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On behalf of your Local 1014 Executive Board, the Local 1014 Health and Welfare Trustees, and our Local 1014 Staff, we would like to wish you a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
In the firehouse and our worksites, our personnel is the best in the business, and firefighters flock to LA County to join our membership to be a part of our team. We provide the highest level of service to our 4 million residents throughout unincorporated LA County and our 60 contract cities and our members are the backbone of that service.
It is an honor to serve and protect the citizens of Los Angeles County and we will always be and grateful for the strong brotherhood we have in Local 1014. We hope that this holiday weekend, you enjoy your families, the bounty of food at your table, and your many blessings.
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Finally, on this holiday and every other, please take a minute to keep the 1014 families of our fallen in your thoughts. We shall never forget. If you know them, reach out. A hello text, phone call, or a social media message can let them know we will never forget.
Holidays can be difficult for many of us, especially as we see calls go up and are away from our families. Remember for those who need support and feel the need to talk with someone, please reach out to our Peer Support Team. You can also find more resources at HealingOurOwn.org.
On behalf of the dedicated members of the Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014, we would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and send special thoughts and prayers to those serving in our military abroad and to those serving in our Fire Stations this holiday.
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UNION UPDATE
While we have much to be thankful for, we also are keeping the work and the full court press on with regard to some critical issues facing our collective membership. The Fire Chief has been in the seat for an entire year plus now, with the support and work of all to help with the much-needed change in leadership to get our department moving back to full and peak performance. We have worked hard to negotiate and move the department on many issues including our contract, staffing fixes, and hiring and promoting on schedule. We are working side by side with the Department and the County to restore our budget to ensure our future is bright. As we head into Thanksgiving weekend, we also have continued to push on the following issues with the Department and they are important.
48/96 TRIAL SHIFT SCHEDULE
We continue to press on the Fire Chief to embrace the trial our members in the majority would like to try. Over the past few weeks, we have given the Chief all the data and information he needed to alleviate his final concerns on sentinel event staffing, and all other logistical issues with auditor-controller and payroll have been handled; the policy issues for staffing and other such negotiated items have been addressed with temporary agreements to function on a 48/96 schedule. We have communicated to the Chief that, at this time, we need his support to move this forward in 2024. While we reserve the right to make this a campaign with the BOS and the Public, now is not that time, and his partnership and collaboration are not only necessary to move forward but critical and key to a positive leadership approach to evaluate and accurately measure the success or lack thereof in a trial.
In addition to the previous letter we sent the Chief calling for the trial, we also included this article, which contains an independent consulting firm, JVA Consulting, LLC, report on 48/96 with data from firefighters and firefighter families as well as sleep issues and job satisfaction issues both at work and at home. This well-written, data-based paper directly highlights what we have conveyed to the Fire Chief and confirms our IAFF evaluations nationally and even into Canada now about Firefighters and their families wanting a schedule that more properly segregates “work shifts” and “off-duty home time” for an effective separation of work and home life. These principles are all supported in behavioral health work with peer support and clinician work with our own members and their families.
We have coupled the TRIAL with getting our injury staffing back to below 200 members off duty, which will give an accurate “Normal Staffing Patterns” evaluation of the 48/96 hour schedule and also will save the department money by getting folks back to work and will reduce overtime and sick leave injury leave use also benefitting staffing and getting benefit days off for our members. A win–win for all.
We spoke with the Fire Chief, who is challenged by his own thoughts on the schedule and has been pressed with good data, facts, and experience with Sacramento and Orange County as the two largest departments with great success in his evaluation. Change is scary and challenging at times, and President Gillotte implored the Fire Chief to be brave, be a leader who leads from the front, and give this a try. The numbers don’t lie, and this will improve the working conditions and the overall job satisfaction and mental makeup of our members while improving the recruitment of the most motivated and progressive firefighter candidates.
He has pledged to review the material and give it a last look, as he has diligently been doing the last few weeks, and give us an answer after the Thanksgiving Holiday. We look forward to his consideration and humbly and respectfully seek his partnership. We will ensure his answer and our direction following his decision will be published and conveyed to all members. We have asked him to speak directly to the members after we speak on the issue. The only thing left is the courage of the Fire Chief to give it a try and potentially make history while improving the leaves of the men and women of the LA County Fire Department. |
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| Finally, here's an important reminder to get your catch-up contributions in! If you need assistance, don't hesitate to get in touch with the County Service Center for Horizons, and they’ll set you up. |
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In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board |
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