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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
This week, our Local 1014 Executive Board attended the California Professional Firefighters Legislative Conference in Sacramento. The Local 1014 Executive Board had a full schedule lobbying our state legislators on critically important legislation including:
· SB 542 (Stern) and AB 1116 (Grayson) - Firefighters’ Behavioral Health Package - Creating a rebuttable post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) presumption and statewide standards for a Firefighter peer support crisis referral program.
· AB 1544 (Gipson/Hertzberg) - Community Paramedicine or Triage to Alternate Destination Act of 2019
· AB 932 (Low) - Firefighters Out-of-State Injuries - Providing protection to our members who render aid in a time of crisis, such as the Route 91 mass shooting in Las Vegas.
· AB 1668 (Carrillo) - Education Employment Reentry Program- Building on the California Conservation Corp program and offering a career path to those formerly incarcerated through work on hand crews.
Additionally, Local 1014 walked the halls to explore options to amend current legislation to allow more descriptive wording for future public safety measures that will help fund more resources for our members and our Department.
Special thank you to all our local legislators who took time to meet with us including: Secretary of State Alex Padilla, CA State Treasurer Fiona Ma, Senator Holly J. Mitchell, Senator Bob Hertzberg, Senator Maria Elena Durazo, Assemblymember Phillip Chen, Assemblymember Christy Smith and Assemblymember Laura Friedman.
Contract
As we said last week, we are working very hard with the County to finalize pensionable language for our 601/602 Contract. Once finalized we will be moving forward with retro pay and issuing checks. This affects the Sheriffs and Lifeguards as well and retroactivity continues to roll as we get language finalized. We will construct a comprehensive contract update next week to address all of the pension and Board of Supervisors issues we have had to deal with over the past few weeks, including PEPRA compliance with our MOU.
Be safe out there and take care of each other.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
On April 1st, Local 1014 commemorated its 70th Anniversary of representing the finest Firefighters and Fire Service Personnel in the nation. On April 1, 1949, Local 1014 officially affiliated with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). We are proud to be 70 years Union Strong for our members!
As we celebrate all that we have accomplished as a Union, we also look to the future as we continue to fight for our members to get the wages, benefits and working conditions they need and deserve to protect our communities.
USAR Deployment Exercise and Training
This week, Los Angeles County Firefighters were pleased to host our annual Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) Team training and deployment exercise with USAR Teams from all over the world.
The 96-hour training simulates various rescue operations and allows our teams to keep their skills sharp. The Los Angeles County Fire Department is one of only two international USAR teams in the United States. CA-TF2 works with the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to provide international response to natural and man-made disasters.
Local 1014 was pleased to host dinner for all the teams which included international USAR team members who traveled from Virginia (USA), Australia, Colombia, Israel, Iceland, and New Zealand. Thank you to our partners at In-N-Out Burger for providing a great meal!
Critical Incident Stress Management
Our Local 1014 Executive Board was also in training this week with the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation learning about group crisis intervention and innovative intervention services including: demobilizations, defusings, and the Critical Stress Debriefings (CISD).
As our members are faced with new challenges both on and off the job, our Executive Board is always searching for educational opportunities that will allow us to better serve our members and the public.
Thank you to United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, IAFF Local-112 for hosting this event. Special thank you to IAFF Master Peer Instructor Captain Scott Ross, Dr. Steve Froehlich and Tiffany Collier of the US Coast Guard for their work to bring this training to our team.
601/602 Contract
We appreciate the patience of the membership during this trying time as we work to complete the last processes to ratify our tentative agreement, ensure all elements of the contract are pensionable for all members, and get the retro checks and calculations done and into all of our pockets.
We have had to address a number of items along with the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) and the Los Angeles County Lifeguards Association (LACoLA) to get contract language in our MOU compliant with the California Public Employee Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) and retirement law interpretation by LACERA. This last critical step has been labor intensive and we had to deal with the County and LACERA to amend language.
Local 1014 and LACoLA will meet one last time with the CEO's office next week to finish the documents to be submitted to the BOS for their vote to ratify the final MOU. Then we will turn our attention to the retroactive checks that will run back to 10/1/18. We will enlist an auditor to monitor the retro checks and ensure all elements of pay are accounted for.
Have a safe week and remember to take care of each other.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
Today, Local 1014 was proud to co-sponsor and attend the Quarterly Peer Training for our Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) Peer Support Program along with the Department.
