Flyer found on a CHE bulletin board

Interesting stuff :
Can 4 out of 5 Civil Service Commissioners be wrong?

They were on May 22 when they gave notice of intent to:

• Violate the LA City Charter
• Thumb their nose at the LA City Contract
• Trample on the entire system of Civil Service in the U.S.A.
• Trash seniority in “temporary layoffs” (mandatory furloughs)

“This could be a minefield. I don’t understand what it means.” Commissioner de los Reyes (and he voted for it!)

Commissioner John Perez understood what it means when he voted against it: “No citizen can vote away their constitutional rights. We can’t make employees bargain away their rights.”

More than 60 members of the Coalition of LA City Unions packed the Civil Service hearing on May 22, 2008 to oppose Personnel’s change to Civil Service Rule 8.7 and many testified.

Simboa Wright, SEIU 721: “I always believed the City was an equal opportunity employer. Don’t give that up.”

Commissioner John Perez: “Seniority is fundamental to Civil Service throughout the U.S...to protect public workers from the vagaries of politics.”

Victor Gordo, LIUNA 777: “Every layoff is linked to service. This rule change opens the floodgates on discrimination and takes away balance for short-term political expedience.”

Cheryl Moore, AFSCME, 31 years with the City: “This rule would hurt people like me, committed to internal changes for everybody, who could be singled out. Don’t send me out on a limb where I can fall and everything I’ve worked for could get washed away.”

Mark Fink, Operating Engineers 501: “This violates the very spirit of mutual gains which the city asked us to use and we did.”

Emma Leheny, Coalition lawyer: “The Personnel Department is asking this Commission not just to amend a Rule, which it has the authority to do, but to amend the Charter, which it does not.”

Bob Hunt, SEIU 721 General Counsel: “If the Commission enacts a meaningless rule it undermines its own credibility.”

Julie Butcher, SEIU 721: “The city already passed a balanced budget. This rule is spurious, abhorrent and violates the City charter and collective bargaining which has worked so well.”

Tell Maggie Whelan, Personnel Department General Manager at (213) 473-3470 and the Civil Service Commission at (213) 473-9107 to play by the rules:

• Charter passed by LA voters


• Contract the City signed


• U.S. Civil Service tradition.

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Rumblings urges you to call both numbers, beginning Monday, and express your concerns.

Minutes from May 8th Civil Service meeting: link

The May 22nd minutes have not posted yet.

See Thursday, May 22, 2008 post: Mayor/City management at it again for additional background on this subject.

Big sister is watching

Email to Rumblings (5/26/08 2:58 PM):

"We have been accessing Rumblings from our City computers and just last week they implemented a program that forced each user to sign on to it with our employee number and Novell password, one manager told us that it was to measure bandwidth usage and to use the Internet as usual but with discretion. Interesting...."Work Will Make You Free".

Rumblings had heard that an employee Internet usage program was being implemented, under the guise of "bandwidth monitoring", but had no confirmation until Mondays e-mail.

ITA management is rolling out their "snooping", floor by floor, segment by segment. However, don't expect a "team" Randi-gram e-mail before it rolls into your section.
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Anonymous said...This doesn't seem to be implemented yet on the 14th floor, though some other technical difficulties today suggested some trouble with domain name services (DNS). May 27, 2008 8:17 PM
Anonymous said...What this means, if you are at a workstation and use the browser, shut the browser down when you leave or whoever comes along next will be surfing on your dime. The sites that they visit will be credited to you. May 30, 2008 5:48 PM
Anonymous said...It's unfortunate that ITA staff wont get a chance to scream their concerns at Randi, like they did with the CityFone mug shot lunacy. Lack of transparency on this subject makes you have to wonder about the real agenda here. Word is, most ITA managers have not even been clued in. May 31, 2008 5:26 PM

Oh, Magic 8-ball ...

How surreal was this??

_________________

From: Randi Levin
Wednesday - May 28, 2008 1:26 PM
To: ITAAll
Subject: Fwd: Enhancement to the CityFone System

Team, I'm pleased to announce a new enhancement to the CityFone system. In an attempt to familiarized (sp?) ITA personnel within the Agency, a picture will be now included on the CityFone system as part of the employee information. I hope that this new feature is helpful and increases teamwork among the agency. This enhancement will be effective Monday May 26th, 2008 (It wasn't).

Sincerely,

Randi Levin

Chief Technology Officer & General Manager

Information Technology Agency

________________________________________
From: Randi Levin
Wednesday - May 28, 2008 1:38 PM
To: ITAAll
Subject: Fwd: Enhancement to the CityFone System

Team, This system/functional (sp?) is only used internally to the city. We checked with the city attorney's office prior to announcing this feature and they said that the pictures would not be sent to the press as part of any public records acts. I hope this clarifies this issue.

