L.A. Dept. of Water and Power's gold-plated jobs

Few kids grow up dreaming of becoming a parking lot attendant, but the job can be quite lucrative — at least if you land one at the L.A. Department of Water and Power. According to a report in Bloomberg News, garage monitors at the DWP made, on average, $74,408 a year; nationally, the average salary for this position is $21,250.

That's just one of many eye-popping figures unveiled by Bloomberg, which found that DWP workers make on average 40% more than other city of Los Angeles employees, even when they're doing nearly identical jobs. For example, carpenters at the DWP averaged $102,732 in 2010, compared with $65,201 at the general services department. DWP auto painters pulled down an average of $109,192, compared with $59,901 at the Fire Department. Overall, utility employees had an average salary of $96,805, while other city employees averaged $68,822.

The reason for these inflated salaries isn't mysterious. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is among the biggest campaign contributors in Los Angeles, which means that at contract time, the DWP union finds itself in the enviable position of negotiating with city politicians who may owe their own jobs to the union.

DWP salaries are built into the utility's operating expenses, but the current rate hikes are needed to pay rising capital costs connected with higher prices for water and electricity, meeting federal and state standards for drinking water and switching to renewable power. Failure to approve the rate increases could result in fines costing ratepayers more than the increases.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-ladwp-20120210,0,7115922.story