Employee Compensation

Tiny Glendale Water & Power Shows L.A. How To Tame DWP Union Boss Brian D'Arcy

Scott Ochoa had never met Brian D'Arcy, the head of the powerful electrical workers' union, when D'Arcy called him up in a rage last year. Ochoa, the Glendale city manager, was trying to work out an agreement on behalf of Glendale Water & Power, the city utility. D'Arcy didn't like how the negot ... More >>

Forever 21, HSN, Urban Outfitters Clothing Came From 'Sweatshop Practices' In L.A?

If you're feeling warm and cozy about that sweater you're giving your girlfriend for the holidays, beware the following information: Federal and state authorities say that workers were underpaid at L.A. clothing manufacturers that engaged in "sweatshop practices" as they made goods for some of the ... More >>

Carmen Trutanich Complains About Being Attacked While Opponent Is Hospitalized

Assemblyman Mike Feuer is still in the hospital after a nasty car crash on Monday, but the campaign for L.A. city attorney goes on. Last night, the campaigns fought it out for the SEIU endorsement.Feuer's team sent a surrogate, former Controller Rick Tuttle, who took some jabs at Trutanich ... More >>

Los Angeles Considers Slashing Pensions, Doubling Tax on Property Sales

As the L.A. City Council engaged in closed-door talks this week about how to reduce the exploding costs of paying retired workers to do nothing, at least one union said hell no. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local 721 put its foot down, saying that workers have already done their ... More >>

Why Dianne Harrison Struck It Rich at CSUN

$324,000 may be just the beginning

Awkward: CSU Presidents Receive Pay Raises at Apocalyptic Meeting on Budget Cuts

Two doomsday scenarios were laid out by the California State University Board of Trustees at today's meeting: If the state cuts CSU funding by $250 million next fall, as it has promised to do if voters don't agree to the governor's proposed tax hike, the university system will either have to 1) rais ... More >>

CSU to Vote on Presidential Pay Raise, One Week Into Student Hunger Strike

Awkward timing: Almost one week into a student hunger strike across the California State University system, in which 12 students are drinking only vegetable juice until CSU presidents lose their "housing and car allowances" and see their salaries "reversed to 1999 levels," the university's Board of ... More >>

California Women Earn 84 Cents For Every Man's Dollar: Latinas Make 57 Cents

The National Partnership for Women & Families today said women in California get paid 84 cents for every dollar men make here, on average. Sad and true but ... California's gender wage gap is way better than the national average, which is 77 cents on the dollar -- more than $10,000 a year worth. I ... More >>

Angelenos Want City Hall to Spend Less on Politicians, More on Police

Another year, another budget deficit. As we head into summer L.A. City Hall will face a $200 million deficit. That said, revenues are improving, and the budget might be turning a corner for the better. Still, the mayor has been opening up the process to you, the citizen, and once again has asked wh ... More >>

Eric Garceitti, City Council President, Yet to Take Action For Budget Transparency

Kyle T. Webster​L.A. Mayor Antonio Villlaraigosa's proposed 2011-12 City budget is anything but transparent, as illustrated in L.A. Weekly's Broke and Broken. Even the simple basics -- the number and cost of his own staff -- are calculated with smoke and mirrors. Today City Council will begi ... More >>

Good Riddance, Ray Irani

Chief of Occidental Oil, stepping down, seen by many as greediest of all

LA's Budget Problem: More Like City Employee Bonus Problem

Do you smell something? ​L.A. City Council member Bill Rosendahl calls it "gold in the gutter." L.A. watchdog Ron Kaye likens it more aptly to "pennies in the gutter." They are talking about what is actually changeable in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed 2011-12 budget. 85 percent of the ... More >>

UCLA's Millionaire Doctor David Feinberg

How Feinberg got $1.3 million amid tuition hikes, budget cuts and a recession

L.A. City Hall, Facing Historic Deficit, is Headed For $32 Million in Salary Overspending: Wendy Greuel Threatens to Stop Payment

Mind as well burn it.​L.A. City Hall is headed for a $400 million budget hole, so you know city departments are really tightening their belts. Oh wait, they're not. They're spending like it's 1999, and salaries are on course to be $32 million over budget by the time the fiscal year ends in J ... More >>

UCLA Associate Vice Chancellor David Feinberg Made $1 Million This Year

Smart BusinessDavid Feinberg is the top-paid medical exec in the entire UC system​Isn't it fun to watch fat cats get fatter? On top of his $739,695 base salary, UCLA administrator David Feinberg -- who serves as both associate vice chancellor and CEO of the public university's hospital system ... More >>

A Stink in El Segundo Over Cadillac Salaries

Cops earn $175,000, firefighters $210,000, in a town with few criminals or fires

Jerry Brown To Sue Bell Officials Over Big Pay; Indictments Could Be Coming

​Attorney General Jerry Brown, who is also the Democratic candidate for governor, announced Wednesday that his office would file lawsuits against eight former Bell officials, including former city manager Robert Rizzo, "to get the money back.'' "We are filing our lawsuit on behalf of the publ ... More >>

Ten Of 15 L.A. City Council Members Have Reduced Their Own Pay

​John North at ABC7 this week takes a fresh look at the salaries of Los Angeles City Council members and finds that 10 of 15 have volunteered to take pay cuts as the city has undertaken belt-tightening measures that include closing libraries on Mondays, fewer overtime hours for police and less ... More >>

Jerry Brown Expands Bell Salary Investigation, Establishes Voter Fraud Hotline

​State Attorney General Jerry Brown stated Sunday night that he would create a voter fraud hotline for people who feel that they might have been hoodwinked by campaigners in the troubled city of Bell. Brown also said he would expand his investigation into the city's exorbitant salaries. Fox ... More >>

