Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

 
FRIDAY UPDATE

Brothers & Sisters,

The Department will be getting the Moderna vaccine early next week, not the Pfizer vaccine, and Dr. Kazan, the Health Programs Office, and EMS section have assured us that they are ready to mobilize within 24 hours to administer the vaccine to our members. 

We strongly recommend all members be vaccinated for their own protection and the protection of their brothers and sisters, family members, friends, and communities. It is critical that members are protected through vaccinations to maintain their readiness to respond to COVID-19 and other emergencies, as the number of positive tests, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19 continue to rise amidst flu season. We work in confined and uncontrolled environments while treating or transporting patients or interacting with the public and are, therefore at a greater risk of contracting COVID-19. Click here to read the IAFF Position Statement on COVID Vaccines.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are molecular RNA based (not a live virus), and both vaccines have a 95% efficacy rate compared to a 40-60% efficacy rate of the influenza (flu) vaccine and provide antibodies and T-cell immunity against COVID-19. Attached is the FAQ sheet for the vaccine, so you have the information as researched by our Department doctor, the CDC, and Local 1014. WE ARE IN SUPPORT OF ALL PERSONNEL TO RECEIVING THE VACCINE. 

As of today, we have been assured that it is not mandated by the County Director of Personnel and the County Public Health Director. If you choose not to take the vaccine, you will have to sign a declination, just as you do for our yearly flu shot. If you choose not to take the vaccine and then change your mind, you will be placed at the end of the line. We cannot have the appearance of wasting vaccines. The plan as of now is to vaccinate all of our high-risk members and high-exposure personnel first. We have been assured that we will eventually receive enough vaccines for all of our personnel. It may have to be done in phases, but it will be done as we are in Tier 1A per the County Public Health. It is a matter of how many vaccines that LA County receives and when.  

The Emergency Medical Services Bureau has invited all personnel to join Dr. Kazan as he explains the SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine and answers any questions personnel may have related to the vaccine.  The discussion will be conducted via Microsoft Teams on the following dates and times: Saturday, December 19th at 9:00 a.m., and Sunday, December 20th at 9:00 a.m. 

To access the discussion on Saturday, December 19th, click the following link:  December 19th SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Discussion

To access the discussion on Sunday, December 20th, click the following link: December 20th SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Discussion

Payroll Issues with COVID-19

We have also been made aware of a potential issue with timekeeping for our members that are ordered off due to COVID. The IPFIRS code “ZI” is not being recognized by payroll and could potentially lead to some members not being compensated correctly. We have been assured that it will not affect this payroll cycle but will need to be corrected (see attached EA-527). There will be a reminder of the process to follow in order to not lose any benefit time. In short, you need to burn benefit time and file a claim for reimbursement of time. You will be made whole within 15 days, as per our agreement with management. Also, we have been assured that this will not affect our members in their Ventura year. We have this commitment in writing, so Local 1014 will carry that through arbitration if necessary. Please see the attached reiteration of the correct process to follow. 

After reviewing all of the information and numerous talks with the Health Programs Office, EMS section and Dr. Kazan, your Local 1014 Executive Board in collaboration with our state union California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), strongly recommend our members receive the vaccine once it is available. It is still your choice, and we have worked hard to keep it voluntary and not mandatory.

This is an opportunity for our members to protect themselves and their families as we continue to fight on the frontline. We have worked hard to ensure our members have access to this vaccine along with other first responders and health care workers. Whether you choose to take the vaccine or not, please continue to take precautions. Our numbers have again skyrocketed this week, with members getting sick every day. WEAR YOUR MASK, PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING AND WASH YOUR HANDS. 

As always, stay safe and take care of each other.                        

 In Solidarity and Strength,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

Brothers & Sisters,

In preparation for our upcoming 48-96 Trial Shift Schedule Change, we have elected to distribute our calendars electronically this year. Since the trial will only be for one year we cannot print our normal two-year calendar.

