
The city of Los Angeles plans to eliminate 12,500 positions at city agencies and cut more than 10 percent of its workforce.
The city’s plan is to cut its employee head count by 13 percent over three years, according to city and school officials.
The state’s largest pension fund is facing similar downgrades for L.A., and will lose billions of dollars in federal funding if the city’s plan goes through. (Los Angeles Times)
The pension fund’s officials have a choice.
The fund can choose to stay invested in the city of Los Angeles and continue to get government revenue. It will get more than $1 billion in annual revenue this year alone.
Or it can abandon L.A. and take the money that’s been promised and invested in the city and then some.
They could also take the billions that have been promised and invested in the city of Los Angeles and invest the billions in private investment.
In that scenario, they could end up with nearly $5 billion in net gains.
For the City of Los Angeles, the choice is clear.
Public employees are now one strike away from striking.
But it’s not as much a strike as a vote.
Voting members at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System voted in a secret ballot last week to authorize a strike.
A strike was approved by a 3-2 vote, with one board member casting a tie-breaking vote.