LA utility labor contract causes bonus issues
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employees have a clause in their union contract ensuring that they can work extra hours and collect even higher wages when private contractors are hired to help them get the job done. The so-called "outsourcing bonus" traces back to a single sentence inserted into the city-owned utility's labor contract nearly two decades ago. Marick Masters, management professor at Wayne State University's School of Business Administration, and a nationally recognized expert on labor management relations, said he had not heard of a union contract that included such bonuses. In the private sector, he added, "When you talk about outsourcing, you're talking about ripping the whole job out from underneath you. You may get to stick around for a while to train the person that replaces you, that's the best it gets."
