Oakland city workers seem hell-bent on killing the goose that lays their golden eggs.
About 3,000 employees went on strike illegally Tuesday, insisting Oakland officials fatten the city’s offer currently on the negotiating table. The city cannot afford it; council members have already offered too much.
The strike, which is expected to continue Wednesday, has closed services like Head Start, senior centers, libraries, recreation centers and after-school programs. Basic city functions including building-plan reviews, fire inspections, parking enforcement and street sweeping were also brought to a halt. Only police and fire protection continued.
“It’s horrible,” said Mayor Libby Schaaf. “But it would be more horrible to make financial decisions that would damage the ability to provide these critical services for the long term.”
She’s absolutely right. She and the Oakland City Council must draw the line.
Despite Oakland’s booming economy, the city’s finances continue to deteriorate. The five-year financial forecast, released early this year, showed the city faced a projected $100 million annual shortfall by the 2019-20 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the city’s huge debt for employee retirement plans continued to grow, reaching $2.8 billion at the last accounting, or an average of $17,500 for each household in the city.
The city has long needed to trim spending to bring finances under control and start paying down debts. But Schaaf and the city council did just the opposite. Since 2014, they have hired back some 500 workers the city couldn’t afford.
Like all Oakland city employees, those workers and their family members can receive fully paid health insurance, at an annual cost of about $25,000 per employee.
And they all receive generous pension benefits, for which the city’s payments will increase 49 percent over the next five years, to more than $204 million annually.
This is unsustainable. But rather than recognize the financial realities, two labor unions — representing everything from maintenance workers and clerical staff to managers and attorneys — want more.
The unions and city officials agree that the negotiations have not reached impasse, a key legal requirement before workers can strike. But workers walked off the job anyway.
The council met Wednesday afternoon in closed session to discuss the negotiations and will meet again Thursday. The only responsible option is to stand firm.
City workers already received an 8 percent raise for the two-year period that ended June 30. Now the city is offering an additional 4 percent for the current fiscal year and, if revenues exceed expectations, 2 percent more next fiscal year.
In other words, a total of 12 percent to 14 percent over a four-year period in a city that can’t afford to pay its current obligations. And the unions aren’t satisfied.
It’s insanity. It’s time to stop. Or the city will be driven to the financial brink, forced to immediately lay off scores of employees and eventually hundreds more if they don’t control their finances.
That wouldn’t be good for Oakland, and it wouldn’t be good for the workers.