As we mentioned last week, we are lobbying for Fire Chief support and have already begun lobbying support from the Board of Supervisors for the trial. We are still pushing for a January start to the trial, but in case of a delay, we have provided both shift calendars for next year. We want to be sure you and your families have the tools you need to plan for next year. 

The following calendars are attached to below: 2021 Kelly Shift Schedule Calendar, 2021 48-96 Shift Calendar, and a 2021 Dispatch Calendar. Please download and print these calendars out at your convenience. 

Following the one-year trial, we will resume printing two-year calendars for all members. 

As always, stay safe and take care of each other.                        

 In Solidarity and Strength,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

Friday Message 
 

Brothers & Sisters,

Every two years local Fire Union affiliates convene to set the political action and legislative agenda for the next 24 months of legislative sessions. The State Union is a membership of local Union affiliates representing nearly 30,000 Professional Firefighters, Paramedics, Pilots, FSA’s, Dispatchers, Health HazMat, Heavy Equipment Operators, and Fire Prevention Personnel throughout California. Small unions (the smallest being nine members) and large unions like Local 1014, UFLAC 112, Local 3631, and Cal Fire Local 2881 work together to protect our members' interests at the State Capitol and in our local boards of supervisors and city councils.

                                       

This year, we had to conduct a virtual convention due to COVID-19.  While not optimal to handle our business, we are making the best of the situation to work diligently with our partner affiliates in committee and on the committee floor on Convention Day this December 10th. 

Your Local 1014 Executive Board members serve on committees that address policy, constitution and by-laws, elections, rules, budget, and more.  This year we will consider 31 Resolutions dealing with cancer testing, LAFCO jurisdiction over new departments like in Placentia, suicide awareness and prevention, EMS issues, industrial disability issues, and USAR funding.  In particular, this year, we are proud to have amended two resolutions involving workers' compensation for post-traumatic stress injury and adding Fire-based Dispatchers to our peer support legislation.  We want all of our members who deal with the rigors of our job to be covered and taken care of concerning behavioral health.  All this week Local 1014 Executive Board Members have been discussing, debating, and voting on issues affecting our membership and the path of travel for efforts at the state to pass law and policy regarding our salary, benefits, and health and safety.  We will report to the members the results of the Convention and the next steps as we move this agenda forward. See Convention resolutions attached. 

Executive Board Sworn in at First General Membership Meeting in January 2021

We want to thank all members who ran for the 1014 Executive Board seats in Local 1014’s Election.  Congratulations to Brothers Mike Cash and Tony Carcioppolo who will be joining the Executive Board and become part of the TEAM of TEN, representing over 3,200 members.  This is a big responsibility, and the learning curve is huge. President Gillotte reached out to both new members and has begun taking steps to lay out the work, training, education, and responsibilities.  There is much work to be done and as fiduciaries and executives for one of the nation's largest and most powerful Unions. They will have a lot to get up to speed on in a short timeframe as we are in negotiations, working on starting a 48/96 one-year trial, and protect our staffing from projected budget cuts.  We will get them sworn in using Zoom technology so all our members can share in the proud moment when they become part of a legacy of leaders in Local 1014.  Congratulations again!

Department Budget and Proposed Curtailments 

President Gillotte and the 1014 Executive Board have begun meeting with the Department to review and breakdown the entire budget concerning revenues, budget shortfalls, expenditures, and expenses for our nearly $1.4 billion Fire Protection District. 

Our budget is complicated, to say the least.  Our Special District is primarily funded through property tax revenues and our special fire tax.  We also have small portions of the County General Fund budget for the administration of the Lifeguards and a few other items.  We have set costs to run the Fire Department, including engines, trucks, equipment, salary, and benefits of nearly $850 million with the increasing cost of overtime due to vacancies and injury.  We are a self-funded workers' compensation system. Every hour of overtime due to injury comes out of the pot of money for all expenditures, including our salary and benefits. 

