Trash was not picked up. Dozens of swimming pools were closed. Cargo ships in the Port of Los Angeles stayed miles from shore. And traffic cops missed their shift, sparing unwary motorists the sting of a parking ticket.

Employees with service employees International Union Local 721, which represents more than 7,000 city employees, left work

on

Tuesday, the suspend or halt of a series of government operations in a boisterous demand for respect.

The 24-hour strike brought picket lines to City Hall, Grifith Park, Van Nuys Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and municipal facilities in Hollywood, Lincoln Heights, San Pedro, the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere. City workers, marching in single file and holding signs, spoke unhappy of increased workloads, rising housing costs, long commutes and what they described as unfair labor practices by city negotiators.

At the same time, the demonstrations lacked some of the heat and anger that has surfaced in recent months during protracted strikes by other Southern California union workers and Hollywood writers and actors. In the city’s back-and-forth talk, both sides promised more talks very soon, saying they want productive negotiations.

At one point SEIU Local 721

PresidentPresident

other

Executive Director Executive Director

David Green even praised Mayor Karen Bass, who heads the city’s five-member negotiating committee. He appeared at a boisterous rally outside city hall, calling an estimated 2,000 workers to applaud the mayor, who oversees the negotiators.

That

he has repeatedly mocked as “out of reach”.

“This strike is not a strike against our mayor Karen Bass. She has always been there for working people,” he told the crowd. “So I think we should now give a round of applause to the mayor.”

Green said he spoke to Bass the day before the strike and has since answered calls from at least four councillors, who will eventually vote on a salary deal with

the

ARE. Those council members, he said, “want to come back to the table.”

Councilor Hugo Soto-Martinez, former labor organizer

herself

separately described the strike as “an opportunity to listen to the workers who perform the most essential functions in our city”.

“These workers deserve to be heard and they deserve a fair contract with living wages and healthy working conditions,” he said in a statement.

Bass has repeatedly rejected the idea that city negotiators engaged in unfair labor practices. She and the other four members of the city’s Executive Employee Relations Committee, which provides negotiating briefs to city negotiators, will meet on Wednesday to discuss negotiations with SEIU.

The city will always be available to move forward on SEIU 721 and we will continue to negotiate in good faith,” she said.

Even during Tuesday’s demonstration of union strength, the city continued to provide a range of services.

The Los Angeles Zoo, which has

number of

SEIU members in the workforce welcome visitors. Dozens of branch libraries opened their doors. From the city

3-1-1

311 system handled service requests. All six animal shelters, which city leaders had assumed would close earlier this week, were up and running,

according to

bass

said.

SEIU Local 721, representing gardeners, mechanics, custodians, garbage truck drivers and many other city workers, began its strike at 12:01 a.m., describing it as a protest against unfair labor practices by management and a rebuttal to the city’s failure to negotiate in good faith.

Outside LAX, dozens of mechanics and guards began marching before dawn. By 7:30 a.m., the crowd had grown to about 100. Several expressed frustration at the sheer number of job openings plaguing city offices, forcing workers to work massive amounts of overtime.

DeVonte Butler, a 33-year-old maintenance and construction worker at the airport, said he and his colleagues are “working around the clock to catch up. Although he earns extra money working overtime, Butler said the high cost of housing and child care had left him from paycheck to paycheck.

Custodian Hilda Sotelo, 49, expressed similar concerns, saying LAX’s sprawling terminals once had double the number of cleaning staff. Last year, 66 million passengers passed through LAX, the highest number since the pandemic.

Sotelo said she and her colleagues are stressed as they scrub bathroom after bathroom. When they’re on a break, she said, passengers ask them for directions or other information.

We do the work of three people, she said.

Despite the presence of dozens of striking workers, most operations at the airport continued uninterrupted. With fewer guards on duty, some bathrooms were closed. Flights that usually require

airside

shuttles were diverted to other ports.

Dae Levine, a Los Angeles World Airports spokesperson, said the agency was working to ensure operations were “as normal as possible.”

Tuesday’s strike also had a significant impact

impact effect

in the city’s recreational areas, leading to the closure of dozens of swimming pools. In Boyle Heights, parents arrived at the Roosevelt Pool gate to find it padlocked.

“Nobody even told us they were canceled,” Crystal Bedoy said, leading her sons back to the white family room.

SUV sports car.

“Usually my sister gets a call, but none of the parents have heard from anyone.

The disturbances also extended to the southernmost edge of the city.

In the Port of Los Angeles, about 300

Port Department Port Department

Employees are represented by SEIU, including deckhands and pilot boat operators, who play a vital role in ensuring the arrival of a freighter. With those workers on strike, four container ships had their arrival delayed by a day, according to one

port

department official.

Two other container ships postponed their departure.

“The port looks forward to returning a full workforce on Wednesday,” said Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman for the agency.

On the other side of town, garbage collection

often

was cancelled, delaying garbage disposal schedules by one day for the rest of the week. Homeless camp cleanups scheduled for Tuesday by the Bureau of Sanitation were moved to Saturday.

Sanitation worker Richard Joyal, who held a picket sign outside City Hall, said he came to Tuesday’s meeting hoping it would spur city officials to return to the negotiating table. He expressed his condolences to residents who would not receive household waste collection

on

Tuesday.

“We hope the residents will understand and support us,” said the West Covina resident, who works on a city team that collects mattresses and other bulky items on the sidewalk.

SEIU Local 721 currently operates under a one-year contract that its members have provided

of

an increase of 3% and a one-time bonus equal to 5% of an employee’s annual salary. That bonus was paid out in one go last month.

The union has not yet submitted a proposal for her next contract. Instead, union leaders have

spent

part of this year in negotiations on more than 400 side proposals, covering issues such as bilingual wages and compensation to help pay for boots or other safety equipment.

SEIU Local 721 filed a claim alleging unfair labor practices several weeks ago, after city negotiators attempted to combine talks on those side issues with negotiations over the union’s next contract. City manager Matt Szabo, the city’s chief negotiator, denied that his office engaged in unfair labor practices, saying the two sides have already reached agreement on dozens of side issues.

City

Council President Paul Krekorian said the city’s negotiating team had been conducting “serious negotiations” since January with the Coalition of LA City Unions, a group that includes SEIU, reaching 76 tentative agreements.

While today’s work stoppage is regrettable, the city will continue to negotiate with the coalition in good faith and I am confident that we will achieve a positive outcome,” he said in a statement.

The union’s contract contains language that prohibits its members from striking or organizing other collective actions that result in deprivation of service. However, state labor laws allow the union to strike to protest unfair labor practices, SEIU officials said.

Green, the president of SEIU, described Tuesday’s 24-hour strike as a success and said it has given the union “great momentum” in resuming negotiations. The strike, he said, showed that the city’s workers “really are a force to be reckoned with”.

“The days of disrespectful city workers are over,” he said. “And you see it with solidarity summer.”