Oakland to protect officials’ salaries, police funds at workers’ expense

PSLweb/Liberation takes a look at the anti-worker offensive taking place across the country in the form of budget cuts.

The Oakland Police Department’s overtime budget amounts to over one-third of the city’s deficit.

For the past several weeks, the bailout of some of the country’s largest banks has been the focal point of the deepening economic crisis, yet the impact of the financial collapse on local revenues is hard to overlook.

In response to the local $42 million deficit, the City Council of Oakland, Calif., voted 7-0 on Oct. 22 to lay off 100 city workers and close nearly 60 currently vacant positions. The council also decided to close city offices one day a month through June, in addition to closing between Dec. 25 and Jan. 2. Council members shamelessly approved increased parking meter fees and street sweeping violation fines coupled with infinitesimal cuts to elected officials’ salaries.

Mayor Ron Dellums’ initial proposal included laying off up to 170 city employees and closing city services one day per week. As elsewhere in the United States, the brunt of the financial strain in Oakland is being thrust on the shoulders of working-class and low-income people. Workers did not create this crisis, and yet they are the first to suffer in its wake.

The cuts were met with strident resistance from the outset by the Service Employees International Union, which represents a large portion of the city’s employees. An SEIU spokesperson told the Berkeley Daily Planet that the union sees “alternatives that don’t necessarily limit city services.”

Various union leaders have been outspoken in their criticism of Dellums’ willingness to leave the police budget untouched, citing his complicities in abuses of overtime by the Oakland Police Department and their $16 million overtime budget for this fiscal year. The OPD overtime budget equals over one-third of the city’s total deficit.

Reinforcing the anti-worker attack, Dellums has continuously asserted his support for increasing police numbers throughout the budget crisis. In times of extreme financial duress, rates for both violent and non-violent crimes tend to increase. Instead of alleviating the strain being experienced by working-class Oakland residents, Dellums is poised to increase their strife through a heightened police presence in the city. If the local government gets its way, the OPD will retain a generous budget to carry out systemic, racist repression against the poor and people of color while social services go underfunded.

Even before the cuts to city services, Oakland residents had to fight to get the city to provide them services and assistance. With fewer city services employees and decreased hours of operation, the cuts will translate into greater hardship for thousands of Oakland residents trying to make ends meet.