After Long Beach City Council refuses to vote, union representing airport security officers says it’s still willing to find a compromise on proposed restructuring

Long Beach won’t change up the structure of the security teams at its airport — at least not anytime soon.

The Human Resources Department’s second attempt to persuade the City Council to move forward with a reorganization failed without a vote this week — with the panel refusing to second a motion on the item or even discuss it.

The council’s reticence to OK the change came after weeks of public outcry and months of negotiations between the city and the union representing the Long Beach Airport’s non-police security force, which argued that the move would leave its officers less prepared to deal with emergencies. But a representative from that union said in a Wednesday, May 22, interview that his team is still willing to meet with the city and find a compromise.

“I just want the record to show,” Richard Suarez, a representative with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said, “that IAM is willing and able to meet with staff and with the Long Beach Police Department to come to a resolution — an amicable resolution that I think would be mutually beneficial to both sides.”

Long Beach spokesman Kevin Lee declined to answer specific questions about how the city might move forward.

“At this time,” he said in an email Wednesday evening, “City Staff will be considering all possible options available.”

The proposed restructuring would move the union — currently overseen by the airport director — under the Police Department’s supervision.

Union members have maintained that it does not take issue with that change in oversight. But they have pushed back on specific provisions in the proposal, which would include lowering the amount of guaranteed training hours non-police security officers receive and take away some of their authority, including the ability to conduct traffic stops at the airport.

“This new integration plan will cut the hours of training for our (security) officers, from over 660 hours to less than 60 hours,” union representative Milton Duena said during the Tuesday, May 21, council meeting, “effectively reducing the level of security at our airport.”

City staffers and the Police Department, however, have said the change would improve security by creating a single chain-of-command that would operate more efficiently.

“I would not be putting my name to anything that I didn’t think would be advantageous to our entire community,” Police Chief Robert Luna said during a council meeting last month. “It is our intent to keep the airport safe 24/7.”

Because of the sticking points the union identified, Long Beach declared an impasse in negotiations in October, after 10 meetings at the bargaining table over the prior nine months.

Now that the council has declined to move ahead with the reorganization, union representatives said Wednesday, they’re willing to go back to those negotiations — and they feel the city may have a renewed willingness to compromise.

“I believe that what the council did was for the betterment of the community — the traveling public and the community at large,” Suarez said. “I believe that further discussions need to be had.”

Suarez said his team would have no issue working under the Police Department — so long as those officers can keep the level of training and authority that they feel is necessary for the job.

“Who they report to has never been a concern,” he said, noting that union members elsewhere in the city, such as at Long Beach City College and the Marina, are already overseen by the Police Department.

“We were OK with the entity,” Suarez added. “We’re not OK with the proposal diminishing the training and authority. Those are the issues.”

As for what happens if the city continues trying to push for the change despite the union’s objections, Suarez said, pursuing legal action would still be on the table.

“We’re prepared to seek out relief through other sources,” he said, “and I don’t want to do that. I think the community deserves better.”

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