Thanks,

Randi

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Some public records info: link

California First Amendment Coalition links: here

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From: Randi Levin
Wednesday - May 28, 2008 1:51 PM
To: ITAAll
Subject: Fwd: Enhancement to the CityFone System

Team, I have received a large amount of feedback from the staff that they don't think this is a good idea for safety and security reasons. I have heard you and listened. We will not roll this functionality out at all. The safety and security of our staff is most important. Ya think?

Sincerely,

Randi

_______________________________________

Did not one of her managers realize what kind of concerns would be raised by this so-called "enhancement?" While Randi sent the message, and we know how people treat the messenger, some of the blame has to fall on other managers that knew about this and didn't raise red flags. By the way, who is proof-reading her missives? Spell check? Grammar-check? Use the technology people.

“Fool On the Hill”

Email to Rumblings - 5/28/08 - 2:52 PM:

The lyrics to McCartney’s “Fool On the Hill” have played inside my head since I began reading this blog a few months back, Yet at the same time I wondered if all the negativity directed at our General Manager was actually fair.

After the events of the last hour, I now know that the lyrics aptly describe both the current disposition and wounded reputation of this GM as she continues to follow the instructions placed before her, "open mouth, insert foot".

Randi's cast of enablers are making her appear like an insipid knucklehead. Foolish and simultaneously Machiavellian. For all the speculation over the last year, that the former AGM/XO Ken Simmons was in charge of the on-going duplicity in ITA, todays CityFone fiasco clearly proves that the ITA's bumbling management style is defined by it's leader.

I leave the rest to McCartney and poetic licence:

Day after day, alone on the hill

The gal with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still

But nobody wants to know her

They can see that she's just a fool

As she never gives an answer

But the fool on the hill

Sees the sun going down

And the eyes in her head

See the world spinning around

Well on the way, head in a cloud

The lady of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud

But nobody ever hears her

Or the sound she appears to make

And she never seems to notice

But the fool on the hill

Sees the sun going down

And the eyes in her head

See the world spinning around

And nobody seems to like her

They can tell what she wants to do

And she never shows her feelings

But the fool on the hill

Sees the sun going down

And the eyes in her head

See the world spinning around

She never listens to them

She knows that they're the fools

They don't like her

The fool on the hill

Sees the sun going down

And the eyes in her head

See the world spinning around

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Anonymous said... Seems to me that Randi, and to some extent, the entire executive team, are "post turtles."Not being a California term, you might wonder what a 'post turtle' is. When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a "post turtle." You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of a dumb ass put her up there to begin with? June 1, 2008 8:42 AM Answer: Tony Villar

"Third time is a charm?"

The polls have closed on the latest Rumblings reader poll: "With the third edition of the All Hands meeting coming soon, how would you rate the first two meetings, in terms of value and significance?"

1. Very valuable - 3 votes (4%)
2. Above average value - 1 vote (1%)
3. Some value - 9 votes (13%)
4. Of little value - 11 votes (15%)
5. A waste of everyones time - 48 votes (67%)

72 total votes

It seems more like, "Three strikes, you're out!"

Mayor/City management at it again

The Mini Mayor and City management are again trying to steal your civil service protection and eliminate your seniority as the key criteria in layoff situations or temporary lay-off situations (work furloughs). They tried this back on May 8th but it failed. Make no mistake they are doing everything in their powers to force it through this time around. They've gone back to the drawing board and have modified the wording in Civil Service rule 8.7 again. Thieves one, thieves all.
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link

BOARD OF CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS

REGULAR MEETING

THURSDAY - MAY 22, 2008, 10:00 A.M. (TODAY)
ROOM 350, PERSONNEL BUILDING
700 EAST TEMPLE STREET
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90012

Item #7. REVISION TO CIVIL SERVICE RULE 8.7

The General Manager recommends that the Board give 21 days notice of intention to amend Section 8.7 of the Civil Service Rules as follows (additions in red, deletions in blue):

Section 8.7. If work is temporarily interrupted due to a financial emergency as declared by the City or due to if because of inclement weather or other unforeseen reason, work is temporarily interrupted, it is not necessary that layoff seniority order be followed in assigning employees. The interruption of work must be known to be temporary, the appointing authority must act in good faith, and an employee must not be deprived of his/her rights or gain an advantage with respect to his/her employment in the classified civil service.

File No. 52254

COMMISSION ACTION:
(On May 8, 2008, the motion to give 21 days’ notice of intention to amend Rule 8.7 failed by a 2-2 vote.)
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Good faith? Do you really expect that from this management team?

In ITA, this will impact from ISM II level down. So if you aren't on the "friends of Randi" list, odds are no matter how many years of service you have in your civil service class or with the City, temporary lay-offs (work furloughs) will be imposed on those she and the AGM's see fit.

For example an ISM with 15 years of seniority could be furloughed while a newly appointed ISM would not be impacted.

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Thanks to Rumblings favorite buccaneer for the great image of Mayor Bonaparte.

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The Civil Service Commission voted on 5/22, 4-1, to approve posting the 21 day notice of intent to change the wording of Civil Service Rule 8.7.

The employee unions have already engaged legal counsel on this.