While workers' compensation and our ability to be off work to get treated and returned to full duty is a benefit we have fought hard to get written into law and policy, we are nearing a crisis moment with regard to how many firefighters are off on injury.  OT of nearly $250 million and climbing is starting to crush our budget. We need to analyze the reasons for this climb, and ensure efficiencies for treatment and return to work.  As we do this, we want to remind our membership that all benefits like benefit time, workers compensation, time exchanges, compensatory time off, and more have been fought for and negotiated and have value to us all. They must be used properly and efficiently to ensure the benefits remain in place and fully funded.  Work together to ensure that injury is saved for injuries preventing a member from performing their job functions. 

We must self-regulate the appropriate use of this time and the resulting backfill while at the same time holding the Department and Return-to-Work accountable for proper processing and approval of claims and rapid treatment.  Working together, we can make a difference and fix the broken system.  We have three times the normal number of workers off. As we highlighted for the Department, the staffing shortages and lack of hiring and promotions have taken a toll on our members to some extent and has resulted in higher injury numbers.  We will be looking at our carve-out agreement and retirement policy and the insurances for on and off-duty injuries exceeding that which our members would make with a regular salary and SRC in a normal earning manner per month. 

All of these items must be looked at to ensure our system works as it was designed and, most importantly, to cover truly injured members and restore them to full duty and protect their jobs.  We will have more on this as we meet with the Department weekly to ensure our budget and revenue priorities can be met. 

These are trying times, and there is no magic wand to keep our balance sheet neutral. We will be battling proposed cuts to many items up to and including staffing.  To date, we have fought off any major attack towards our service delivery model. The shortfall is projected to be nearly $40 million this year and next. We will be working on setting priorities with the Department to deal with any shortfall. Chasing revenues and economic efficiencies will be challenging, to say the least, but we are committed to helping the Department find solutions. We will keep you informed as we progress in our talks and the resulting efforts.  

48/96 Trial Shift Schedule Change 

We continue to negotiate with the Fire Chief on this voted item for our members.  We are not asking for permission to work to implement a trial shift schedule change, but we are negotiating to gain and earn the Fire Chief’s support for the trial. We have met over the last two months to answer questions, educate, and evaluate the impact of the proposed trial.  This rests with the Fire Chief, and for the last two weeks, President Gillotte has been providing additional information and data as the Chief considers his position.  We will be bringing this to a close in the next week or two.  Ideally, we have indicated to the Chief we would like an agreement before the holidays with a January start for the trial.  We have also approached the Board of Supervisors to educate them and reserve the path of travel to deal with the Board as well.  We hope the Fire Chief finds the vote of the workers and the positive aspect of this change motivating.   

As always, stay safe and take care of each other.                        

 In Solidarity and Strength,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

Brothers & Sisters,

Our Thanksgiving and Holiday Season will be different than we have ever experienced in our firehouses and administrative sites because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures we must take to combat the spread of the virus.  We must keep our members safe and not quarantined so we can staff our stations and continue to serve the public. We must set the standard and be an example for our communities. With our public and our private business partners being impacted by shutdowns, we cannot be seen as being an exception to the rules.  This is going to be a difficult holiday season and our membership and our families are feeling the impact of these decisions.  

This season we will not be having family or visitors at our firehouses or administrative sites because of the high risk of COVID-19.  Our Medical Director Dr. Clayton Kazan along with Dr. Gupta and Dr. Kashani have made the difficult decision to recommend and ask the following: wear a mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands regularly, wear proper PPE on calls, and do not have unauthorized visitors in the firehouses and administrative sites. Click here to view the video from the Department. We will support the orders from our doctors who are the best in the business and have expertise in this field. They are our partners in keeping us safe and able to work. 

