This month, we have been dealt some major challenges at the bargaining table. We successfully reached collaborative and negotiated agreements on all major (non-salary) items—within reason and despite receiving “no authority” from the County in recent meetings. Now, we understand why. The CEO of Los Angeles County is currently on “personal leave” following the settlement of a lawsuit related to the personal impact of Measure G. With the CEO’s position in flux, we are reworking our strategy to get back to the table soon. 

Additionally, the sexual assault lawsuits involving the Probation Department—which have crippled the County budget with a $4 billion impact on the general fund—are now in question due to potential payments to plaintiffs by third-party vendors connected to the law firms handling the cases.

All these issues combined have brought the CEO’s office, which oversees all bargaining units and tables, to a complete standstill. Fire, Sheriff, and Lifeguard bargaining tables are all frozen until the CEO’s office resets. This is unacceptable for the entire County of Los Angeles to be placed in such a position.

We are aligned with the public safety unions and most general member unions in addressing this issue. Over the next few weeks, we will be meeting with the Board of Supervisors (BOS) to develop a plan to complete our bargaining tables and restore leadership and direction within the CEO’s office—which is also responsible for preparing for major upcoming events, including the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, and the next Super Bowl in Los Angeles.

This situation is nothing short of a disaster for the CEO’s office, which is slated to become an elected position in 2028 under Measure G.

As an independent Fire District, our budget is separate from the County General Fund. That’s good news—we secured funding through Measure E, and our financial outlook remains hopeful and cautiously optimistic. With sound management and oversight of our budget, we can move toward a bright future that includes 4-0 staffing for all our rigs.

However, the County CEO crisis still impacts our bargaining efforts, even with our independent budget, because the CEO’s office holds authority at the bargaining table. Ultimately, authority rests with the Fire Commission—which, coincidentally, consists of the five BOS members—and we are actively pursuing that path.

A reminder of what we have accomplished in bargaining so far as we head into the remainder of this year working toward a finish. The Fringe Benefits contract was bargained to completion last year with bargaining chairs Derek Hsieh from ALADS (Sheriffs) and President Gillotte (1014). Representing the Coalition of County Unions (CCU), we negotiated historic increases to health and benefit premiums and secured entry into the 401(k) savings plan. These benefits are available during sign-ups for Choices, which is ongoing through October, and will take effect in plan year 2026 on January 1. Be sure to log in and make your selections. 

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 Buy Down 
*2027 - $2.3 Million Buy Down 
*2028 - $2.3 Million 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 the Local 1014 Health and Welfare Plan.  
 
All other protections and rules in the MOU will remain in effect with no takeaways, and our strong contract affecting Vacation Time, Holiday Time, Sick Leave, and more remains in full force and effect through the new term.

In addition, at the Salary Table, we have been bargaining on the terms of our individual MOUs in the 601/602 Fire Fighter Series positions and have secured very important Tentative Agreements (T/As) on some minor economic items, as well as on rules, regulations, and grievance procedure items. These are very important, and now all we have left are economic items, including any COLAs. We have also opened up the 603/604 bargaining unit tables, representing our non-sworn personnel in emergency operations such as Dispatchers, Forestry, Health HazMat, and Prevention units.

We are aligned with our partners in public safety—the Sheriffs and Lifeguards—who are in the same bargaining position at their tables, and we are collaboratively using our strength to address the CEO and BOS situation regarding authority at our tables. We are patient and ask that you be as well, as we continue to work in solidarity with all general member units who have already signed, garnering only a 0-2-5% COLA. We are in no different position than zero until the end of the year, and we must continue to push for public safety items that are markedly different from standard general member unit issues.

This is going to continue to be a hard negotiation, as it has been, with our focus intently on achieving nothing short of a fair contract we can support at the finish. Until then, there will be no deal we will embrace—nor will the Sheriffs or Lifeguards—as we work to get this done.

One important thing to remember is that if we end up at a formal impasse, we will move to a fact-finding, mediation, and arbitration process that is non-binding but heavily influences the outcome of a table that cannot be settled. In the last 26 years, we have only ended up there once, and it was for Fringe Benefits—which worked to our advantage—and all items already T/A’d remain approved if that were to happen. That is why we continue to bargain each and every item in our proposal to a T/A where we can.

We will be meeting with the BOS to address this CEO catastrophe affecting all tables, and we will update you once we have completed that meeting and have a path to get back to the table.

Pomona / Hermosa Update 

Through our relationships and our solid union work to highlight the issues at play, the City of La Verne has removed itself from the process of evaluation and actions to form a joint JPA with the City of Pomona for Fire and EMS services. We would like to express our gratitude to the La Verne Firefighters Union and Fire Chief Nigg from the City of La Verne Fire Department for their collaboration with Local 1014 leadership. We look forward to continuing and strengthening the strong operational and union relationships we have maintained with both agencies and unions for many years.

We will track this to the finish, but the task that remains is for Fire Chief Marrone and his Executive Staff, along with the City Manager of Pomona and City Elected Officials, to negotiate a successor agreement. Like our own contract, failure is not an option.

