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Brothers and Sisters,
This weekend marks another “Labor Day Weekend,” and while some of our members will be on the front lines and others enjoying a hard-fought holiday, your Union, along with other craft and trade unions, will unite to give recognition to Labor Day by marching and rallying in solidarity of all workers and the victories we have earned, and the battles we have fought, and the issues we battle today.
Locally, at the state and federal level, Local 1014 has been a part of labor's work on behalf of our members to secure wages, hours, and benefits, including cancer presumption, Peer Support, PTSI protections, health and safety funding, paid holidays, and more. Our wages and benefits are some of the richest in the nation. While earned based on our hard and dangerous work, they are also earned by joining with our Labor partners in solidarity with political action and legislative advocacy to make them a reality.
Once again this year, we join all of our Labor partners in not only celebrating our work in labor, but also standing with those in current battles such as SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild, who work on behalf of their members, and who we stand in solidarity as they work to get their contracts done. We are going to convene in Wilmington as we do every year to march with our brothers and sisters from all Unions as they have stood in solidarity with us and recognize what Labor Day is really all about.
Join us on Monday, have some fun, eat some good food, and get to know others in LA County who work hard to serve our communities!
Please remember to enjoy this Labor Day weekend responsibly and safely. Dont drink and drive! Lyft, Uber, cab or designated drivers, and Public Transportation will protect you and your family and protect your job. Get a place to stay and or make arrangements to let time be your friend when drinking alcohol. Also, remember we have a robust and amazing peer support team and other resources should you find the holiday weekend pressing on you.
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Local 1014 / LACoFD - Wildfire Respiratory Protection Project
This week, Local 1014, in partnership with the Department, continued on the journey to make a wildfire respiratory device and policy a reality to better protect not only our members in the wildland-urban interface and on the fire line but also wildfire firefighters and hotshots nationally. Wildfire smoke has long since been looked at as an exposure hazard that has had harmful effects on our members but has never been studied.
Chief Albert Yanosagawa and Dr. Mike Wilson of NIOSH and OSHA are co-chairing the state committee to deal with this issue and bring data collection, funding, labs, manufacturers, and our members together to develop wildfire respirators and policies when combatting wildfires.
President Gillotte was selected to serve on the committee for the California Professional Firefighters along with other team members from Cal Fire, the United States Forest Service, Cal Chiefs, NIOSH, and OSHA. Chief Yanisagawa, a talent from our Department, has done an expert job corralling all the team members to get us to where we are now. The manufacturers are working with our input and direction in the development and prototypes of lightweight respiratory protective devices. The challenge to provide cost-effective respiratory protection that is lightweight and can be integrated into our work has been tackled, and we are getting closer to something that will eventually be on the market. We are also tackling working on NIOSH and OSHA better policies instead of cumbersome mandates and or loosely fitted policies, both of which will not work to protect our members while allowing them to do their work.
Thank you to the engine companies and crews who descended on Del Valle Training Center during the peak heat to don the devices and put them through rigorous trials and tests, and provide feedback through app data collection so we can rate and evaluate the units from the user's perspective. Hose lay evolutions, hand tool evolutions, and chainsaw evolutions were conducted, with each crew trying every device and manufacture. The units include APR and PAPR units in various configurations, and issues like weight, battery time, filtration, and more were in play. Also Dr. Derek Urwin PHD engineer at 170’s and our amazing Cancer research and data analyst was on hand to help with monitoring and collecting our trial's work.
We look forward to the ongoing work coming together with a shared vision of what respiratory protection while on wildland fires might look like. Options from SCBA to these new devices and more with monitoring and simple CO recognition tools to put our members in as safe a place as possible with tools to protect them when it gets heavy. |
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STATE POLITICAL ACTION UPDATE
Local 1014 Joined Unions from LA City Fire, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Cal Fire to continue our process of vetting and interviewing candidates for State Assembly seats in our shared jurisdictions.
Thank you to UFLAC 112 and brother Freddy Escobar for hosting the Locals for a grueling day of questions and answers on our issues including workers' compensation, wall time, EMS staffing, pensions, and more.
This is an ongoing process that will continue long into the election cycle as we try and gain consensus and solidarity in our endorsements and support for candidates in partnership with our other brother and sister firefighters from throughout the State of California. As a leader in the state, Local 1014 will unabashedly and powerfully make sure our voice, our membership, and our Department is always represented in state politics every bit as much as in local and federal politics. This is how we shape our profession and continue to protect our families and it is one of the most important thing we do to protect our future.
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Reminder of Rights!!
Unfortunately as of late the Department has been coming down with more discipline. This initial discipline had been heavy handed and unnecessary in many cases. As a reminder one of the many things your Union board does for its members is representation.
If approached by management or someone from the Department on a matter that seems odd. Stop them, and ask “Can this lead to discipline?” If the answer is yes, immediately ask for Union representation.
Please see the link below as a reminder of all your rights as a FBOR protected employee. These are also available in your station on the 1014 Union posters. We value you and your membership help us help you by reviewing your rights. |
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LACOFD CENTENNIAL YEARBOOK
As we celebrate the Department’s historic 100th anniversary in 2023, the Yearbook Committee has extended the deadline for Department and retired personnel to purchase a Centennial Yearbook. A preview of the Centennial Yearbook cover can be found in the attachment. Centennial Yearbooks are available to all personnel to purchase at their own expense on the LA County Fire Foundation Store webpage.
This is a profound benchmark in our history, as we celebrate our legacy in the fire service as we pay tribute to the many generations of team members who have proudly served with honor and bravery and paved the way for the next 100 years in the Department’s history. behalf of our Department and our members who boldly serve our communities. |
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REMINDER TODAY IS THE LAST DAY: We are calling on local artists and those in our fire family to submit proposals for a permanent art installation to be installed at Station 81. This art installation is meant to not only provide a remembrance site for our Brother Tory Carlon, but also provide a place of healing for those most impacted by this incident and a reminder of the importance of our Fire Family and behavioral health in the fire service.
The art project will be installed at LACoFD Station 81 in Agua Dulce. The project must provide 1) a memorial and remembrance for Brother Tory Carlon, 2) emphasize the importance of our Fire Family and 3) provide a reflective space that emphasizes the importance of behavioral health in the fire service.
While we will be accepting submissions from the local community, we will give preference to members of our Fire Family who submit projects.
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In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board |
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