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This weekend, Local 1014, together with the Department, will honor 36 fallen firefighters as their names are added to the California Firefighters Memorial Wall. Among them are three of our fallen brothers, Fire Captain Arn Tretsven, Fire Captain Kenneth Renz, and Fire Fighter Specialist William “Bill” Lenzen, who are being honored for having served with bravery and distinction.
Thank you to the California Fire Foundation for remembering all the families whose loved ones are being added to the Wall of Honor.
The California Firefighters Memorial is a unique and stunning tribute to the more than 1500 firefighters who have died in the line of duty since California became a state in 1850. The California Firefighters Memorial was unveiled on April 6, 2002, and is a lasting tribute to the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their fellow Californians. Over the preceding decade, more than $2 million was raised privately for the construction and maintenance of the California Firefighters Memorial, with the majority of the funding coming from firefighters through the specialized Firefighter License Plates and The Firefighters’ Memorial Tax Check-off.
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50 “Back to Work” Initiative
Local 1014 has called on the Department - the FIRE CHIEF, and CHIEF DEPUTIES, and DEPUTY CHIEFS OF THE BUREAUS, to once again take 50 work comp cases per round and dump every resource to get the claims moved forward, the treatment approved, the therapy in motion, etc to get those members who fight the system or the doctors to get their treatment and return to work completed. You can also advocate for your own case by calling RTW directly and asking for help to push your care forward. If you are someone who feels you are lost in the workers' comp system, please reach out to Local 1014 and we can help ensure that you get the resources and treatment you need to return back to work healthy.
We instituted this initiative last budget session to get things back to the center and get our members treated in a timely and best-of-care manner to get them back to work, and it worked. This is one of the issues plaguing staffing shortages and exacerbating injuries, especially in the Captains Ranks currently. We are pressing the Department to hold the bureau chiefs accountable for the third party's work to move our cases, and to aid our Captains, BC and staff in Return to Work. Local 1014 is also pushing management to reach out to 40-hour personnel who would like to take a detail back to operations to temporarily help solve the staffing problem.
CAPTAINS EXAM UPDATE
Another issue plaguing the staffing crisis in the Captain's ranks is the abomination of the written exam process with our competitive exam for Captains. We have another crisis in the number of members passing the written exam. There are many rumors about what happened to the written exam, but the best evidence is that big county DHR is getting its hands in the process again with control. We saw last administration what happened when the department sat by idly and allowed Big County to call balls and strikes; it did not go well. We have a FIRE CHIEF, and he is in charge of the FIRE DISTRICT.
We are pressing up legally and administratively on the exam process again, as we have a legal right through collective bargaining. Still, in the short term, we need to get through the existing process and get the list established and likely promote everyone in one sweep. We have also put forward two programs that we will revisit with the Department where engineers in one sweep are promoted based on seniority, medics included - NO PAY LOSS, and are given and engineer orientation and a 6-month task book, to be completed over 6 months of acting time in the seat. When successful, they are permanently promoted.
In the Captain's rank, we called on and worked with the many good BC’s in the AOC and proposed an emergency program to allow BC’s to work down for recall relief only. Both of these proposals were REJECTED by the Department, and we will go back at them immediately to have them reconsider. This will only get worse if we don’t defibrillate the situation now. We stand in solidarity with all, and together, we must take care of each other while we fix this problem.
Go available where you can, trade where you can, and push back on online training and other bullshit that we don’t need to be handling in our time of exhaustive work crisis. Make your station labor-friendly and all about each other and the people we serve during this time. Provide ample workout time and rest time, and always break bread together at the kitchen table.
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Our LACoFD CA-TF2 has been assigned to the Air Operations Branch of TC Milton, managed under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Red Incident Support Team (IST).
CA-TF2 members departed via two CH-47 airships - “Colorado” and “Mississippi” - at first light earlier this week. Team members are now in Sarasota, FL, to recon the damage and initiate search and rescue operations. |
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OPEN ENROLLMENT IS HERE!
The Local 1014 Health Plan is among the most comprehensive plans available to Firefighters anywhere in the nation and is tailored to meet our Firefighters’ needs. It is also the #1 choice for our members and their families.
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| LA COUNTY FIRE SAFETY - MEASURE E
We continue to push forward on the Measure E campaign, with our comprehensive digital and mail campaigns set to roll out next week as ballots hit mailboxes.
As we have said many times, political action is the most important thing we do to affect our wages, hours, and working conditions. This measure is the first citizen initiative ever run in a special district. We will need every member of the community to tell their story. With an aging fleet, outdated communication equipment, and staffing below the national 4-0 standard, we have a lot on the line. We need our members to band together for our future.
We will be looking for volunteers for GOTV weekend and phone banking in the weeks leading up to the election to push this over the line. The Alfred K. Whitehead Labor Center will become the hub of the last few day's outreach to voters who will go to the polls to cast their ballots. LET'S GET IT DONE!
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In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board |
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