The Plunge lifeguards are being rehired

Plunge lifeguards Jonathan Escobedo and Isabella Escobedo address the community rally outside city hall.

We’re very pleased to report that the City Council unanimously rejected the lifeguard outsourcing contract, instead calling for more effective and efficient hiring practices, better treatment of employees, and rehiring the existing Plunge lifeguards!!

This is a victory for the lifeguards, who worked tirelessly over the last week to organize support, and also for the community of Plunge patrons, hundreds of whom wrote to the City Council and showed up at city hall to demand better treatment and respect for these beloved city workers.

Your public comments did not hold back. You were heartfelt, cutting, emotional, and funny. And the lifeguards, especially, showed such courage — courage to confront the city leadership, the Parks department management, and even the contractor that the city tried to bring in (the contractor’s representatives were in the room looking displeased the whole time).

You showed up, and it made all the difference.

We’re also grateful for the unwavering support of Vice Mayor Freddy Puza, Council Member Yasmine-Imani McMorrin, and Council Member Bubba Fish — and also for Mayor Dan O’Brien and Council Member Albert Vera who both said they came into the meeting on a different side but were moved by the public comments to support the lifeguards in their cause.

In the end, all five council members agreed that the Plunge should stay a community pool, staffed by the same 22 lifeguards who were so thoughtlessly cast aside just a week ago.

We’ll be back in your inbox soon with more budget coverage ahead of the June 9 budget vote. We heard tonight that some of the staffing and management issues are related to the Parks department being chronically underfunded. Can that be fixed in this year’s budget? Stay tuned.

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Culver City laid off all 22 lifeguards from The Plunge