We have had nearly 300 of our 3200 members test positive for COVID-19, and a handful have had life-threatening symptoms. We have been fortunate that we have not lost any of our members, some of our brother and sister locals have not been so fortunate. We also join our small business partners, salon, and restaurant owners who will also be impacted by shutdowns.  While we support Supervisors Barger and Hahn's motion to not shutdown without the data to support the shutdown, we also understand ICU and hospital beds are rapidly filling up. We will continue to work with the Board of Supervisors and the state and federal governments to chase funds for relief for these small businesses and our own Department.  We are in this together. 

While we cannot change the environment we must operate in, just like on the fireground, at dispatch and in the field, we can change how we deal with the impact of the situation.  This means more than ever we need to stand together, support each other as we look for all that we have to be thankful for, and support those who are less fortunate.  Company Officers as Captains and Battalion Chiefs, please take time to help set the tone to take care of the people we serve, but also take care of our members. Give them the place to workout, maybe even play sports, watch the Dallas Cowboys get beat on Thanksgiving, Zoom with their families and eat more food than they can possibly handle as we remember how we stand in solidarity and strength together.   

Finally, our family, the Local 1014 membership, are not immune to the feelings and effects of COVID-19 on our holidays.  As we protect our communities, helping them deal with medical emergencies, traffic collisions, fires, shootings, and many more life-altering situations, we must also take care of ourselves. Sometimes we think we are not affected by the impact of not only our jobs, but the impact of the shutdowns, and the change in our daily life and station life, but we are.   

Remember for those who need support and feel the need to talk with someone please reach out to our Peer Support Team.  Members like you and me, with additional skills, training, and experience to help not only our members but our families. We also have culturally-competent clinicians who know us and get our work and perspective. Reach out if you think for a moment you might benefit from the chat. You can also find more resources at HealingOurOwn.org. 

Your Local 1014 Executive Board will be both at home and at work just like all of you. We feel no different than all of our members and our families. We stand in solidarity and in strong support of all as we also navigate this mess.  Make tomorrow and every day the best you can as we change how we get our business done.                                  

 In Solidarity and Strength,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

Brothers & Sisters,

The following Local 1014 members were elected on November 23, 2020 to the Los Angeles County Fire Fighters Local 1014 Executive Board:

President:                   
David Gillotte                       1,023     100%

1^ST Vice President:    
Lew Currier                            1,009    100%                                                   

2^nd Vice President:                            
Kurt Kobler                            1,041   100%      

Treasurer:
John Smolin                           1,003    100%

Directors:  (For 6 Positions)            

Jason Cervantes                      882     12.4%                                                  

Mike Cash                               876      12.3%

Jason Green                            861      12.1%

Pat Dolan                                860      12.1%  

Chris Reade                            800       11.3%

Tony Carcioppolo                   698        9.8%

Cole Kahle                              581        8.2%

Christian Reynoso                  538        7.6%

Jesse Krygsman                      493        6.9%

Mike Henley                           489        6.9%

On behalf of the membership, thank you to the Elections Committee Co-Chair Randy Walton, Co-Chair Erin Regan, and the Elections Committee Members: Jeane Barrett, Brian Case, Steve Handy, Greg Rodriguez, and Dan Wagner for their hard work. Also thank you to Nate Jackson who was called back to work and could not serve today. Local 1014 Elections were conducted in accordance with the Constitution and By-Laws of IAFF Local1014 by California Elections Company.
 

         View video message below.

I am honored to be elected to serve for another term as President of this great union. We welcome back all our incumbent Officers and Directors and new Directors Mike Cash and Tony Carcioppolo. This “team of ten” individuals represent the diversity of our membership and I am confident we will continue to push forward fighting for better wages, hours and working conditions for all our members over the next two years. 

Your Local 1014 Executive Board will continue to address the issues affecting staffing, entry-level hiring, promotions and retirements with a push to fill spots and provide relief for recalls.  As we begin to enter negotiations with the County for a successor MOU we will be fighting for every dollar and we will not leave money on the table. 

