Politics & Government

City, Unions Reach Agreement in Pension Changes

The Hermosa Beach City Council approves labor agreements with seven public employee unions.

The Hermosa Beach City Council approved labor agreements with seven of the city’s public employee unions in a meeting Tuesday night.

The agreed-upon worker contracts that immediately go into effect include changes to new employee pension plans, which have been at the center of ongoing tension between the city and unions.

Unions representing public safety workers—police and fire—, claiming city officials planned to alter pensions without first completing negotiations under state law.

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Contract agreements, which still include pension reform, now have been reached between the city and seven groups: the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association, Hermosa Beach Management Group, Hermosa Beach Police Management, Hermosa Beach Police Officers and Police Sergeants, Hermosa Beach Professional Administrative Employees, Hermosa Beach Professional Engineers Employees Group, and California Teamsters Public, Professional and Medical Employees Union (see accompanying city staff report under photo.)

“In these tough economic times, it is critical that we all pull together and find ways to provide for the ongoing fiscal health of our community,” said City Manager Steve Burrell in a statement Tuesday.

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“By working collaboratively with the city, our public employee groups have helped us craft a pension system that will be sustainable, protect the future benefits of our valued public servants and ensure the city’s ongoing ability to provide police and fire protection and other critical municipal services,” he said. 

The new pension system is “two tier,” which means newly hired city workers and existing employees face different benefit formulas.

The changes for new workers are expected to save the city nearly 40 cents for every $1 spent in payroll for each new police officer on staff; 25 cents for every $1 for a new firefighter; and nine cents for every $1 for other new hires, according to city officials.

Existing city staffers will see no changes to their retirement and benefits.

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