The largest city labor organization, the International Association of Machinists (IAM), with a membership that exceeds 3,600, has opted against a pension reform deal during a vital vote yesterday.

Details of the proposal remained private, even after the vote, of which the City could not provide further details other than the following statement:

“The IAM membership has voted on the City’s final offer to significantly reduce pension costs, enact pension reform, and provide future budget relief. The offer was presented to the membership after months of discussion between the City and the IAM. The IAM membership rejected the offer in a vote on Thursday. The offer was put to a vote by the members without the endorsement of the union board.”

It was estimated that the deal could have saved the general fund some $3.9 million alone next year, with Mayor Bob Foster claiming in this year’s State of the City address that a mutual agreement could have saved the City some $145 million over the next ten years. It estimated that pension costs account for 20% of the City’s payroll.

The union did not follow suit with the Long Beach Police and Fire Departments, both of whom accepted retirement concessions last year. Those concessions—what some claim were similar to the IAM proposal—involved lower tier benefits and applied raises which are estimated to eventually save the City some $100 million by 2022.

Foster—whose words against the union have rarely been minced—was not sympathetic in his release, stating a sadness over the fact that “IAM chose personal gain over serving their community. The deal put before them was a fair one that would not negatively affect the money they currently take home, but would use future raises to significantly reduce pension costs and provide future budget relief.”

This response should not be shocking following Foster’s comment that the group lacked a call for applause at his budget conference two weeks ago. 

“Each year of delay costs our residents $12 million in services and much more in future unfunded costs,” he stated at the conference, focusing on the City’s two years at attempting to mend the bridge between itself and the union. If the group remained “intractable,” he would be forced put a pension measure on the ballot.

No savings from a potential pension reform deal were included in the budget proposal for the fiscal 2013 year, leaving the deficit at $17.2 million with 152 potential layoffs.