Friday Update 2-10-23
Updated On: Mar 09, 2023


 
Brothers and Sisters,
 

Seventy-eight members of our Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team, known internationally as USA-2, received activation orders on February 6, 2023, to join the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in the humanitarian efforts, as requested by the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), in response to the destructive earthquakes impacting the country of Turkey.

In addition to our USAR team, seven additional personnel have been requested to support the United Nations and BHA operations in Turkey. USA-2 will join USA-1, another BHA team based in Fairfax County, Virginia.  Both teams may be deployed for up to two weeks or longer.

We stand in solidarity with our teams who are deployed and their families. It takes everyone including those backfilling stations and handling the work at home to ensure that our teams can do these deployments and provide lifesaving humanitarian aid to parts of the world that need it most.  It will not be easy for those abroad, and it will not be easy for us here as the next couple of weeks unfold. Now more than ever, please help each other out, volunteer to work by going available and try to minimize impact through recalls or denial of days where possible. 

It is one of the most incredible privileges we have as Americans to help others. Thank you to everyone who makes these deployments possible. USA! LA County Strong! 

Staffing Committee Update
 
The staffing committee consisting of Labor and Management has worked hard to come up with permanent and TRIAL changes to hopefully create a better work-home life balance. The main goal of the trial is to protect the 4-dayer. This will allow for waking up more times at home with your family, getting more quality time with loved ones and promoting the ease of trip planning. These items have been outlined in EA-68 released on February 7, 2023. Tomorrow will be the last day of a three-day webinar working with the Cardfile Captains and BC’s. This webinar has been so productive. Labor and management have been actively listening, taking notes and some minor adjustments could be forthcoming before the start date.
 
After three months of implementing the TRIAL staffing changes, Local 1014 will be surveying it the members to ensure that the changes are being effective or if things need to change. Also, if the full six month trial is completed, and not terminated early due to unanticipated consequences, 1014 will once again survey the membership about the trial staffing changes. There will be a drop dead date of the trial in September.
 
While we will never be able to make everyone happy with ever change we strive to do what is best. We have gotten some great positive feedback and some concerns from battalions with less-than-ideal staffing. Please be patient as we are trying our best to serve our members and listen to everyone’s concerns. 
 
At the end of the day though our Department's major problem is staffing. Local 1014 has been pushing on the department to continue to hire and promote.  Local 1014 has the support of the Board of Supervisors to ensure we continue to hire and promote. Jason Cervantes specifically, but other members on the union board, have been working tirelessly to make sure the department releases the next CA exam, and FFS exam sooner than later.
 
48/96 Trial Shift Change 
 
Your Union has not given up on the fight for 48/96. While quietly behind closed doors, we have heard the Fire Chief is leaning towards rejecting 48/96 and not supporting what 65% plus of the members, his employees, have supported and desire for better working conditions. That would be very unfortunate. We are now asking Marrone to publicly give the membership his official decision on whether he is in support or not in support of 48/96.  

Your Local 1014 board along with 65% plus of the membership is in favor of a 48/96 trail. Please remember everything related to staffing is meet and confer between labor and management. In this instance, we have not been given a formal response on the 48/96 matter. Now we call on Chief Marrone to formally take a stance.

If he rejects 1014 has other avenues that present their own unique challenges. First we must seek Board of Supervisors and CEO support to embrace a trial. Schedule changes without Fire Chief support become much harder. The Sheriffs have been trying for 3-12’s and/or 4-10’s for the masses for years to no avail. The ball is in Chief Marrone’s court plain and simple. 
This week, we joined our brothers and sisters from Battalion 10 for a remembrance BBQ in honor of Brother Steve McCann, who passed away last year. It was a day of fond memories and healing for our members. This was a small glimpse of what the "brotherhood" that is talked about looks like. Thank you to all members that attended and helped bring this to fruition. We shall never forget our fallen. Thank you to BN 10 for hosting and to everyone who showed up to honor the McCann family.
 

SUPPLEMENTAL PAID SICK LEAVE(SPSL OR RCP) BEGINNING 2/15/23

On February 3, the Department sent out EA-60 dealing with updated leave guidance for Covid-19 related activities. Of particular concern to our members is the paragraph near the bottom of the first page stating that “effective January 1, 2023, employees who are unable to work or telework due to exposure, symptoms, or diagnosis related to covid-19, are no longer eligible to apply for SPSL and may utilize their own benefit time to cover any absences. Employees may also consider filing for workers' compensation by contacting the Department’s Disability Management and Compliance Section”.

Covid-19 is a rebuttable presumptive for our department members, which means that it is a worker’s compensation injury. There is no need to “consider” filing, you should file. Certain parameters must be met for the worker’s comp claim to be accepted. Both labor and management have a vested interest, as we all should, in keeping workers comp costs down. However, all of our members deserve the right to have all of the correct information. This EA, by its wording,  appears to be an attempt not to make our members aware of their rights and not to file a worker’s comp claim or have the claim denied because parameters were not met, which would lead to a denial of the claim. 

If this is a workplace exposure, a claim can be submitted through the e-filing system found on the Department’s Intranet. 

  1. You test positive for COVID-19 within 14 days after a day that you worked.
  2. Provide proof of a COVID-19 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) Test showing a positive result.
  3. File a workers comp form 381 off of the Department’s intranet. 

Another factor in the evaluation of accepting a COVID-19 claim as industrial-related includes, but is not limited to, the incubation period of COVID-19.

Please keep in mind that your test MUST be a PCR test not a rapid home test. If your only positive test is the rapid home test, your claim will be denied. It’s as simple as what is outlined above. Your time will be reimbursed if you follow the steps above and your claim is accepted. 

These are our rights as frontline workers and we deserve to have this information from our management for the outstanding job that we do, day in and day out, protecting the communities and the citizens we serve. We should all be concerned that management wasn’t forthcoming with this simple information. Trying to cut costs at the expense of our members is not indicative of leadership that is caring for the workforce. 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call any director or any member of the executive staff.

Click here to view EA-60

In Solidarity, 

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

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