"All life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
- Rev. Martin Luther King
UNION SPONSORS LEGISLATION FOR HOUSING AUTHORITY POLICE
Recently, Mike Duffy, President of the Los Angeles Housing Authority Police contacted Local 777 Representative Paul Bechely to ask if it might be possible to sponsor legislation that could remedy an injustice that had been taking place for a long, long time.
It seems that there are only two Housing Authorities - Los Angeles and Oakland - where the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) excludes police officers from receiving funding for training from the Peace Officers' Training Fund. In the 1997-98 Fiscal Year, POST provided approximately $648 per officer in training reimbursement. These monies are generated from fines and forfeitures and while Los Angeles has been contributing for many years they have not been allowed to receive anything back in training reimbursement!
LIUNA Sacramento Legislative advocate Robert Pernell was contacted to help. He immediately got busy, really playing the key leadership role throughout the process, and was able to get Assembly Member Carl Washington to sponsor the legislation-and AB 1336 was born!
The first hurdle was introducing the Bill to the Public Safety Committee, which met on April 20 to hear the Bill. Local 777 decided to invite the Housing Authority Police Chief and POA President from Oakland to get involved, as they would benefit as well. They were grateful for Local 777's leadership on this and were thrilled to get involved.
The Bill cleared the Safety Committee and the next hurdle was the Appropriations Committee, which has to vote on any bill where an expenditure of funds is involved. They voted to support the Bill on May 12.
As we go to press we have just been informed that our Bill has just cleared the floor of the Assembly by a 54-9 vote! We needed 54 votes (two-thirds) because it is an Appropriations Bill (costing money) and we just made it! Now it is on to the Senate…stay tuned!
By the way, the next time a co-worker has to be told why it is so important to register and to vote, feel free to use this story as an example!
 are Paul Bechely and Fred Lowe; Oakland Housing Authority Chief of Police Mike Holland ; Los Angeles Housing Authority Chief of Police Ray Palacios; Oakland POA President Jerry Coats; Mike Duffy, Local 777 Housing Authority POA President; and, Robert Pernell, LIU |
STEWARD TRAINING IN RIVERSIDE IS A BIG SUCCESS!
Everybody wanted the training but how many would be willing to give up the two Saturdays on February 27 and March 13? Forty-seven Riverside County employees - that's how many - took advantage of this excellent training opportunity! This same training will be offered on June 19 and 26 at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel for the greater Los Angeles area membership.
 recently in Riverside |
Offered for college credit by the Labor Center at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, the course is taught by prominent arbitrator Lou Zigman, Esq. Local 777 will be paying the tuition, cost of textbook, and providing lunch for all members wishing to attend.
Please call the Los Angeles office at (213) 380-6678 to R.S.V.P. and for more information.
Laura Baker, officially a Lead Hospital Supply Technician in Riverside County Regional Medical Center's Operating Room (OR), recently won more than $3,000 in back pay for working out of class as an OR Storekeeper for the past five years! She and her UPEC representative, Linda Jefferson, presented persuasive evidence that the department had Ms. Baker perform higher level duties.
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"I just wish she had come to us earlier," said Jefferson. "The County ordered her department to pay her for three of the five years and to subtract 480 hours per calendar year." The decision is based on past precedent and the argument that employees have a responsibility to file these claims in a timely fashion.
"It's very important that UPEC members understand what they can and should do to protect their rights," continued Jefferson. "When in doubt, call your union so that we can help you protect your interests."
In July 1997, Louis Barnett lost his foot as the result of a tragic accident. Even longer than his recovery from his injury has been his fight to regain his job. Mr. Barnett, a ten-year veteran Boiler Mechanic for Riverside County's hospital, was released without any restrictions to return to his job in January of 1998.
 Louis Barnett |
Management, however, remained unconvinced. The Human Resources staff for the Health Services Agency placed Mr. Barnett on paid administrative leave.
Seven months later he was asked to attend a meeting to discuss accepting a medical retirement or face termination! Mr. Barnett made sure his union representative was with him. The Union appealed to HSA Director Ken Cohen.
The Union argued that Mr. Barnett had never received a negative medical opinion on his ability to do his work and that management's concern that he might hurt him-self in an emergency was unsubstantiated.
Finally, Mr. Barnett's department sent him for an objective second opinion. The doctor agreed with Mr. Barnett's physician that he was perfectly fit to do his job. The County had no choice but to allow him to return. Congratulations and welcome back!
The UPEC Riverside Office now offers free notary public services as well as providing up to twenty-five free copies-by appointment only.
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Please call Teresa Moreno at (909) 682-4590 for further information or to schedule an appointment.
Back in March of 1997, five DPSS Eligibility Technicians (ET) filed a grievance for being compelled to provide bilingual services to clients-even though the employees were not designated as "bilingual" by the County or their Department. The union contended that this violated the MOU's provision, "An employee not receiving bilingual compensation shall not be expected to perform bilingual services."
