Thank you Brothers and Sisters for making the Calabasas Regional General Membership Meeting on Tuesday February 9, 2016 a great success. Calabasas saw record temperatures and traffic, but the membership braved it all and we had a packed room. We are extremely appreciative of all who made the trek to participate. The meeting was very rich; we discussed many issues, listened to guest speakers and tore up a few Jersey Mike's Subs as we worked for a few hours to tackle the business. A Union that is educated, informed and involved is a much stronger Union.
Now that we are "in contract" for both salary and benefits with our CCU Fringe Package, we can now get back to regularly scheduled Regional Membership Meetings. Local 1014 is working to have quarterly regional membership meetings at different locations throughout the County. We will keep you informed of future dates and locations. Additionally, take the second Tuesday of any Month and come on down to Local 1014 to help with the business of the Union and get caught up on the issues. We look forward to having the membership in the house. Also please log on to the Local 1014 website at local1014.org and register to receive our e-mail web-blasts to stay informed.
We discussed many subjects and presented a large amount of information during the Regional Meeting. Those specific subjects will be sent out in other bulletins and communications. Below are a couple of subject’s which merit follow up:
OVERPAYMENT LETTERS AND EMAILS FROM THE AUDITOR CONTROLLER:
The overpayment and underpayment of salary as a result of the Payroll debacle from the Auditor Controller in processing our raises is a serious ongoing subject we are addressing. There was also an overpayment issue in the Camps that has been ongoing (over 2 years for resolution) as well. We have pressed on the Chief and the County to fix this very serious problem, which has created a lack of confidence and faith in our payroll to properly calculate and accurately pay our members. We are actively participating in the recently established Payroll Task Force, with 2nd Vice President Dave Morse and Director's Andy Doyle and Mike Jones appointed for Labor. We will be holding our position and filing administrative charges and possibly a lawsuit. We will continue to pressure and leverage the actions of the Department to move in the right direction to our satisfaction.
As most everyone knows through communications from 1014 and the Department there was an overpayment issue with the retroactive salary increase to members of 601 & 602. It appears this was specifically the “fire series” members. The department contacted the Auditor Controller immediately to get an explanation on what happened, how it was going to be fixed and going forward what is the fix to keep this from happening again.
The Union worked closely with management in Payroll to resolve the issue in the least impactful way to our members. If you were one of the 852 people who were over paid you would have received an email from the department to your County email address informing you that you were overpaid between X dollars and X dollars. If you were overpaid more than $1000 you received a phone call.
You were given three options; 1) pay the complete amount back (have it deducted, pre tax) on the December 30th paycheck, 2) deal with it after January 2016 with a full accounting of how they came up with the figures or 3) no response which put it to after January 2016 for a complete accounting.
The Auditor Controller is trying to catch up with their issues. Within the next few months for those who chose option 2 or 3 the Auditor Controller will be contacting you by U.S. Mail with an accounting of what happened. Prior to you getting this letter the Union will work with the Payroll management to make sure what they are putting out is not only concise, but also easy to read and correct.
Our members in the Camps were notified sometime ago that there was an overpayment to many of them. Local 1014 has been working with the Department to not only understand what happened but to make sure they are correct and to find a solution to make sure this does not happen again.
During this last summer when most of our Camps personnel were in Northern California fighting fires the Auditor Controller had our payroll notify those camps personnel (93 +/- members) of the final accounting of their overpayment with a complete breakdown of the overpayment. Local 1014 was contacted by many members and it was requested we ask for an extension until after January 2016. Recently payroll sent out the letters once again and has asked for a response by February 12th, 2016.
You have many options. You can choose not to pay and have them take you to court to get the money from you, you can chose one of the options they have offered for a withdrawal of pre-tax dollars OR you can call the number on the letter and explain that you would like to look and a different payment plan. As always if you have any issues please let us know.
Obviously there is more work to do from the Task Force and we expect a better quality payroll system going forward from this County and our Department to pay our members correctly and timely.
EA-45: HIRING OR ASSIGNING RELATIVES/PERSONAL RELATIONS POLICY:
Recently the Department sent out the first ever “Anti-Nepotism” policy for the Fire Department. While we don't like this policy as written, and we understand the concept of "There shall be no unfair advantage in testing and promoting based on family relationships", we believe strongly in the concept of "There shall be no UNFAIR DISADVANTAGE in testing and promoting based on family relationships". While there is a great body of case law both federal and state that empower and define anti-nepotism policies and procedures, we feel this policy does not hit the mark to prevent clear and convincing family advantage potential situations, but rather is a reaction to the LA Times driven actions of the Department to address a non related issue that is political in nature. We will be examining the language with our Legal Counsel and determining any potential course of action in response to the policy. This policy on the first draft was presented to the Union on a meet and consult basis and we gave our input. The policy was renamed and re-written with the input of all Unions represented in the fire department, not just 1014.
What should you do now? "Work wow, grieve later" is the sound advice as always. So we recommend you follow the orders and instructions to fill out the sheet and to the best of your ability disclose what is asked for. We believe the language as written to cover "personal relationships" without clearly defining this could actually apply to each and every one of us with respect to each other.
During our meet and consult we recommended the department print up 3000 rosters of personnel because we are all brothers and sisters and we see our fire families more, especially lately, than we do our own families. Some of your Executive Board will fill it out and list and attach the entire membership roster defining our personal relationship with all of you.
We understand the basic premise as the laws provide to prevent unfair advantage or disadvantage. We believe there are much better ways to ensure against this while not infringing on our ability to work together in familial and personal relationship status.
Please call the Union and speak with a Board Member if you have any circumstance you need help with to complete the form properly.
Once again, thank you for the great turnout and participation at the Regional Membership Meeting in Calabasas and we look forward to the next meeting where we will tackle more of the work ahead of us. Sign up for our e-mail web-blasts and/or go to the website to see the latest information on issues affecting our membership.
Fraternally,
Local 1014 Executive Board
