Ladies of Los Angeles, pwn your breasts!

H. David Nahai, new head honcho at LADWP, supports and enjoys the department’s “lactation service.”

The LA Times, in their usual tsking and clucking way, handholds the women participating in this employee program:

About 50 stern-faced mothers who work at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power confronted the agency’s board Tuesday and won the ability to keep using lactation services provided as a benefit of employment. [snip]

Agency officials say the benefit has been available to employees since 1988.

Sarah Perez, 35, who works in the DWP’s environmental services division, described how helpful the specialist was to her and added that since returning from her five-month maternity leave, she has missed only four days of work to care for her 19-month-old, Joaquin. “He is healthy because he was breast-fed,” Perez said after her testimony.

Uh, ladies, it’s not that everyone doesn’t agree that breastfeeding is natural, healthy, important, etc. That has been forced down our mouths for quite a while now, hasn’t it? It’s that for some reason, this particular group of women NEEDS INSTRUCTIONS on how to do it. At their workplace, because, of course, they have better things to do at home or on their time off, or in their doctor’s office.

An earlier article says:

The newly hired DWP general manager, H. David Nahai, said he has no intention of abandoning the contract.

“It’s enlightened. It’s humanitarian. And it boosts productivity,” he said.

I don’t know, is Ms. Perez’s 5 month maternity leave considered good productivity in the LADWP universe? Apparently so.

Of course, this isn’t just $50,000 of the taxpayers money. It’s also the paychecks of these women who sat in on a seminar of 16 hours a week, so they worked only 3 days out of 5. Great deal. For them!

Let’s fill in the blanks, however. The LADWP doesn’t just service the women; it has many other programs that have nothing to do with work.

• Department subsidized child care

• Child care resource and referral services

• Parenting workshops

• Parent resource library

• Parent circles

• “Birth alert” beeper loan program

• Expectant Parent Services

• Fathering Program

• “Healthy Start” Lactation Program

• On-Site Lactation Consultant

• Voluntary Child Support Program

I’m curious about the last one. Is it like an alternative to going to jail?

We often meet with LADWP officials in our PROS committee, because you may recall that LADWP does all the tree trimming (and of course, the lighting) for the LADWP Light Festival in Griffith Park for 5 weeks each year. You know, the pretty Christmas display that blocks traffic on the 405 every night of December (causing at least 2 fatalities there, and those are only the ones I read about), and resulting in heavy pollution in gp along the way. They are also the guys and gals that trim trees near power lines.

As it happens, yesterday I had an interesting conversation with an LADWP tree trimmer on our street. He spoke English well, and was kind enough to take the time to show me how DWP trims more effectively than Davey Tree Service, by cutting exactly at the “v” crotch. This trains the tree to grow away from the power lines, whereas cutting higher up the limb, causes ugly suckers, those branches that grow straight up from the cut and makes the limb even heavier. (note: could be grounds for an oogli tree.)

He said his position is Tree Surgeon, and he’s done this for 7 years. However, he isn’t a licensed arborist, because he said, the test is too hard – 6 or 7 parts…

Hmm. Mr. Nahai, may I call you H.? Have you ever considered using some of that extra money sitting around to train and license your tree trimmers? The people who not only make sure we don’t have blackouts, but also affect the health of LA’s trees and the quality of our air? I realize this steps outside your programs, which just help people who work INSIDE the DWP, but it’s humanitarian. It boosts my productivity. And, H.? I’m not afraid to use my breasts, if I have to.