Special thank you to Brendan McDonough, the lone survivor of the Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew tragically killed in 2013, for joining us as our guest speaker today. Brendan shared powerful testimony about the importance of the Peer Program in his life and for people he has met across the county as a spokesman for mental health in the fire service.
“People say time heals but that is a half-truth… time heals all with great support…You (peers) have given freedom back to people who have suffered silently,” he said to the participants today after sharing his own struggles with addiction and depression.
Growing our Peer Program is a major component of expanding our Behavioral Health Program within the LACoFD. As we look to address the growing problem of post traumatic and cumulative stress injuries, we need every tool available to us, including our most important resource, our members.
On the legislative front, your Executive Board is working hard to pass legislation that will protect our members as they access behavioral health services. President Dave Gillotte, Chair of the California State Task Force on Behavioral Health in the Fire Service, is working with members of the Task Force to move important legislation that will allow our Peer Support Teams to establish a confidential Peer Support and Crisis Referral Services pilot program for California’s Firefighters and First Responders who have suffered a post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) and are seeking support.
Last year, AB 1116 (Tim Grayson, D-Concord) which would have established a confidential Peer Support and Crisis Referral Services pilot program for California’s firefighters was vetoed. However, we are optimistic that Governor Gavin Newsom will be supportive of a new bill and we will see success.
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY FOR FAMILIES:
Please see attached flyer for a special interactive workshop for couples in the fire service taking place on April 6 at the Union Hall and hosted by Dr. Mynda Ohs, PhD and founder of Fully Involved Life.
Getting our members and members across the state the help and support they need for behavioral health and PTSI is a priority for Local 1014. As we push for greater protections for our members at the state level, we continue to focus on making our LACoFD Peer Program more robust. Take care of each other and please utilize the resources in your stations and www.healingourown.org.
Have a safe week and remember to take care of each other.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Download:
 1014 Couples Class.pdf
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
As we close the week, we also close out Union work that took your Executive Board from Washington DC to Sacramento to Downtown Los Angeles handling the critical issues and participating events that benefit our membership. Thank you to our Executive Board members for their above and beyond commitment this week.
Talks with the Fire Chief continue on myriad issues, but one item in particular we highlight this Friday. We have been pressuring the Department to prioritize the purchase of additional Thermal Imagers (TI) so that each rig and officer has a state-of-the-art TI that reads heat paths and flow. This item falls at the feet of the Chief Deputy of Operations to prioritize. President Gillotte has made the Fire Chief aware of the need and we are discussing ideas to fund this valuable tool for our members. The Fire Chief has committed to keeping this a priority item in our discussions. We have every confidence we will find a way to fund the purchase sooner rather than later. We will no longer allow this item to be ignored. Our members deserve the best equipment to keep them safe while on the job.
We want to highlight United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC) Local 112 and the work of President Freddie Escobar, his Executive Board and LAFD Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas for figuring out a way to fund through their foundation the purchase of small TIs for every member of the LAFD. We are sharing this with our Fire Chief, the Chief Deputy of Operations and we will use this news from our LA City partners to help motivate our own Department on the importance of these tools.
Click here to view the NBC story on LAFD's use of Thermal Imagers
Celebrating 50 Years of EMS
Yesterday, Local 1014 celebrated 50 years of leading the nation with the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency.
Our Los Angeles County Fire Department was the first Fire Department in the nation to train Paramedics in a nationally accredited paramedic program with the passage of the Wedworth-Townsend Paramedic Act of 1970.
We are proud to be part of the long tradition of innovation in healthcare. Responding to over 400,000 calls for service each year, our members provide world-class service to 4 million residents in unincorporated LA County and 59 contract cities.
Supporting the CA Fire Foundation
On Wednesday, the Local 1014 Executive Board was please to attend the 6th Annual California Fire Foundation Gala—celebrating Uncommon Courage.
The largest statewide organization dedicated exclusively to serving the needs of career firefighters, the California Fire Foundation’s mandate includes an array of survivor and victim assistance projects and community initiatives.
From providing Supplying Aid to Victims of Emergency (SAVE) cards to victims of fire or other natural disasters throughout California to providing educational assistance to the children of fallen firefighters through the California Firefighters Endowment and Daniel A. Terry Scholarship program to the curating of The California Firefighters Memorial the Foundation is there for our members and their families.