Local 1014 is one of the strongest most influential labor unions in the nation and with our newly elected Executive Board, we will continue to fight on behalf of our members. Thank you to all and let us move forward 1014 Strong!                                        

 In Solidarity and Strength,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

Friday Update 

Brothers & Sisters,

As we wrap up this week, we would like to remind everyone to mail their ballots if you have not done so already. Ballots will be counted on Monday, November 23^rd, beginning at 10:00 am. Make your mark on the important work of electing your Union leaders and VOTE.  

                                 

President Gillotte appointed a Local 1014 Elections Committee. Additionally, each candidate has the ability to appoint an observer who can be in the counting room and watch the entire process.  This process has been in place for over 20 years of elections and is compliant with the Department of Labor and Elections Standards. We are very proud of the integrity of our process. 

Also attached you will find a list of Local 1014 Elections Committee members. Co-chairs Randy Walton and Erin Regan will guide the work of CEC work with input and assistance from our attorney and CEC.  Good luck to all who are running! We have much work to continue after the elections are over!! 

IAFF Union Elections 

Both the California Professional Firefighter’s (CPF) and International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) conventions and elections are also upon us in December (CPF) and January (IAFF).  Your Local 1014 Executive Board has been very busy reviewing Convention Resolutions and candidates to represent Local 1014’s interests as we work with other Local affiliates to craft our priorities at the state, national and international levels for the next two years.  

As a national leader, Local 1014 helps craft policy and legislative resolutions that affect our international Union's direction.  Issues such as collective bargaining, pension and health care protections, health and safety, cancer prevention, and behavioral health are the legislative priorities we will be pushing for in the next two years.

After careful consideration and interviews and assessments, Local 1014 is proud to announce the endorsements of the following candidates for the IAFF Executive Board seats.  

IAFF General President - Mahlon Mitchell 

Mahlon is a veteran Firefighter for the City of Madison, Wisconsin, and President of his home Local 311 as well as the current State President of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin.

Local 1014 has a special connection to the IAFF through our former Local 1014 President and IAFF General President Emeritus Alfred K Whitehead. We are proud to endorse a candidate who will carry on the legacy President Emeritus Whitehead began of solidarity, inclusion, and honor at the national and international levels. 

General Secretary-Treasurer - Frank Lima

A longtime friend and warrior for our issues. As a 30-plus year Fire Fighter in the City of Los Angeles and a Union leader, Frank has shown the type of passion for our trade and our members we need at the national and international level. Whether it is fighting for critical legislation and funding for our members' health and safety or showing up for our members who lost their homes during the devastating wildfires last year, Frank has demonstrated time and time again a commitment to this union and our members.
 
During his time as IAFF 10th District Vice President, he has built solidarity and unity across our diverse regions of California, Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, and New Mexico. We have no doubt that he will bring transparency, resources, and accountability to our union's highest level.  

10th District DVP - Domingo Alby Albarran 

A 35-year LAFD Firefighter and decade-plus Union leader.  We have worked on many issues with Alby, including the cell phone antenna fight, Cancer Presumption 2, and behavioral health legislation for presumption. As the largest district in the IAFF, the 10^th District is a diverse but strong district. We need strong leadership to not only bring us together under the banner of union solidarity but also continue to fight for wages, hours, and working conditions throughout ALL the states in the 10^th District. With his background in union leadership and proven track record of transparency, honesty, and accountability, we know that Alby is the right man for the job.  

We look forward to helping these outstanding leaders to lead the IAFF.  We will put out more information as we near each convention. 

DEPARTMENT HUMAN RESOURCES IN A STATE OF CHAOS 

It is clear to all by now that the Department’s administrative sections and divisions are in an absolute state of chaos and disorder.  The entity in charge of discipline, entry-level hiring, recruitment and retention, promotional exams, appeals, and our budget is ineffective, under-resourced and out of touch with our staffing and career standard needs.  

