Facing a strike by a city employees union pledging to disrupt life across Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that he will seek to block about 200 key workers in airports, sewage treatment plants and emergency services from joining the two-day walkout. Villaraigosa's announcement highlighted a long-running and personally bitter clash between the mayor and the Engineers and Architects Assn., a union that has been obscure for most of its 112 years. The battle also offers a prelude to possible strikes next year by other unions representing the city's civilian employees.
See "Villaraigosa Seeks to Bar Key Employees From Strike", Joe Mathews and Jim Newton, Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2006