Last year, during the Woolsey Fire, the CA Fire Foundation was there for our members who lost homes and needed assistance. It is an honor to support this organization and all the work they do for our members.
Special thank you to the entire CA Fire Foundation Executive Board for their commitment to our members and their families.
Have a safe week and remember to take care of each other.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
This week, your Local 1014 Executive Board was hard at work lobbying our federal representatives on legislation that impacts not only our LA County Firefighters but Firefighters across the nation.
The Annual Alfred K. Whitehead Legislative Conference, has long been the cornerstone of the IAFF’s legislative efforts. Firefighters have won many significant victories over the years - from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program, to defeating legislation designed to undermine our members’ defined benefit pensions - due in large measure to the work of union leaders at this conference.
Named after Alfred K. Whitehead former Local 1014 President and President Emeritus of the IAFF, this conference provides our Union the opportunity to advocate directly with our local federal legislators on key issues, including legislation impacting your jobs, health, safety, and economic security.
The legislative agenda included:
Thank you to all our local congressional representatives who met with us including: Congressman Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán, Congresswoman Katie Hill, Congressman Ted Lieu, Congresswoman Linda Sánchez and U.S. Senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein.
Political action is one of the most important things we do as a Union to effect change for our member’s wages, benefits and working conditions. No matter what your political views, there is no question that as a Union we need to be active with all our elected representatives at every level of government to ensure we continue to have the health and safety protections and economic security we need and deserve as we sacrifice to keep our communities safe.
We will have more next week as our Executive Board wraps up meetings today and continues to push on securing a final ratification vote for our contract at the Board of Supervisors, despite the barriers that have been put up by the CEO. As we said last week, all unions are experiencing the same difficulty with the CEO and final ratification of language.
Have a safe week and remember to take care of each other.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
Today is International Women’s Day—in celebration, we not only salute all our strong union sisters who serve our communities each day, we also look to the future to continue to push for innovation in our LACoFD recruitment and hiring system that allows us to find the best and brightest, including a movement to the FCTC written and CPAT testing administered through CAL-JAC. As week 2 wraps up at the LACoFD Women’s Fire Prep Academy, we look to see more strong women in the fire service in the near future! Only when the Department embraces these changes will women’s camps feed our hiring list and allow us to actually hire the people that we recruit and train. Local 1014 is committed to making this a priority for the Chief and the Board of Supervisors moving forward.
President Gillotte met with Chief Osby again today to address working condition items. We have reached an agreement to lift the CAP to 100 shifts, and to re-evaluate the issue again in 30 days and every 30 days until the end of the fiscal year. Local 1014 Executive Board worked tirelessly to bring not only your testimonials but also the data to justify the lifting of the CAP to help working conditions and operational needs. Thank you to all who helped with this and again thank you to the Chief for listening once we got this item past the Chief Deputy level.
Additionally, many other issues were addressed and a more detailed report on progress will be sent separately, but we want to highlight a major issue that is driving a lot of the negative impact items we are seeing from the Chief Deputies and down the chain. You have all heard or read news about the Department’s budget deficit and the impact on our services, tools, equipment and staffing.
Local 1014 met with the Department and analyzed the budget as we often do. We have found that some of the early proposed or actual cuts to the budget are not only unnecessary but not prioritized properly. We have proposed to the Chief to meet with both the Executive Board of Local 1014 and the Executive Staff of the Department as we did with Chief Freeman during economic downturn years to develop a comprehensive strategy to trim costs, realize economic efficiencies, shore up operations and essential tools equipment and training necessary to do our job and protect emergency staffing. The Fire Chief has agreed, and we look forward to working together on a plan.
For now, know that there is no reason to panic. We have a robust budget that needs prioritization, we have reserves over $100 million, and while a “zero based budget”, as the Department's Deputies, administrative sworn and civilian Chief’s keep touting, is a valiant and worthy goal, but not realistic in some downturn years. A plan that incorporates responsible budgeting, chasing new one-time and recurring revenues, and use of reserves to weather a downturn is a best practice for public and private entities alike.
We will be collaborating with the Department to reach an agreement on how we deal with the budget shortfall, but for now if the Chief Deputies, Administrative Chiefs or anyone commenting on budget driven cuts or proposed cuts hits your stations or emails notify the Local. We are dealing with rumors of cuts to everything from the ECMS turnout cleaning to cancellation of Paramedic training to other operational needs items. We will be dealing with these proposals directly and rest assured no working conditions items that involve safety of our members will be cut. The Fire Chief has committed to addressing these issues directly. Some of these items he had not been briefed on and has acted immediately to address.