We will continue to work with the Department where we can to negotiate, collaborate, and help implement solutions where appropriate in order to get the work done. We will also take adverse positions and legally and politically leverage our power to halt the Department where they overreach or fail through cease and desist and unfair labor practice charges to force solutions.

It is unfortunate that the moral compass and professional standards of operations with our Human Resources management is absent.  We want to stress that the workers, the good Union folks that work in Human Resources are doing good work. They are under-resourced and we are lobbying for additional help for them.  

There is no plan to streamline, improve and ensure credibility for our hiring and promotional processes including medical and background checks.  When candidates are noticed with 5 days or less to report to the drill tower, when we have arbitrary and capricious medical standards, when background and hiring processes take over 8 months to complete causing us to lose many good candidates including diverse candidates to other agencies, it is time to revamp, review and retool the Human Resources offices. 

We are aggressively seeking sworn badged oversight to help guide the many important civilian workers we need as experts to get this work done.  We will be meeting formally with the Department to discuss the staffing shortage in HR, the entry-level and promotional processes and help set a calendar in non-fire months to establish regular hiring and promotional lists so we don’t end up short in any rank for staffing.  We will report to you the agreements we garner, or if we need to go to the Employee Relations Commission or Civil Service to legally push these changes.  

Along those lines, we have reached our wits end in dealing with the Department and the Department representatives for the latest Engineers and Captains promotional processes, and we are filing formal appeals to the Civil Service Commission on behalf of those members who want to appeal their AP calculations on the Captains exam. 

The Chiefs in charge of the Department side of the AP and Appeal process are new and devoid of perspective on how we jointly evaluate and grant or not grant credit for items where credit is not only due but fairly applied.  This year we have seen the culmination of a degraded AP process and an uneducated and unbending team from the Department that seems more hell-bent on trying not to grant points on technicalities rather than establishing veracity and accuracy when applying credit.  

Members work very hard their whole careers to achieve in this great Department. When it’s time to list that work inappropriate AP categories prevent it from being counted in a competitive exam process, it is not only wrong but discouraging when the Department fails our members. 

We look forward to the fourth and final step of the exam process, the Civil Service Appeals where those who appealed their issues along with the Union will teach the Department a lesson on how a fair and unbiased exam process and appeal process works.  We had to do this exercise in educating the Department back in the day. Great Chiefs like Eric Ekeberg and Ron Magnuson along with Union Executive Board Members crafted the AP structure, educated candidates prior to the exams, and sat side-by-side to review and agree on appeals.  We will get back there as we formally hold the Department accountable for their work.  Hang on as we tackle this project on behalf of our members, and on behalf of the system.  

Thank you in advance for your vote and your voice. As always, stay safe and take care of each other. 

 In Solidarity and Strength,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board 

Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

By now everyone should have received your 1014 Election Ballot.  If you have not, please contact the Union office immediately at 800-334-6285.  

Remember:

• Ballots must be postmarked by U.S. Postal Service and received at the Post Office Box by 10:00 a.m. on Monday, November 23, 2020, in order to be counted!

• No hand-carried ballots will be accepted at the Union Hall or at the Post Office.

Ballots will be counted on Monday, November 23^rd by California Elections Company (CEC) and results will be posted to the web and sent to stations and sites.

Thank you in advance for your vote and your voice.

Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014

Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Fire Prevention, Forestry
and Health Haz Mat Personnel

Friday Update 

Brothers & Sisters,

Today as America waits for ballots to be counted in the Presidential race, Los Angeles County and California also wait for election results to be finalized.  Los Angeles County had over 4 million ballots left to count as of last night.  These ballots will ultimately determine several races of significance for our membership including Assembly and Congressional seats as well as final totals on state propositions.

We will put out a full summary next week after all the final results have been recorded including any results under appeal.  For now, we would like to share a few races and initiatives that will help our members and legislative efforts going forward. 