Attorney General Jerry Brown Received Reports Of Possible Vote Fraud

​State Attorney General Jerry Brown on Monday said his office had received independent reports of possible voter fraud in the troubled city of Bell, and he set up a hotline (866-625-4400) so that residents could call in and help with his ongoing investigation into the matter. At the same time ... More >>

Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo Actually Saw $1.5 Million In Pay And Benefits

Ted Soqui​That exorbitant salary being drawn by former Bell city manager Robert Rizzo -- the nearly $800,000 annual pay that set off a scandal with statewide implications -- was really only half the story. Fox 11 News reported over the weekend that, with paid vacation and sick days, he was g ... More >>

L.A. City Controller Greuel Launches Nation's Largest Municipal Salary Database

​In an attempt to increase transparency following the recent Bell salary controversy, Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel unveiled on Friday a database of city employee pay rates, making Los Angeles the largest city in the nation to post salaries of their employees online, she says. "Th ... More >>

CalPers Knew About Bell Salaries In 2006?

​ As we predicted last week, the fiasco in Bell, where the city manager and his assistant and the police chief were making exorbitant salaries, is like a political vortex of anti-government fervor, with flying debris hitting more than just Bell. This morning The Times reports that CalPERS, t ... More >>

Maywood Depends On Bell For Some City Services But Wants Distance From Stench Of Salary Scandal

Google Maps​Just last month the city of Maywood was praised in the New York Times for firing all its city employees and outsourcing everything to run the city. Problem is that some of that outsourcing went to a neighboring town you might have heard of, Bell, which at the time was having some p ... More >>

California Controller John Chiang: City, County Salaries Statewide To Be Published On Website

John Chiang.​A day after Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel announced she would post the salaries of city workers and officials online, state controller John Chiang said he would do the same for all municipalities and counties in California. In a statement Chiang ordered all cities and ... More >>

Website Will Publish Salaries Of L.A. City Workers

Wendy Greuel.​If City Controller Wendy Greuel has her way you'll soon be able to see a website that lists the salaries of Los Angeles municipal employees. In the wake of the Bell salary scandal, in which the city manager there was discovered to be making nearly $800,000 a year, Greuel said she ... More >>

L.A. District Attorney Has Been Investigating City Of Bell Since March

​The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has been investigating the city of Bell since March, spokeswoman Shiara Dávila-Morales told the Weekly Tuesday. The city has been scandalized by revelations of $100,000 salaries for its council, which took a 90 percent reduction Monday night, ... More >>

Salaries Gone Wild: Attorney General Jerry Brown Subpoenas Bell Salary Documents

Jerry Brown.​California Attorney General Jerry Brown on Monday "subpoenaed hundreds of employment, salary, and contract records from the city of Bell and its top officials" as part of a state investigation into the city's extraordinary salaries for top officials, according to an statement from ... More >>

Salaries Gone Wild: Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez Will Not Seek Reelection

Oscar Hernandez.​By J. Patrick Coolican and Dennis Romero Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez told reporters at an afternoon news conference Monday that he will not seek reelection and will forgo his salary through the end of his term. The announcement came as city activists asked for the mayor and mo ... More >>

Salaries Gone Wild: $787,637 A Year For City Manager Of ... Bell?

Google Maps​We here at the Weekly have enjoyed roasting Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ($223,000 a year) and L.A. City Council members ($178,789) for giving themselves some of the highest salaries of any elected city officials in the nation. We turned up the fire even more as the cit ... More >>

Bus Fares Increase As Los Angeles Metro Executives Get Huge Salaries

​As fares for Metro buses and trains go up Thursday -- with an increase of 25 cents per fare or $13 for monthly passes -- you can rest assured that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is the recipient of a $40 billion windfall in taxes that you, the voter, approved in 2008, is pin ... More >>

'City Hall Seven' Gets Slammed For Refusing Salary Cuts

Councilman Bill Rosendahl says I'm not going to try it -- you try it.​In this time of severe economic hardship for the city, when 4,000 workers are slated to lose jobs, potholes go unfilled, and fewer cops roam the streets, you would think that Los Angeles City Council members are doing their ... More >>

Show Us The Money: L.A. Council Slush Funds Revealed

​After being directed by the Los Angeles City Council to recommend money saving measures in council offices and the mayor's operations, city administrative officer Miguel Santana this week revealed the council's slush fund figures as well as details of the mayor's own office budget. While cou ... More >>

Back When Quentin Was Behind the Counter

Slashing L.A. City Council Pay to $90K

Can pissed-off Angelenos cut the nation's richest city council salaries by half?

L.A. City Council Clings to Stunning Perks and Pay

They can't bear to give up those record-high $178,898 salaries

Should L.A. City Council Agree to Slash Its $178,789 Salaries?

15 richly paid politicians are happy to cut their pay — by 2.5 percent

How L.A. City Council Got Those Huge $178,789 Salaries

Amazing Los Angeles City Council Salaries: $171,648 plus goodies

Power On High

DWP workers wired for big raises

DWP’s Power Surge

Mystery surrounding troubled contract points to mismanagement of L.A.’s giant utility

DWP’s Frayed Deal

Shorted-out union contract poses big problem for Antonio and his powerful pal

DWP’s Salary Shock

Sweet contract proposal once again raises questions about who’s running L.A.’s public utility

The Lid Comes Off

Secret memo to Mayor Hahn lays blame for DWP’s woes on union control

County Supervisors, 1; Sheriff’s Deputies, 0

Morale is not good at the Sheriff’s Department

USA, Inc.

Bush’s privatization plan is a new spoils system for corporations and the GOP

Gloomy New Year!

From Sundance to sinking stars

Letters

Superintendent Dick

It’s the mayor vs. the teachers

Lap dancers

Lap dancers win right to be treated as employees