Behavioral Health
This week, Local 1014 was proud to host IAFF Peer Support Training for our members at the Union Hall. Over 30 of our members attended and are now Peer Certified with the International Association of Fire Fighters. Growing our Peer Program is a major component of expanding our Behavioral Health Program within the LACoFD. As we look to address the growing problem of post traumatic and cumulative stress injuries, we need every tool available to us, including our most important resource, our members.
Special thank you to Captain Scott Ross, IAFF Peer Support Master Instructor and Dan Parker for teaching this class and the strong support from Assistant Chief Breshears to make this happen.
This is something that we would like to thank the Fire Chief for moving on immediately. Getting Captain Ross into a 40-hour position and seeing movement on this from the top down has made a big impact already in our ability to implement changes to the Peer Program. While we still have a lot of work to do in this area, such as the recruitment and hiring of a permanent dedicated mental health clinician who is fire centric and culturally competent for our Department, we have made significant progress over the past month on this item and more to follow in the next 30 days.
Additionally, please see attached flyer for a special interactive workshop for couples in the fire service taking place in April at the Union Hall and hosted by Dr. Mynda Ohs, PhD and founder of Fully Involved Life.
Contract Update
As we said before, while we work to settle the table at with the Coalition of County Unions (CCU) for our fringe benefits, our language for our MOU has been finalized so we can move forward with a Board of Supervisor ratification vote. We will update you once the Board of Supervisors agendizes the MOU and moves to a vote.
This is a tedious and frustrating but necessary step to ensure LACERA has language compliant with pension considerations especially for our Plan C members. We are pushing as hard on this as we can and know that all other Unions are in the same position including the Sheriff’s who are back for a second rewrite on non-LACERA approved language. We blame the CEO directly for these delays and lack of capture for the process. We will be informing the Board of Supervisors as well as possibly filing unfair labor practice charges. We will update you weekly as we work to get this done.
These are strained times and we will continue to work with the Chief and the Department when they work with us. We have indicated to them, we are not asking for permission to deal with these issues politically, legally or administratively, we are seeking collaboration on the issues. Either way we are going to ensure the issues are handled.
Again thank you to the Fire Chief for showing up to handle the issues, we will continue to monitor progress on these items and update you. Have a great weekend and be safe.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Download:
1014 Couples Class.pdf
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
Yesterday, February 28, 2019, we celebrated and recognized 101 years of the International Association of Fire Fighters-IAFF. As we recognize this IAFF Anniversary, we acknowledge that the Union movement has paved the way for the working conditions we enjoy today. In California, we are fortunate to have legislated and used political action through to achieve some of the best wages, hours and working conditions, including retirement and healthcare benefits, in the nation.
Throughout our 101 years, IAFF also has been a leader in workplace equality issues, including race and gender. One of the first things we must do, and continue to do, is to talk openly about issues affecting our members. Local 1014 is proud to be part of the long history of fighting for our members and their families as we celebrate our own 70th anniversary this year. We will not be silent and we will boldly take initiative to lead on these issues that are important to our members.
This week, we are letting the Fire Chief rest a bit as we continue to press on some hard work that has strained our relationship, but we have movement in the right direction. One of those issues is our entry level test and recruitment of the best and most capable women in California to join our Department. We are meeting with the Board of Supervisors and the Fire Chief to address our dissatisfaction with the entry level testing process. Work is in progress to move to a standard we can all be proud of and has integrity, recruitment, and seeks the best and brightest of all candidates.
This month, we celebrated African American History and Recognition Month. Local 1014 was so proud to have participated in numerous community activities with the membership and the citizens we serve.
One such event was the African American Fire Fighter Museum Open House with my good friend and our fellow LA County Fire Captain Brent Burton narrating a “Black Fire Fighter History” Lecture. Brent is an amazing speaker and historian and he was joined by retired BC Ron Lawrence as we took a look at the past, present and future of Black Firefighters.
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While we have come a long way, we can always do better in how we approach race and gender issues. We pledge to work with the Board of Supervisors, the citizens we protect and our rich and diverse membership to take a lead role as we not only open up discussions, but take action to ensure our work force is not only the best in the business, but one where every member feels welcomed and respected as we do the work we do.
