Los Angeles Mayor Says Union Bargaining Worked to Save City $400 Million

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa agreed with city unions on ways to save $400 million over the next four years to help close budget deficits, calling it a demonstration that collective bargaining can work. The plan, which must still be ratified, calls for union workers to pay as much as 4 percent of their salary toward retirement health-care coverage, Villaraigosa said at a press briefing yesterday. It would freeze pay increases.

“Today Los Angeles has a message for municipal governments all across America,” Villaraigosa said. “Collective bargaining works.”

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The Choice Is Yours: serves ex-convicts, drug addicts, and the homeless

James Smallwood was homeless, drug-addicted, and bug-infested. Knowing he might die on the streets, he got himself into a rehabilitation center and promised God that he if got clean, he would help others. Smallwood beat his cocaine dependency and is now fulfilling his vow through a nonprofit he created to serve ex-convicts, drug addicts, and the homeless in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey. The organization "The Choice is Yours" trains program participants for work in the construction trades, while helping them with reading, math, and job-hunting skills.

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