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Brothers & Sisters,
Los Angeles County Firefighters IAFF Local 1014 joins our brothers and sisters in Labor as we remember and celebrate the great work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King had vision for racial equality, solidarity and unity for all blue collar workers through better labor and working conditions with good jobs and benefits for all.
We take this weekend to not only remember Dr. King, but to remind ourselves that every day we must work to remember the past and move to a future of fairness, love and equity for all especially the workers of LA County. We join the LA Federation of Labor and our County workforce in a day of work to serve our communities and help others.
Local 1014 will join other Fire Unions and worker Unions for both the private and public sectors in a breakfast commemorating Dr. Kings work, and on Monday the official holiday we will be in force with LA County and LA City Firefighters in the Kingdom Day Parade in South LA. See details here.
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Today, US Navy Officer and son of retired (Act) Deputy Fire Chief Derek Alkonis was released from US Federal Detention Center and is home with his family after over 500 days of unjust imprisonment. The US Parole commission ordered the full parole and immediate release with no supervision.
We are grateful for all efforts and the love and solidarity shown the Alkonis family during this amazingly challenging time. Ridge served 18 months of unjust imprisonment, with the remaining time spent in downtown LA at the federal detention center while details were worked on for this international issue between Japan and the US Navy.
There will be much to follow up on in the weeks and months to come. Ridge and his family deserve their private time to be together and begin their journey going forward. The Alkonis family has been stalwart and strong in all they have endured and they have done to bring Ridge home. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. |
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Fire Chief / Union Meeting Update
The Fire Chief has made his decision on the proposed 48/96 shift trial proposal. He is not supportive of the trial at this time. The Fire Chief will speak to the membership directly in a message to everyone to follow in the coming week and Local 1014 will address those remarks.
We have related to the Chief our disappointment and disagreement with his decision. Without the Fire Chief’s support we cannot attain a trail with BOS approval at this time. We will not adversely fight for the Trial against the Fire Chief's position. We are in the middle of a funding effort with the LA County Fire Safety Measure that will generate nearly $150 million. We will not push on this proposal until after the November 2024 ballot date.
Simultaneously we also addressed the Fire Chief’s proposal to implement Paramedic Assessment Engines at every squad house, and similarly we will not be negotiating or working to implement this proposal until after the ballot initiative is complete as well. We believe this is a missed opportunity for both the Department and the Union to work together to implement both programs simultaneously. We respectfully agreed to disagree on this issue while addressing many pressing items of concern that we are jointly working. Protection of 4 dayers and other staffing solutions currently in play and in motion will continue to be the focus of the Labor Management Staffing Committee work. Our surveys indicate the protection of 4 dayers and ability to get days off and have full staffing for work life balance have been beneficial and a priority to our membership and our families. We will continue to track hiring and promoting and the injury vacancies to ensure progress continues to achieve the balance we have so desperately needed. Chief Marrone ensured his commitment to this as well in our meeting.
FFT - FSA Drill Tower Issue
We also met with the Fire Chief and his staff to work on resolving the FSA hiring item we took up as an unfair labor charge and legal matter with regard to the FFT hired FSAs who were left behind on the old list. Fast forward to today, the Fire Chief worked with us to reinstate the hiring list and all FSAs received conditional job offers.
We now are working by agreement to place these 55 remaining FSAs into set drill towers and also a lot a set number of “Internal Promotional Exam” spots in each tower with 10-12 for FSAs and up to 15 IP spots total as a minimum in perpetuity. We are working to take our tentative agreement and work it into a final agreement with formal codification. In addition we came to an agreement on oral selection interviews for our entry level exams.
It has been a long time coming, and in person interviews are coming back. There are a few things to work out, and this is a step in the right direction to ensure a front and entry level testing system with recruitment and tower standards that ensure quality of candidate and professionalism and passion to match our world class standards. Thank you to Chief Marrone and Julia Kim for working with us on this ongoing project.
Finally we worked on the budget, we have improved our budget situation to ensure year three of our raise is funded and also our budget for apparatus and equipment, stations and staffing and equipment are in place. We are gathering signatures needed to qualify the ballot measure as our first step. Stay tuned for additional information as we progress with the project.
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As many of you know, on Christmas Eve, one of our Local 1014 Fire Families suffered an unimaginable loss. It is with a heavy heart that we share this message today. We send our thoughts and prayers to the Zimmerman family as we mourn the loss of Brother Craig Zimmerman. Please consider donating to the GoFundMe for the family as they recover and rebuild. |
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LACOFD's Brother Sagely Honored as Pilot of the Year!
Congratulations to LACoFD Senior Pilot Mike Sagely for being selected as the recipient of the Helicopter Association International (HAI) Salute to Excellence Pilot of the Year Award! The award recognizes an outstanding single feat performed by a helicopter pilot or UAS aircraft pilot during the past three years or for extraordinary professionalism over time. It will be presented Feb. 26, 2024 at HAI HELI-EXPO 2024 in Anaheim, California.
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Showing up for our Fire Family
Bobby Quiroz Jr., son of Brother Robert Quiroz (brother of Firefighter Max Quiroz, and nephew of Retired Brother John Quiroz) passed away unexpectedly on Saturday December 9th at the age of 31 was honored by LA County Fire and Oxnard Fire. Both Departments show up in solidarity and love as we celebrated his life. During difficult times, our solidarity and our fire family is never more important.
Thank you to the crews of Fire Stations 170, Fire Station 116, Fire Station 16, Fire Station 13, Fire Station 147, Camp 8 and all crews who stood alongside the Quiroz family. Also thank you to Fire Chief Alexander Hamilton, a long time Peer Support friend to Local 1014, Oxnard Firefighters Local 1684 and their membership. May the Quiroz family find peace and love in the beginning of this new year. |
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In Solidarity,
President Dave Gillotte and the Local 1014 Executive Board |
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