Local 1014 will now be assisting with this work, with the help of District 1 BOS Solis and our State Assembly and Senate elected officials, all weighing in to help. With the passage of Measure E in Pomona and our strong relationships with the business community and residents of Pomona, it is very clear the people we serve are proud of and fully support their LA County Firefighters and Paramedics.

We will keep you posted on the progress from the Fire Chief’s Office on a contract affecting the 7th largest city in LA County—with seven fire stations’ worth of LA County Firefighters and their families, as well as the people we proudly protect in Pomona. This is serious business, and we expect nothing less than world-class effort and work from our Department Management to finish this and secure a successor MOU both parties can support.

General Membership Meeting – Report

We had a great turnout for our General Membership Meeting on Tuesday, October 14 — and honestly, we think 10/14 should be a County and Fire Department–adopted Firefighters Holiday! Members packed the Union Hall, and over coffee, we covered a lot of ground. The discussion was lively and productive, with several subject matter experts on 40-hour staffing joining us to help move fresh ideas into the joint staffing committee’s work between the Department and the Union.

A big part of the conversation focused on communication — how we reach members and how we can make our systems even better. We reviewed what we currently have in place: email, social media. Our Friday email updates remain one of our strongest tools, reaching more than 3,400 members with nearly 3,000 active readers and excellent engagement each week. If you haven’t already, make sure you’re signed up and have a non-department email on file so you don’t miss anything.

We also talked about how webinars have become an incredibly effective way to connect. Over the past year, we’ve hosted sessions on topics like Retirement for Plan C Members, the IAFF’s push to repeal the Social Security WEP, How to Raise Kids in a Fire Family with Fire Wives and Peer Support clinicians, and the Post-Sierra Incident issues — which even led to a BOS motion of support for our staffing and PEER initiatives. These webinars allow members to submit questions ahead of time and engage directly through chat during the session, creating real dialogue and impact.

Building on that success, we’re expanding our use of webinars to tackle union issues and provide direct Q&A opportunities with leadership. Our next one will address the ongoing staffing crisis — including entry-level hiring, promotional exams, paths to promotion, and the growing Workers’ Comp vacancy problem that continues to fuel recalls and burnout.

As many of you know, Local 1014 has had to step in forcefully just to get promotional calendars moving after the Department failed to schedule Engineer and Captain exams. That kind of mismanagement, often driven by blind adherence to Big County HR, is unacceptable. We’ve been down this road before, falling dangerously behind on hiring, and we can’t let history repeat itself. Fortunately, we’re seeing cooperation down the ranks, and we’re pushing harder than ever to get things done.

Staffing, recalls, and work-life balance remain the top concerns for our members — right alongside salary and benefits. That’s why we plan to invite the Fire Chief and his staff to the next webinar, so they can hear directly from you and share their plans in real time. We’re also exploring the possibility of having a BOS representative join the discussion. Stay tuned for the date — this will be an important one.

We also discussed the newly re-energized Stewards Program, which will combine in-person and online meetings to get accurate, detailed information out to the field and back into the Union Hall. These meetings will soon be hosted in hybrid format to make participation easier for everyone.

Another key topic was the 40-hour work group. Members raised important points about the differences between detailed and permanent positions, the unique family and work-life balance challenges they face, and the need for fair scheduling protections. We talked about how to better utilize 40-hour personnel to help with recalls — not just filling the spots they prefer but addressing where the real needs are. Two 40-hour members have stepped up as point people to work with the staffing committee on turning these ideas into real, workable solutions. It’s a great example of how input from the floor becomes policy, much like many of our past short-term staffing fixes.

We also spent time on the Camps program — including the impact of reduced inmate numbers, State and County funding shortfalls, and our push to create pathways to paid camps. This includes both traditional FSA camps and new anti-recidivism models to replace inmate crews. But these efforts must come with new funding; there’s no hidden pot of money to convert inmate camps overnight. Local 1014 is working to secure every possible dollar and make these programs sustainable.

We also covered the Bridge Program, which we fought to implement and are now working to codify in a lasting written agreement — one that will endure beyond any change in Union or Department leadership. Unfortunately, Big County DHR remains an obstacle, but we’re working closely with the Department to overcome their interference and move forward.

Promotion issues were also front and center. We reiterated the need for a standing Promotional Calendar that anticipates vacancies and promotions based on retirements, hiring trends, medic needs, and injury-related absences. It’s frustrating that after everything we’ve been through, leadership hasn’t yet made this a consistent priority.

We’re also addressing the paramedic vacancy problem by working to stabilize staffing levels and actively recruit medics from within — with the right support and pay structure to keep that pipeline strong. On top of that, we’ve reintroduced the idea of using an Acting FFS approach to balance the Engineers rank — offering training and a six-month task book for advancement while earning the pay and doing the job. Predictably, Big County DHR is pushing back, but we’re not backing down.

The meeting closed on a high note, with members engaged, energized, and united around the issues that matter most. Local 1014 is committed to pushing forward — with leadership from the floor, collaboration across ranks, and a shared determination to make real progress for our firefighters, medics, and their families.

Enroll now at www.mylacountybenefits.com. For more information, call Member Services at 800-660-1014 or email medicalplan@local1014.org.