OCFA Bargaining Update - August 10, 2021

Dear OCEA member,

Your OCFA bargaining team met with OCFA leadership and negotiator Peter Brown on Thursday, Aug. 5. We were expecting to hear the JPA Board of Directors’ response to our wage increase that each of you and your families deserve. The JPA Board meeting on July 22 resulted in two significant points of failure. First, the JPA Board failed to respond to our offer. Second, and more importantly, the JPA Board did not grant the OCFA negotiating team authority to discuss economic proposals at the table. The JPA Board’s message to you is clear: your financial security is not their priority.

Their failure to meet us at the bargaining table is tantamount to taking your efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic for granted. Your sacrifice and hard work powered Operation Independence, kept OCFA’s fleet running during prolonged fire seasons, inspected businesses to ensure compliance, and handled increased 911 calls to keep the citizens of Orange County safe.

The JPA Board is aware that the cost of living continues to rise and that you and your families are falling further behind. Despite this, the JPA does not plan to meet again until Sept. 23. Instead of getting a fair pay increase into your pockets, they have gone dark for two months to attend to “more important business.” The JPA Board’s silence is deafening, insulting, and indefensible.

We will not sit back and let this happen. We will be reaching out to the JPA Board to demand that they call a special meeting to authorize the OCFA bargaining team to negotiate economics with us in good faith. As a precaution, OCFA management has agreed that if this is not completed by our Aug. 22 expiration date, that all terms and conditions of the current MOU will remain in full force and effect during negotiations. This delay is completely at the hands of the JPA Board. Your OCEA bargaining team is ready and willing to meet with OCFA as soon as we know that they have authorization to negotiate over economics. Until then, meeting with them would be futile. We will continue to fight for the fair wage increases you all deserve.

In Solidarity,

Sami Soto, Fire Communications Supervisor
John Bowden, Assistant Fire Marshal
Don Friedline, Fleet Services Supervisor
Brad Stephens, HR Analyst II
Eric Monroe, Heavy Equipment Operator II
Rich Swanson, Fire Prevention Analyst
Aaron Peardon, OCEA Senior Labor Relations Representative
Kate Wolf, OCEA Labor Relations Representative
Don Drozd, OCEA General Counsel

Publication Date: August 10, 2021