New Orleans residents, unions and advocacy groups urge council to oppose state constitutional amendment to make future state employees 'at will'

City Hall — Dozens of residents and labor advocates asked the New Orleans City Council on Thursday to publicize and oppose a state constitutional amendment that would remove civil service protections for future state employees.

The measure, discussed in public comment as “LSB 8,” was described by speakers as a resolution that placed a constitutional amendment on the April ballot to make future state employees “at will.” Nadia Carr, who introduced the item during the council’s public-comment period, said the amendment would not strip protections retroactively but would make new hires at the state level ineligible for civil-service protections going forward.

Speakers said the change would increase political firing, threaten benefits and reconstruct longstanding employment protections. Belinda Parker Brown, co-founder and CEO of Louisiana United International, said the 2010 reclassification after Hurricane Katrina showed the consequences: “They took away their benefits,” she told the council, arguing that people had suffered financially and physically as a result. Several other commenters, including Valerie Jefferson of the NAACP New Orleans branch and George Mahdi of Neighborhood Unity, framed the proposal as an attack on due process and on worker protections.

Council members discussed the limits of city authority over a statewide constitutional change but signaled they planned local organizing and a public information effort. Council President Helena Moreno and Councilmember J.P. Morrell said the New Orleans delegation in the state legislature had voted against the measure but that its placement on the ballot requires a statewide vote to change the constitution. Morrell urged regional organizing beyond Orleans Parish, noting that the city alone does not have the votes to defeat statewide measures.

Speakers requested that the council adopt and publicize a local resolution urging voters to oppose the amendment and to help educate residents ahead of the April ballot. Several speakers also requested financial redress for employees they said lost benefits in 2010 and named state agencies and federal partners in testimony, including the Louisiana Department of State Civil Service, the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

No formal council vote on a resolution opposing the state amendment was recorded in the meeting transcript. Council members repeatedly pledged to work with community groups and to co-author local resolutions; council staff said they would clarify how the city’s charter and local civil-service provisions interact with the proposed state amendment.

The public-comment period included a mix of community organizations, labor advocates and individual residents who urged the council both to oppose the measure and to help spread accurate information to voters across Louisiana.

Officials and advocates seeking to follow up can contact the City Council clerk’s office for the public-record submissions referenced in testimony.