I would also like to congratulate Johnny Gray III, another friend and well-respected Air Operations Paramedic who has been selected to serve as President of the Stentorians. I look forward to a renewed partnership on issues in common and the support of the Union work.
Let us all take time to remember, reflect, and personally work to make our workplace the best it can be for all. Have a safe and wonderful weekend. We will pick up with some more details on the work in progress next week and go Dodgers! The Season is about to begin—we are going back a third year in a row to win it!
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers and Sisters,
Working Condition Items Taken to the Fire Chief
As you are aware, the Union and the Department have been meeting to discuss several working condition items and issues. The talks have been serious and strained to say the least. The Local 1014 Executive Board has been meeting with the deputies and chief deputies and President Gillotte continues to meet with the Fire Chief and the Board of Supervisors in an attempt to find solutions and action plans to address these issues.
As you have seen via the recent EA’s, the Fire Chief has heard us loud and clear and is moving to address issues and hold the administrative chief officers in charge accountable for their work. We not only want to give credit where credit is due, but also thank the Fire Chief for his actions to begin to tackle the working condition items that are important to our members.
In response to Local 1014’s requests, the Fire Chief has:
- directed a survey on the exhaust evacuation systems in our stations;
- moved Fire Captain Scott Ross to a temporary Lead Peer Captain position to help us build out Behavioral Health;
- filled a Return to Work (RTW) Captain position to get our RTW Office back into full swing handling our work comp claims;
- stopped cold a few unfair disciplinary cases and directed fair discussions on mitigating circumstances and levels of discipline;
- reached an agreement with Local 1014 to reschedule the Operator 1B Class to March details to follow;
- responded back with a RTW Section draft plan and is scheduled to address RTW in a Labor- Management cooperative manner;
- moved forward the actions to test and hire a Department Chief Psychologist for our Behavioral Health Program;
- moved forward a Department-wide analysis of our computer platforms, systems and software with a directive to find a way to have one logon/one password and one screen to link to all if possible.
These are all great starts to the issues we brought to the Fire Chief and we are appreciative of the actions he took to get things moving. We will now track the progress on these subjects as we look to finalize the work product.
We are far from the finish line on these items, and we will continue to press on the recruit entry level exam, the purchase of thermal imagers and the overtime cap. President Gillotte will be meeting at least every two weeks with the Fire Chief to continue the top down management of these critical working condition items and the Executive Board will be working from the Executive Staff level to continue to demand accountability for the results. Stay tuned as we continue to have the difficult conversations and meetings that produce the action we all deserve.
603/604 Negotiations
Following our discussions with the 603/604 bargaining members last week, our Local 1014 Executive Board is working on drafting a proposal and will be scheduling negotiations meetings with the County over the next few weeks.
601/602 Contract
As we said last week, while we work to settle the table at with the County Coalition of Unions (CCU) for our fringe benefits, we are also finalizing the language for our MOU so we can move forward with a Board of Supervisor ratification vote. The language has to be precise and accurate in every modified article of the MOU. It is a lengthy process but one that must be done carefully and thoroughly. We will update you once the Board of Supervisors agendizes the MOU and moves to a vote.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers & Sisters,
Working Conditions Issues Taken to the Fire Chief
As many of you know, the latest management debacle was the cancellation of our Operator 1B Class just two days before the class started. Spots were filled, time was burnt, instructors were set to teach and everyone’s schedule was cleared of family obligations to either teach or attend this important practical engineer skills class until the rug was pulled out from under us.
Members were backed out of spots in cases where members were allowed to withdrawal their benefit time posting—multiple spots for each of the 5 days of class. This of course caused a chain reaction of backouts and refilling of spots. Members lost money and time. Perhaps those in charge have forgotten what it is like to work for a living and balance work and life schedules. They have shown a complete lack of respect for our members.
This incident further solidifies our belief that there is a disconnect between administrative managers and the members and even a disconnect between the managers and the Fire Chief. It is simply unconscionable that the Department would cancel the class knowing full well we are coming out of a recall heavy period. We are working solution to reschedule the class and correct the time and money lost.
We have taken this matter to the Fire Chief as well as a number of other items including: Thermal Imagers, Engine Exhaust Evacuation System Disrepair, Entry Level Testing Standards, Return to Work Issues, Behavioral Health Issues, Organized PT with Sports and Technology Deficits.