In the State Legislature, we supported Republicans Phillip Chen (AD-55 Diamond Bar) who won his seat by a large margin. Assemblymember Chen is a long-time friend and supporter of Local 1014 members and in particular pension protections for our members. We look forward to his work once again on our behalf.  Democrat Josh Newman was elected to Senate District 29 winning his race over Ling Lng Chang, both friends of Local 1014.  We also saw our very own retired member Kelly Seyarto, Republican from Murrieta, join the California State Assembly. He knows about public safety pensions and we will help him navigate a Democratically-controlled legislature and Governor to ensure his success.  Two races that will unfold as the remaining California ballots are counted are Senate District 21 with Republican Scott Wilk, our endorsed candidate, battles Mueller for the seat, and Democrat Christy Smith in a close race with Mike Garcia for United States Congressional District 25 in Santa Clarita. 

While California remains and will largely remain a Democrat-controlled state, as you can see, we support all candidates that support our issues. Our winning endorsed candidates are diverse in districts important to Los Angeles County Fire Fighters Local 1014 members. 

Finally in the Board of Supervisors race for District 2, long-time friend and champion from the CA Senate, Holly Mitchell takes the seat to make the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors the first all-woman Board of Supervisors ever.  We have relationships with all five Supervisors and we will get to work immediately with our 2020 and 2021 agenda on behalf of our members.  Congrats to all who ran excellent campaigns and all who won this cycle.  
 

Congratulations to Class 159
                                   
Congratulations to Class 159 on joining us as Los Angeles County Fire Department! The LA County Tower is as hard as ever with 56 recruits beginning training and 42 making it to the finish line. In the graduating class we have former firefighters, paramedics and law enforcement recruits, including six women, and some of our own FSAs. This graduating class will hit the field and help us with staffing, and begin the most rewarding career in the world. CONGRATULATIONS! 

Staffing 

As we head into this weekend, Local 1014 continues to present ideas and solutions to resolve out problems and systems for the Fire Chief and Administrative Executive Staff. We need to continue hiring, staffing and promoting to keep the ranks full and allow us to accomplish the mission and take care of our members.  One of the areas of constant work is exam appeals and Internal Affairs representing our members.  Thank you to Internal Affairs and Appeals Chairman Pat Dolan and his crew of Directors for this perspective. See his update below on Captain appeals below. 

Potential Captain’s AP Appeals (Pat Dolan) 

To the members who filed appeals on their AP’s for the current Captains exam, we have met with the Department on several occasions, and the appeals have been argued for you.  Unfortunately, many of you will not agree with the decisions the Department made against you, specifically as it pertains to what was told to you in the Promotional Exam Workshops and how Memo’s would suffice as adequate documentation. The Union argued vociferously on your behalf, and it appears it wasn’t successful. Many of you, will (or have), received your letter from DHR regarding the results of your appeal.  Near the bottom of your letter is a paragraph that advises you that if you STILL feel like you have merit to your appeal, to file an appeal with the Civil Service Commission and has a link on how to go about it. 

Before you do that, I would strongly advise you to contact Pat Dolan (pdolan@local1014.org) or Jason Cervantes (jcervantes@local1014.org) so we can hopefully give you some advice before you file.  We had nearly 40 appeals, so email is preferable to notify us as opposed to a phone call or text.  Thank you for your understanding as it pertains to this, and we understand that your future in this organization as a potential Captains is very important to you.
 

Local 1014 Elections 

Local 1014 Executive Board Elections ballots dropped today.  All active and life members in good standing will be able to cast a vote to elect the leaders of your Labor Union.  Los Angeles County is a heavy labor town and our Union is strong within that family. Electing your leaders is so very important.  Take time to listen to the issues, the candidates, and remember to vote!  Good luck to all who have stepped up and stepped in to be considered including those who have been passionately serving already. 

As always, stay safe and take care of each other. 

 In Solidarity and Strength,

President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board