Council approves pension reform deal

Union workers in Los Angeles will pay more toward their health and retirement benefits under a deal approved Friday by the City Council that will help chip away at next year's $457 million budget shortfall.

The deal was struck with 14 of the 18 groups in the Coalition of City Unions. Employees in the unions that rejected the proposal will have to take as many as 42 furlough days by July 2012, although the council has proposed reopening negotiations in the hope they'll reconsider their opposition.

"We have accomplished here, through talks over a negotiating table, what no other city or state has been able to do," council President Eric Garcetti said. "We managed to implement structural pension reform for our employees.