And the Winners Are ... (2024 OCEA President's Awardees Inside!)
Each year, OCEA’s Board of Directors and Staff celebrate OCEA’s Stewards with an end-of-the-year awards ceremony to honor their collective achievements and to recognize outstanding individuals who stepped up in big ways for their co-workers and the union.
In recent years, we’ve celebrated historic wins with a vision that set the stage for progress. In 2024, that vision continues to become reality as we turned advocacy into action, challenges into opportunities, and solidarity into strength.
We have emerged from the darkest days of the pandemic and reconnected with each other, which has created significant strides for workers. We’ve shown that the labor movement is resilient, determined, and focused on what matters most—our members and their families.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, OCEA wants to express our gratitude for our incredible Stewards by simply saying—WE ARE THANKFUL FOR ALL WHO VOLUNTEERED THEIR TIME TO OCEA AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT in 2024.
Below are the winners of the 2024 OCEA President’s Award, which recognizes OCEA Stewards who demonstrate outstanding service and dedication to their fellow OCEA members. To properly recognize the winners, we are announcing them and highlighting their accomplishments before the award ceremony:
- Michelle Arnold | Yorba Linda Employees Association
Michelle joined the YLEA Board this year and was immediately thrown into her first round of negotiations. Michelle's knowledge of finance proved extremely valuable at the table, as she was able to break down the budget and provide insight regarding our proposals. She also showed up to every meeting with a fun fit, contagious smile, and a giant bag of snacks.
- Waldo Barela | Santa Ana Management Association
Waldo is a dedicated union member who recently became SAMA president. Since taking on the role, Waldo has worked to reorganize the Board, lead negotiations, and bring more people into the union. He continues to be an effective communicator and advocate on behalf of the SAMA membership.
- Kade Boisseranc | San Clemente City Employees Association
Kade, SCCEA's current President and a long-term Board member, led his Board and members through significant fiscal challenges and anti-labor City leadership. Under his leadership, SCCEA added an animal services bargaining unit, navigated complex labor representation, sponsored blood drives, and strengthened labor-management bonds. Kade recently secured a four-year contract with significant gains and is preparing his Board to negotiate the animal services successor MOU.
- Carrie Brill | San Clemente City Employees Association
Carrie joined the SCCEA Board two years ago. She works as an Aquatics Supervisor and brings a unique perspective to the Board when dealing with labor-management matters. Carrie advocates earnestly for members and relies on her experience and insights to make pragmatic, member-centric decisions. Carrie served as a member of the SCCEA Negotiations Team and was recently elected to serve as the SCCEA Vice President.
- Shannon Captain | Social Services Agency
Shannon is an unsung hero of SSA’s In Home Supportive Services division! Her voice is a constant presence on our IHSS labor management forum. Shannon’s experience and reasoned perspective continue to be invaluable as we build our relationship with the agency and continue to advocate effectively for SSA members.
- Amanda Cross | Garden Grove City Employees Association
Amanda was elected to the GGCEA board this year and has already proven to be an asset to the team. She agreed to take on the responsibilities of Treasurer; partnered with OCEA’s Creative Director to spearhead a re-vamp of their website (which will likely be a template for other Cities & Districts); and dove headfirst into political strategizing, candidate interviews, canvassing, and fundraising events. Amanda is always volunteering to help out!
- Christian Dewitt | Orange County Public Works
Christian has been a part of the Steward program for a couple years and has done a great job looking out for his co-workers. When Christian saw that the County granted Custodian Workers night shift differential in negotiations, he immediately brought this to staff's attention to see how we could get it for their group as well. Ultimately, we were able to work with the County to obtain night shift differential for the Night Custodian Leads and Supervisors who help keep the Civic Center looking great.
- Dan Edwards | Orange County Sheriff’s Department
Dan is a Sheriff’s Special Officer and President of the SSO Board. Dan helped to lead and conduct extensive research regarding his classification series, which proved invaluable in analyzing and countering the County's market study results. Dan is a go-to leader for all things related to SSOs. He is extremely knowledgeable and has passionately advocated for SSOs for years.
- Jesse Esquivel | Orange County Sheriff’s Department
Jesse regularly talks to OCEA-eligible members in his area—not just his classification, encouraging membership and active participation in OCEA. Jesse is a workplace resource for his co-workers and arranged a swag drop for the HJC Courthouse, including staff from OCSD, Superior Court, and Public Defender. He enthusiastically attends OCEA-functions and often volunteers to help.
- Laura Jenkins | Huntington Beach Management Employees Association
Laura was integral in helping defeat library outsourcing in HB. She organized staff, created signage and buttons, and presented compelling arguments emphasizing the value of keeping library operations in-house. She also bravely represented herself and her peers by attending and speaking at numerous City Council meetings. She is not only a public worker, but a true public hero!
