Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft resolution supporting the good faith negotiations between Covanta and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on behalf of the employees of the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility and bring back to the City Council within 14 days.
Thank you. Item. 1/2. 39. Communication from Councilwoman Gonzalez. Vice Mayor Lowenthal, Councilmember Odinga and Councilman Austin. Recommendation to request the city attorney to draft resolution supporting the good faith negotiations between Covanta and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on behalf of the employees of the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility. Councilman Gonzalez. Yes, I want to just thank and acknowledge my friends here from the IBEW, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and really thank them for bringing this forward, because I know it's very important. I know the city has done work with our surf facility for many years. And with that, we want to ensure my my intention with this was to ensure that we were showing some support for those employees that have been with the city for so very long. Just recently they joined the IBEW, which is great, and they over 80% of their members of their their employee workforce decided to go with the IBEW. So we're excited to learn about that. But they do quite a bit of work and they're such a large asset to our community. And so to show support from the city side for these workers would be certainly a great step forward. So again, I want to thank IBEW, I want to thank the workers at our surf facility. And this will basically be a an item to ask our city attorney to bring back information and language for resolution. So thank you. Thank you. There's been a motion and a second. Is there any member of the public that wish to address Council on item 39? Good evening, Vice Mayor, fellow council members, city manager, city attorney and the public that's here today. My name is Tommy Falvey. I represent IBEW Electrical Workers, Local Union 11. And we're here in solidarity with my fellow brothers and sisters. That's right behind me. And we're here in solidarity to support Covanta employees. IBEW Local 11 is officially the local union that has been certified by the National Relations Labor Board to represent the Covanta employees. Overwhelmingly, 40 plus employees will be certified to be represented. And I'm here today to ask for your support out of good faith with Covanta Energy, to sit down with IBEW Local 11 and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement between the two. So I'm here to also recognize Rebecca Davidson that's right behind me. She's going to speak and she's one of the Covanta employees. Thank you. Good evening, council members. My name is Rebecca Davidson. I'm a single mother and I worked at Covanta for August will be 28 years. I'm proud to have spent that many years there. A few weeks ago, my coworkers and I overwhelmingly voted. To join IBEW Local 11. We believe this. Secured. A very good future for ourselves and our families. Tonight, we ask you to encourage your employer to negotiate in good faith. We're not asking. For any special. Favors. We're just asking our employer to follow the state laws and federal laws and nothing more. So I ask if you would please approve the resolution. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Turanga. Thank you, Mary. One of the important items that we have and that we've had in the past year or so has been the recognition of union membership and the and the importance that they hold with creating good jobs, good paying jobs, security benefits. And I'm glad to see that this going forward. I'm very happy that I signed up on this to support the efforts of the employees at Covanta, because it provides all of that, and I'm very proud of that. As you know, the city has also established the project labor agreement that creates other union jobs for all the construction jobs that are going to be coming through Long Beach in the immediate future and beyond. So, I mean, it's it's an honor for me to have signed on to this. I congratulate the employees of Covanta for their vote and for the IBEW for your efforts in putting their first and the employees in train and knowing that the representation you provide would keep will keep them not only working, but working in in positions that are going to be providing them with livable wages and good working environment. So I want to thank you for your efforts in getting these employees as well. Councilmember Richardson. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just want to chime in and say thank you to my colleagues for placing this item on the agenda. I want to encourage support for the workers in the bargaining unit in their negotiations. Stay strong. This is a representation of a strong a good economy, workers working in the world. And we don't want this to escalate. So we want to keep workers working. So thank you so much. And you have my support. Great. There's been a motion and a second. Members, please cast your vote. Motion carries.