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Season’s Greetings brothers and sisters of 1014! This holiday season finds our membership stretched thin, especially in the firefighter rank, resulting in difficulty for some Cardfiles to fill vacancies under normal staffing procedures. Similar to the recent fire weather "augmented staffing" days, this has contributed to an exceptionally high number of recalls in certain battalions. The situation that we find ourselves in is a direct result of the lack of preparation and planning by Human Resources and Fire Department management for entry level testing and promotional stagnation resulting in unprecedented vacancies.
Due to the current and predicted high number of vacancies, Local 1014 has reached out to the Department to develop temporary and non-precedent setting solutions to help ease the burden to our members that are experiencing excessive recalls. Local 1014 will continue to meet with the Department to bring new and innovative ideas from the Membership and the Executive Board. Collaborative efforts have led to the implementation of an early fill date for Thanksgiving, as well as an early lifting of the overtime cap.
To ensure consistency in all battalions with the staffing procedures for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the Department and the Union have agreed to the following procedures:
Prior to recalling personnel back to back for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Battalion Cardfiles shall utilize their recognized Sister Battalions for recalls after all members up for recall on the shift and affected battalion have been exhausted.
If the Sister Battalion cannot fill all requested recall positions, then the positions shall be returned to the original Cardfile to be filled with battalion personnel even if this requires back to back recalls.
This is a temporary fix to help our membership through the holidays. Your Executive Board understands the sacrifices that we all accept to serve in this noble profession that we all chose. We believe this gives our members the best chance to spend one of the days with their families and celebrate the holidays. Encourage your newer personnel to step up and work that spot for the veteran or the members with children. Volunteer, get somebody out of a recall if you can, go available, it will be remembered and appreciated for years to come! This is a great time to show people what "Brotherhood and Sisterhood is all about! These terms means a lot in this profession and are certainly inclusive of everybody that dons the uniform and wears the “Bear” with pride.
The solution to our current staffing state of affairs is adequate hiring predictions, paramedic school predictions, promotions, retirements, specific regional needs, seasonal fire weather, etc. We would all like to think that our managers and HR staff has considered all of these factors and has planned accordingly, but clearly this is not the case. Labor is determined and dedicated to work with management to find short and long term solutions to not only our staffing problems, but many other issues that are currently plaguing this fine Fire Department. We will continue additional staffing talks in January and we welcome your recommendations at the next General Membership meeting January 12, 2016. Our next regional meeting will be in Calabasas on February 9, 2016 with details to follow.
Thank you for working together as a membership to help each other out.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
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