- Cynthia Pena | Orange County District Attorney
Cynthia has jumped enthusiastically into being involved with OCEA. She has been a consistent member of our District Attorney Labor Management Committee, our former Paralegal Committee, and attends Legislative and PAC Committee meetings. Cynthia does a great job taking member concerns to management.
- Jason Perez | Anaheim Municipal Employees Association
Jason, AMEA's First Vice President, oversees the AMEA political program. He helped to build relationships with the entire Anaheim City Council, bringing all seated City Council members to AMEA steward meetings throughout the year. He, along with President Jonnae Barreras and the AMEA Board, were instrumental in organizing efforts to help defeat the recall of Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava, a pro-worker councilmember.
- John Pham | City of Laguna Niguel
John is someone members and staff count on in the City of Laguna Niguel. He always reaches out to new hires in his workplace and attends every steward meeting. Not only is he our "IT guy" and "mathematician," but we can always rely on John to know what's happening in the City, as well.
- Mike Rocha | Garden Grove Employees League
As GGEL President, Mike has been a strong representative for his people for years. No matter what the issue is, Mike is always there to help his teammates and gets the Union involved night or day. He leads negotiations, organizes members for meetings, and ensures he talks to everyone, keeping them informed of the current happenings in our world.
- Grace Romero | Orange County Fire Authority
Grace serves as a Dispatcher with OCFA and has been a dedicated advocate for her colleagues on the Joint Labor Management Committee. She played a key role this year in developing a pilot program aimed at improving scheduling for dispatchers. Thanks to her efforts, the program will transition into a permanent schedule beginning in 2025.
- Janessa Rosa | Orange County Sheriff’s Department
Janessa has gone above and beyond in her role as a steward this year. From helping her coworkers with individual issues, to helping organize around larger issues in the workplace, Janessa has been there. She has also participated regularly in our Workers’ Rights committee and has used the information that she learned from that space in her workplace representation.
- Meredith Scott | San Clemente City Employees Association
Meredith joined the SCCEA Board of Directors last year. Since joining the Board, she has worked tirelessly to represent members in negotiations, complicated investigations, and other workplace issues where she uses her municipal and HR experiences to resolve labor-management issues. Meredith served as a member of the negotiations team and was recently elected to and is serving as the Board Secretary.
- Tony Smith | Superior Court
Tony works as a Store Clerk at the Superior Court and serves as a devoted Court Steward. He consistently prioritizes attendance at Court Steward meetings and remains actively engaged in discussions for the benefit of members. Tony is an invaluable resource to his colleagues and is always ready to offer support and guidance.
- Erin Suggett | Animal Care (Orange County Community Resources)
Erin is someone you can consistently count on at Animal Care. She always listens to her co-workers and makes sure management hears their issues, and she is not afraid to speak up when it’s important. She attends Steward meetings even though she works the night shift and always brings the life of the party, Stewie the Cat, to meetings with her!
- Felecia Weaver | Orange County District Attorney
Felecia is making a huge impact for her co-workers as a steward! She has been a consistent member of our District Attorney Labor Management Committee, our former Paralegal Committee, and she has attended Legislative and Political Action Committee meetings. It's been some time since we’ve had a D.A. steward at North Justice Center and Felecia is doing a great job!
- OCCR/OCPL LABOR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
The members of the Orange County Public Libraries Labor Management Committee bring attention to all our OC libraries. They are the voice for their colleagues and have mobilized and organized their members by ensuring each branch has at least one Steward. They also created their own email group where they share all important union information. They attached their names to a safety grievance in a show of support and solidarity to one of their own colleagues who was being harassed and stalked by a member of the public.Thank you to these members: Sarah Bidgoli; Chloe Devereaux; Andres Garcia; Courtney Kesinger; Jesus Lopez; and Amber Zuniga.
- SSA SOCIAL WORKER LABOR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
The members of the newer Social Services Agency Social Worker LMC within Children and Family Services have dedicated unwavering effort to reform this space. The group currently consists of seven social workers with a combined total of 130 years of County experience. These members demonstrate a strong commitment to advocating for division-wide improvements and developing creative solutions to broad workplace issues. Despite consistent resistance from their executive leadership team, this group continues to persevere, never compromising strategy or professionalism. Thank you to these members: Stefanie Braum; Susan Chisholm; Amy Fontenot; Jonathan Garcia; Breeze Jefferies; Sheila Mercado; and Vickie Vonnahme.
Please join us in congratulating this year’s recipients!
Publication Date: November 27, 2024