Our members work hard for our communities every day and they deserve to have up-to-date technology, competent operations leadership, and the proper tools and equipment to serve our residents efficiently. Some of the top-level administrative managers in our Department are set in pre-1960 mentality with regard to technology and are averse to simple policies that can create efficiencies within our workforce. This is not acceptable and we will not allow them to disregard important working condition items.
We have the eyes and the ears of the Board of Supervisors and the public we serve and we will use those relationships to help motivate the Department to address these issues to the satisfaction of not only the Chief and his Staff, but also Union and the members we represent. Partnership can be achieved but only when both sides are respectful of each other’s’ position and needs.
Our recent meetings with the Department have been strained to say the least, and we will continue to address these issues with a strength and solidarity to get it done for our members. We will be holding the Fire Chief, the Chief Deputies of Operations and Business Operations accountable. We will achieve results using all the tools at our disposal including: negotiations, administrative filings with Civil Service and the Employee Relations Commission, legal challenge and of course political action and legislative advocacy. Enough is enough. Stay tuned for updates as the work begins.
601/602 Negotiations
Local 1014 continues to court a Board of Supervisors (BOS) vote to approve the Tentative Agreement along with other County Unions. As soon as this BOS ratification vote takes place we can begin retro calculations and checks. Also we continue to try and conclude our fringe benefits negotiation as we meet again on 2/20/19. There will be additional salary from the fringe side as well. Stay tuned as we get it done and get the numbers.
603/604 Negotiations
Local 1014 Executive Board Members continued to meet with 603/604 Bargaining Unit members including Dispatchers and Forestry personnel. We met with our Forestry members and discussed their growing needs over the next two years. Our Forestry personnel are responsible for managing our natural resources, brush clearance, and GIS mapping during wildland fires among other responsibilities. As our environment and community needs change, our Forestry personnel must have the resources to meet those changes.
  
We also toured the Dispatch Center to see firsthand the difficult and stressful work our Dispatchers do for our residents. They handle an incredible amount of pressure each day as they help our families through life and death situations and ensure they receive the assistance they need. Our service to the community begins with them and we need to ensure they have the tools they need to continue to provide world-class service to our communities.
Behavioral Health
On Wednesday, Local 1014 President Dave Gillotte, Chair of the California State Task Force on Behavioral Health in the Fire Service, was in Sacramento working with members of the Task Force to move important legislation forward this legislative session that will allow our Peer Support Teams to establish a confidential Peer Support and Crisis Referral Services pilot program for California’s Firefighters and First Responders who have suffered a post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) and are seeking support.
 
Getting our members and members across the state the help and support they need for behavioral health and PTSI is a priority for Local 1014. As we push for greater protections for our members at the state level, we continue to focus on making our LACoFD Peer Program more robust. Take care of each other and please utilize the resources in your stations and www.healingourown.org.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014
Representing over 3200 Firefighters, Paramedics, Dispatchers,
Pilots, Wildland Firefighters, Forestry and Health Haz Mat personnel
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FRIDAY UPDATE
Brothers & Sisters,
Today we said farewell to Brother Michael Shepard who was tragically killed on January 23, 2019.
 
   
President Dave Gillotte and members of the Local 1014 Executive Board were humbled to present the traditional engraved Bible to Michael Shepard’s family at the service. Thank you to all who attended the memorial service today and showed solidarity and support for his family and friends. He will be greatly missed by his wife, four sons, two daughters, and seven grandchildren. Rest in peace Brother. We shall never forget.
603/604 Negotiations
This week, Local 1014 Executive Board Members met with 603/604 Bargaining Unit members to discuss their unique needs. As we fight for a fair and rich contract for our non-safety members, we are reminded of all the hard work they do each and every day for the benefit of our community. As we move forward in the process we will be looking for a deal that reflects the value and the services they provide to the 4 million residents we serve throughout the County of Los Angeles.
Contract Update
As we said last week, while we work to settle the table with the County Coalition of Unions (CCU) for our fringe benefits, we have been temporarily postponed at the Board of Supervisors for the ratification of our 601/602 tentative agreement. We are pushing to settle the fringe bargaining table with added monies to our MOU. We are working as quickly as possible to get the details settled with our ten union partners in the CCU and the County’s Chief Executive Officer.
In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and your Executive Board
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