PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
On Wednesday, August 27, PPOA will have the honor of hosting our 24th annual Pre-Labor Day BBQ and annual General Membership Meeting. This traditional salute to the amazing members of PPOA and their significant others will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Training Academy and Regional Services (S.T.A.R.S.) Center, 11515 S. Colima Road, Whittier. (Please note: Due to the tragedy at the Biscailuz Training Center last month, this year’s BBQ and General Membership Meeting will be held at the S.T.A.R.S. Center. Same date, same time, same BBQ food and activities. Just a change in location.)
A summer-ending grilled menu of freshly prepared chow with all the fixings will be served under the big top and at no cost to PPOA members. The annual general membership meeting will be held at approximately 11:30 a.m. In addition to an incredibly tasty meal, you will also experience hourly drawings and free giveaways, as well as an opportunity to visit the many vendors who are also quite generous with their own freebies and prizes. I encourage you to carpool down with your PPOA colleagues to S.T.A.R.S. Center, as we collectively start our early celebration marking the upcoming Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 1.
I would respectfully ask each of our PPOA members to reflect on the significance of Labor Day, especially during this year in which each of you will experience one of the historical cornerstones of the labor movement: collective bargaining.
For PPOA history buffs, the governor, who was a union president (twice), signed into law the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), which gave California city and county public employees collective bargaining rights in 1968. California’s governor that year was Ronald Reagan, who was elected to his first term in 1966.
Collective bargaining is the process in which working people, through their recognized bargaining unions, negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours and other mandatory subjects of bargaining. Indeed, through collective bargaining, working people in unions have higher wages, better benefits and safer workplaces.
The MMBA governs the labor-management relations in California local government, including cities, counties and most special districts. The MMBA provides that the governing body of a public agency shall meet and confer in good faith on wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations (i.e., unions or bargaining units). The MMBA defines meeting and conferring in good faith as having the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue for a reasonable period of time in order to freely exchange information, opinions and proposals and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation.
The scope of representation includes all matters related to employment conditions and employer–employee relations, including, but not limited to, wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. 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 respective Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) for PPOA B/Us 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 Specialists/Law Enforcement Technician/Custody Assistant/Security Assistant and Security Officer) and 631/632 (DME Investigators and DME Supervising Investigators). PPOA will begin collective bargaining for B/U 621 in August. All B/Us remain protected by their existing MOUs, regardless if their contract has expired (B/U 612 on January 31 and B/U 621 on March 31) or not (B/Us 614, 631 and 632 on September 30).
As our entire union knows, B/U 612 has been and continues (since September 18, 2024) to be battling the County for a fair and equitable contract that reflects what should be the number one priority for the County: the recruitment and retention of its sworn workforce. Thankfully, labor’s ability to secure collective bargaining rights 57 years ago allows PPOA the legal ability to continue good-faith bargaining with the County. Nonetheless, rightful frustration of the desired progress made at the bargaining table was expressed to our B/U 612 members by President Steve Johnson after the 18th contract bargaining meeting on July 2, 2025. I encourage all PPOA members to read his message, as your respective B/Us will soon be negotiating contracts for successor MOUs that have expired or are about to expire. President Johnson and PPOA will fervently demand the same commitment from the County when our four remaining B/Us begin collective bargaining for fair and equitable contracts.
On Monday, September 1, as we celebrate America’s 131st Labor Day, please take a moment to remember, and never forget, the rich history of the labor movement in our country, state and county that has and continues to ensure the rights and protections for the American worker. Happy Labor Day!