IAFF Local 1014

Friday Update 5-2-25

Updated On: May 14, 2025

Brothers and Sisters,

FRINGE BENEFITS CONTRACT SETTLED!

After months of meetings and political action, Local 1014 along with our partner Unions from the Coalition of County Unions (CCU), have reached a Tentative Agreement (T/A) with the County of Los Angeles on our Fringe Benefit MOU covering our benefits.

The T/A agreement and subsequent MOU will cover three years and will expire on June 30, 2028.  The T/A will now go to the Board of Supervisors where it must be ratified by vote.  We had many difficult and tense meetings with the CEO as we navigated complex financial forecasts, medical, dental and vision cost forecasts, and experience from our past years, to negotiate a successor Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for our fringe benefits contract.

We negotiate with our partner Unions representing all work in LA County and the the following are the major points of the agreement That will affect our members:

INCREASES IN CHOICES COUNTY CONTRIBUTIONS EACH YEAR

*2026 - 8% increased contribution
*2027 - 8% increased contribution
*2028 - 8% increased contribution

INCREASED COUNTY BUY DOWN OF MEDICAL PREMIUM ON ALL MEDICAL PLANS FOR TWO-PARTY AND FAMILY PLANS

*2026 - $2.3 Million Dollars Buy Down
*2027 - $2.3 Million Dollars Buy Down
*2028 - $2.3 Million Dollars Buy Down

This money is used to buy down and temper our premiums in the term of the contract for buffer and reaction to medical inflation.

MAINTAIN RETIREE MEDICAL BENEFITS - Continuity of ongoing County Retiree Medical Plan and Contributions.  These increases also apply to our retired members who have retiree medical premiums that are negotiated to be paid by the County as part of our  very rich negotiated medical benefits package.

NEW - 401K BENEFIT - Rank and File represented members will now have access to the County 401k savings plan with no match.  Beginning in January 2026 our members will be able to save more money in the tax deferred 401k savings plan in addition to our 457 plan with our 4% match.  This has been a work in progress for many years, and we are excited for our members to have this tool to save for retirement and offset taxes.

LABOR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ON POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL HEALTH PLAN - The County will engage the CCU through a joint labor-management committee to work on a proposal for Committee of Interns and residents (CIR) representing our Intern and Resident Medical Doctors in the County to create a Union medical plan for their members similar to Local 1014 Health and Welfare Plan.

All other protections and rules in the MOU will remain in effect with NO TAKE AWAYS and our strong contract affecting our Vacation Time, Holiday Time, Sick Leave and more remains in full force and effect through the new term.

Local 1014 co-chairs the CCU Bargaining Committee and would like to thank the CCU members union leadership for their hard work and late nights working with us to secure this deal and advance the benefits for all of our members.

We would also like to give credit where credit is due, and thank the CEO of LA County Fesia Davenport, and her staff for coming to the table after many meetings with fair and strong deal points that value our members while protecting the county budget at the same time.  Through meaningful dialogue and intense shared information bargaining sessions and with the support of all five Board of Supervisors, we were able to hammer out the agreement.

RESILIENCE…. OUR STORY…. OUR JOB…. OUR PEOPLE

As we reported last week, we launched our documentary Resilience. The response has been incredible. We wanted to capture the moment of the hard work and heroism of our collective memberships during this wind-driven chaos and fire siege. We also wanted to remind our Board of Supervisors, our Local City Elected Officials, and our State and Federal representatives of the work our members do each and every day, as well as the risks we take to protect our communities.

The film has been seen nationally, and caught the attention of not only our community partners and public we serve, but also all five supervisor, and many of our state and local elected leaders. Many had never before seen wind driven fire with the ember cast and the rescues in the moment as we captured. Thanks to all the members who helped with this documentary and who brought our voice and our view to share with those who need to know.

You can help by sharing the link on your social media!

Click here to watch the documentary.

SALARY NEGOTIATIONS GET BACK ON TRACK

Following the release of RESILIENCE and our meetings with the Board of Supervisors and CEO, salary negotiations resumed or bargaining units 601 and 602 representing our FIRE SERIES Safety members.  We will also soon begin bargaining for bargaining units 603 / 604, our non-sworn members as well, and the tone and approach from the County and CEO were markedly changed.

The County came to the table with actual money and we made progress on many proposal items that need to be costed out and on items of interest for the Department.  We are a long way from garnering an agreement.  This will continue to be difficult and require our constant pressure and our political action to bring a deal home.  We recognize the County has heard our voice and made changes to get back to the table with movement and progress towards addressing COLA, and we are moving forward towards closing the still very large gap in our terms.

Your Local 1014 Executive Board serves as the negotiations committee and with our legal team and consultants to help cost, evaluate and forecast our proposal items as well as the County, and likewise the County had the Fire Chief’s team, CEO and Legal teams for the County.  We are going to push hard with an every week bargaining schedule to try and move items to agreement from our proposal, and we will update you weekly with progress.

Resilience and our member presence at the BOS meeting with the CCU Unions made a strong impact our on BOS, and as we continue to bargain to a finish, we may need you again to make our voice heard, and to help the Fire Chief and County remember the work we do and the impact it has on our members.  Thank you for the help thus far and in advance for any “calls to action” we may have in the next few weeks.

We will keep you posted and as always, at the right time we will be asking the Fire Chief for his support on the major issues affecting HIS FIREFIGHTERS, OUR MEMBERS, and will solicit agreement with him to approach the BOS for our final agreement.  He values our membership and has put his back into getting our department back on solid ground, and part of that will be to stand up for his members.  We look forward to the collaboration as we get through these next very difficult weeks as we try to get a deal.

This week, we attended and celebrated the retirement of 11 of our greatest at the Annual Battalion 10 and Battalion 15 Retirement “Vegas” Trip. Local 1014’s own Jason Cervantes was one of the honorees, bringing 33 years of service with the department. Jason brought his wisdom, tradition and historical aspect to his years as a 1014 board member. Thank you to Las Vegas Fire Department Truck 1 for attending Captain Steve McCann and CA Mike Mercado’s remembrance.

In Solidarity,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board