President’s Update – 09/17/15
In early February this year, shortly after our Membership overwhelming voted to disaffiliate from AFSCME, the Board of Directors engaged in a brutally frank strategic planning conference. Among other key decisions, the Board decided that it was time to re-invent/re-brand our Association.
Rather than continuing with the same failed labor-management relationship with both the County and District Attorney management that could be characterized as “adversarial to the extreme,” a decision was made: to the extent practical—we would attempt to work in a productive and collaborative manner with the District Attorney and the County.
As a result of this sea-change decision, we were able to achieve unprecedented progress at the bargaining table with both the DA Administration and the CAO [Chief Administrative Office] management. This, of course, resulted in a contract that was subsequently ratified by 96.99% of the Membership.
On Tuesday, September 15, 2015, the ADDA’s Contract Negotiation Team met for a pleasant lunch with DA Jackie Lacey herself and two of the key members of her negotiation team. Trying to hold a casual summit meeting in the past would have been unthinkable. In short, this is yet another example that the new ADDA approach to conducting Membership business has radically changed and is already paying constructive dividends.
- Also on Tuesday, the ADDA Board met with several elected California District Attorneys to learn of a proposed new citizens’ initiative involving the death penalty.Much more will be coming your way in the near future regarding this important topic through separate messages.
- Finally, later that same evening ADDA Board Members and staff joined many of you and numerous members of the law enforcement community at Law Enforcement Night at Dodgers Stadium. As the chief law enforcement officer of Los Angeles County, Jackie Lacey threw a beautiful pitch straight and over the plate! We are reliably informed that Jackie’s successful effort was the product of weeks of practice with her coach, Gina Satriana.
- Thursday, the Board’s Bylaw Review Committee met to consider additional adjustments to our exiting governing document.We hope to be able to present the final product to the Membership for adoption in the near future, and shortly thereafter to hold an election for the Board of Directors.
- Next week, two more items of critical Membership business will be addressed.First, on Tuesdaythe Board of Supervisors should be adopting our new Memorandum of Understanding so that on10/30/15 you will see the 3% increase effective 10/1/15. And second, at its regular September meeting, the Board of Directors will review the results of the 2014 audit conducted by Rita Villa, CPA.