"These ET's have an awesome responsibility. They must explain to clients what their rights and responsibilities are when seeking public assistance," said Business Manager Fred Lowe. "Under the best of circumstances, ensuring that you've met that duty to your Department and the client can be intensely stressful. Providing it in a foreign language in which you're not proficient and under threat of insubordination is more than anyone should have to endure."
The grievance had been winding its way through the grievance procedure, changes in union representation and departmental personnel. The UPEC Labor-Management Committee agreed that it was an important topic to address.
Neither the Union nor the County was confident a workable solution to this type of issue could be reached through arbitration. Instead, a subcommittee began work on a resolution.
The subcommittee drafted a Joint Resolution, unanimously approved by the Labor-Management Committee, and accepted by DPSS and the grievants. The resolution calls for the Department to ensure that no eligibility technician will be required to perform any services for clients who do not speak a language in which the ET is proficient. In addition, the subcommittee will continue to monitor the situation and can be called upon to resolve any related issues expeditiously.
 and Sandi Farrell |
"Our members, particularly Sandi Farrell, Pat Jones, and Rosie Ogden, have hung in there on this important issue. "They've weathered an incredible storm in an effort to make sure no other eligibility technician has to go through this type of stress," said UPEC representative Kirsty Burkhart. "We owe them a debt of gratitude for their efforts."
The Joint Resolution also recommends possible solutions for emergency situations-those times when the Department is short translators and/or interpreters.
At the Annual Dispatchers Appreciation Banquet sponsored by the California Public-Safety Radio Association on April 15 Local 777 City of Pasadena Police Department member Michelle Bowen received the "Outstanding Performance-Special Recognition" award for saving a citizen's life.
Michelle was working on December 15, 1998, when she answered a call from a man named Richard asking for help in locating someone named Cassanova in Connecticut. Richard was Cassanova's AA sponsor, and had called Richard in a disoriented manner indicating he was going to take a lot of pills. Richard was surprised to hear from Cassanova as they had not been in contact for some time, and was unable to get any information on his location except that he was calling from Connecticut.
 Award Winner |
Michelle exhausted many avenues and imaginative methods and, after establishing a possible address contacted the Southington Police Department.
They found the person they were looking for in an intoxicated state with a stack of Valium on the coffee table... Congratulations, Michelle!
Local 777 Representative Betty Anderson reports that the City of Alhambra's non-sworn Police employees have begun negotiations for a new Memorandum of Understanding.
Local 777 was honored recently by being invited to attend an Executive Institute for Labor-Management Cooperation for State and Local Government employees at the Kennedy School at Harvard University.
The Conference took place on April 28-May 1, and the Union was asked to bring a management team member from their Labor-Management Committee.
There were many interesting speakers, including a Union President and the Mayor of Detroit. Concrete examples were provided from public agencies where Labor-Management cooperation has really made a difference. Particularly instructive were examples from the City of Portland, and state employees in Ohio and Wisconsin.
 Director Ron Komers; Local 777 Representatives, Betty Anderson, Carol Macera, and Business Manager Fred Lowe. Also attending was City of Pasadena Water and Power Department Head Rufus Hightower |
The examples presented showed that by working together both sides can better identify better ways of delivering services to the public. In most examples presented the public agency then experienced a reduction of expenditures, which also reduced the pressures of privatization.
For Labor-Management cooperation to work both sides have to be willing to work collaboratively in a problem solving way and, most importantly, have to believe that the public agency will be much better off through this approach…
It was the dream of Chapter President Linda Cox for many, many years. The dream became reality in April when the Pasadena City Council approved an Agency Shop agreement for the PACTE/LIUNA Local 777 bargaining unit. This provision in the Memorandum of Understanding will mean the non-members, as a condition of continued employment, will finally have to pay their fair share, either by becoming union members or by paying fair-share fees.
As a result of the recent tragedy in Colorado there has been an increased national focus on the media and its role in promoting violence.
Coming on the heels of this is a May 4, Los Angeles Times article discussing a recent study that found that, with the exception of teachers and police officers, public employees are "generally portrayed unfavorably on prime-time television series-a situation that has been getting worse."
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Looking at 1,234 episodes of network TV series between 1955 and 1998 the study done by the Center for Media and Public Affairs found that the depiction of legal and political institutions over the past two decades has changed from overwhelmingly positive to a largely negative view "in which the system is corrupt and its employees appear to operate either out of self-interest or on behalf of special-interest groups."
The problem with all of this is that if people believe that government and its employees are corrupt support for public services by public employees diminishes. That is exactly what is happening...
The media needs to be held accountable for the images it is creating. What has been passing as "entertainment" is instead a series of body blows that undermine the sense of civic responsibility that must exist and be encouraged among all citizens if we are to maintain a democratic society....
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The Dates For This Year's Parties
Saturday, December 4, 1999 Fantasy Springs Casino Triple Crown Room Indio In Los Angeles |