PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
On Wednesday, August 28, PPOA will host our 23rd annual Pre-Labor Day BBQ for all PPOA members and their significant others. This much-anticipated free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Biscailuz Training Center “grinder” area. A tastefully grilled lunch with all the fixings will be served under the big top and at no cost to PPOA members. PPOA’s annual general membership meeting will be held at approximately 11:30 a.m. Please come out to not only enjoy a delicious meal but also giveaways and hourly drawing prizes, as well as an opportunity to visit the many PPOA vendors who will have plenty of their own freebies and prizes. I hope you will bring co-workers, as together we start our early celebration marking the upcoming Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 2.
PPOA’s Pre-Labor Day BBQ, held annually on the last Wednesday before Labor Day, is a critically important reminder that since 1894, the nationwide holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September is Labor Day. The holiday is a yearly tribute to the invaluable contributions that workers across the United States, California and Los Angeles have made to win better wages, benefits and a voice on the job. Here are some landmark reminders of what working people standing together have won for our great country: Family and Medical Leave Act, pregnancy and parental leave, all breaks at work (including lunch breaks), weekends and paid vacation, sick leave, minimum wage, Social Security, overtime and holiday pay, child labor laws, civil rights, 40-hour work week, military leave, workers’ compensation, Americans With Disabilities Act, employer dental, life and vision insurance, and the Equal Pay Acts of 1963 and 2011!
To our incredible PPOA membership, Labor Day belongs to you and your families as you continue the noble goal of working hard to attain the American dream — the cornerstone of the labor movement — and keep it alive. Today, with dramatic increases in the cost of living, medical insurance premiums and housing costs devouring previously negotiated raises, PPOA members will definitely be reminded that union membership matters as contract negotiations for new salary memorandum of understandings (MOU) will begin as the existing three-year MOUs (2022–2025) expire.
The contract bargaining tables for salaries impacting all PPOA classifications are exclusively negotiated by only one union — PPOA. Our bargaining unit (B/U) negotiation teams collectively bargain with the County of Los Angeles for wages, hours and working conditions that are codified in MOUs for PPOA Bargaining Units 612 (LASD/LADA Sergeants and Lieutenants), 614 (LASD Criminalists/Forensic Identification Specialists, as well as DME), 621 (LASD Crime Analyst, Civilian Investigator/Public Response Dispatcher/Court Services Specialist/Law Enforcement Technician/Custody Assistant/Security Assistant and Security Officer) and 631/632 (DME Investigators and DME Supervising Investigators). All PPOA members have access to their respective MOUs on the PPOA website. Every PPOA member should take the time to familiarize themselves with their classification’s MOU. It is the most important contract a union possesses and the most important reason for union membership.
Additionally, the Fringe Benefit table that directly impacts PPOA is exclusively negotiated by the Coalition of County Unions (CCU), which bargains with the County of Los Angeles for benefits that include the County’s financial contribution to the Choices plans (medical, dental, etc.), the County’s match to the Horizons plan, paid time off, vacation pay, retirement and other negotiated fringe benefits. PPOA is one of the 15 labor unions certified to represent employees of the County, affiliated with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and signatories to the Fringe Benefit MOU between the CCU and the County of Los Angeles. Another poignant reminder of why union membership matters: The CCU will also begin coalition bargaining as the existing three-year MOU (2022–2025) expires. PPOA members can also access the Fringe Benefit contract on the PPOA website.
On Monday, September 2, as we celebrate America’s 130th Labor Day, please remember that your union membership ensures that PPOA continues its 73-year dedicated commitment to the labor movement as we continue our “Tradition of Success” in fighting for your pay, benefits, safety, representation and working conditions. Happy Labor Day!