FROM THE DESK OF PRESIDENT FORD
Hello Sisters and Brothers,
UPDATE ON PROGRESS WE ARE MAKING
ADD ADDITIONAL ATTORNEYS TO OUR LOCAL 685 LEGAL TEAM
I would like to say that we have two of the best attorneys any Union can ask for: Mr. Lizardo who deals mostly with discipline cases and Mr. Washington, who deals mostly with departmental issues. They are good at what they do.
However, with discipline on the rise, officers being walked out, officers being placed under investigation, officers being threaten with intent to discharge, officers being sent home on administrative leave, and so on, we need to step up our legal team and bring in some help. The Executive Board and the membership have voted to hire one paralegal and explore hiring an additional attorney or a law firm. This is long overdue. More information on this is soon to come. Please note, this is going to happen.
STAFFING
The department is hiring new DSOs and GSNs. This is ongoing.
STABILIZATION OF LOS PADRINOS
This is an easy fix, and I don’t understand why it’s taking the department so long to act on it. No one wants us to use the word consequences. So, moving forward we will use words like, ACCOUNTABILITY, CORRECTIVE ACTION, CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN, etc. Whatever word we use, it simply means youth must be held accountable for extreme negative behavior. For example, fighting, gang banging, assaults on officers, teachers, support staff, and destroying County property are examples of extreme negative behavior. We cannot just allow this kind of stuff to go on without addressing it.
We are currently addressing this issue with management, our attorneys, the Board of Supervisors, and the Probation Oversight Commission. It is our goal to bring back law and order to LP. The youth and employees should feel safe in the facilities. By working together, we are going to get there. Safety is a top priority, and the Local 685 Executive Board will get us there with reasonable resources that makes sense.
MEETING WITH BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
As president, it is my job to meet with those who make decisions over our lives as County employees. On September 11, I met with Supervisor Holly Mitchel’s Chief of Staff and her team. Accompanying me was attorney Don Washington and DPO2 Diane Bullock, AB 109 Antelope Valley Area Office. This was a meet and greet. This meeting was the first of many to come. We discussed staffing, safety, deployment, and other related issues in probation. I left the meeting with the feeling that we accomplished a lot. We are going to see some progress in the months to come. I will be meeting with another Member of the Board of Supervisors soon. I will ask that attorney Don Washington and Dianne Bullock accompany me again. I was so proud of DPO Bullock. Her presentation to Supervisor Mitchell’s team was phenomenal. She laid it all out about deployment, reassignment, and represented the DPO 2s well. Kudos to DPO Bullock.
CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN
We are currently working on this. So far, we are reviewing what we already have as directives that we don’t use anymore. For example, when a youth destroys County property, the parent is sent a bill. A meeting with the parent and the youth about his/her behavior, opening up a hope center at both LP and Barry J, contacting the youth’s attorney, court filings like a 777 or a 1111 (information to the courts) modified program, and other suggestions. We are working on this and will meet and confer with the department on other suggestions very soon. We must have law, order, and accountability at LP and Barry J to be successful in our rehabilitative efforts.
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETINGS
Our Union leadership has two Executive Board meetings a month. We meet at the beginning of the month and at the end of the month. We are making changes to the structure of these meetings. At the first meeting we will discuss departmental and facility concerns and how they affect the membership. At the second meeting, we will plan our method of action on how to deal with those concerns such as: do they require a grievance, a meeting with a supervisor or director, or do we take more aggressive measures. We are addressing issues with faster results.
STEWARDS TRAINING
For our current stewards and new stewards, we will be having training at our stewards meeting, which is at the end of each month. We will also be offering training on some Saturdays and also with AFSCME International and District Council 36. I want to make sure all of our stewards are well equipped to handle grievances, investigative interviews, skelly hearings, etc. We are short on staff in this area. Those of you who have already signed up to be a steward, you will be receiving a call soon.
MEET AND CONFERS
A meet and confer is a meeting with the Executive Board and the department. When the department intends to make changes in work conditions, work assignments etc., they meet with the Executive Board and go over their plans to change working conditions and the Executive Board usually gives in-put and either sign off or not sign off on the change. This doesn’t always happen, but it should.
What I am now implementing is that the Executive Board gets input on this change from the employees that this change will affect. For example, let’s say the department plans to change the working conditions at LP. They will meet and confer with the Executive Board and present their intentions. We will review their intent and either sign off or not sign off. The department has the right to move forward anyway but the Executive Board still has a right to give input.
What I am now implementing is to get input from the employees who will be affected by this change and present those concerns to the department for consideration. Another example, in 2016 or 2017, I think it was, it may have been 2019, the Union introduced a pilot program at Barry J to have some units on a camp-like schedule. After a survey was completed by the employees at Barry J, some members liked the idea, but others wanted to remain on a traditional eight-hour workday. When we met with the department and shared the concerns of the employees, the department considered the needs of the employees and decided to keep several units as a traditional eight-hour workday. There are changes to come and as an Executive Board we will survey the membership for your input. Remember this: sometimes the department will move on their idea anyway without a meet and confer and we have to deal with that as it happens.
FACILITY VISITS
This isn’t anything new for me. Our employee outreach coordinator, Cookie Lommel, and I will be visiting facilities in the weeks to come. We will come to observe working conditions. This will give us an opportunity to see what’s going on or not going on in your workspace. This will help the Executive Board communicate with the department about what the needs are. I understand some of you are upset, but please, when we come, positive energy only.
SAFETY RETIREMENT COMMITTEE
This committee will start meeting in October. Vice President Chambers will lead this committee and will be contacting those of you who are on the committee soon.
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