Today our local had the opportunity to extend our brotherhood by delivering the $500 donation voted on by our membership to brother Cordova of IAFF Local 244 - AFD to assist in his recovery from the removal of a brain tumor.
Mace and Agnew made the trip to brother Cordova's home and had the great opportunity to meet and speak with him. He was in good spirits and very greatful to all of us here at 3279 for the donation.
Brother Agnew made the presentation and we took a moment to take a picture.
Thank you brothers and sisters for making this happen.
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Dear brothers and sisters,
Last fall, Flavio submitted a request for us to get Chemical Process Industry Training via the IAFF. We were granted the federal funds to have this class brought here to Los Alamos.
For the next two weeks we have the outstanding opportunity to participate in this IAFF / LAFD sponsored training. Four instructors are flying out to teach us.
With the backing of our administration and the tremendous help from our Training Dept., we hope this 8 hour class will benefit not only the individual, but the department as a whole.
Thank you,
Cari
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Our Contract was Approved by Council
Tonight was a complete success!
We have a new 4 year contract!
Stay strong and stay proud,
Mace
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Dear brothers and sisters,
Please let it be known that of the 93% of the membership who voted, we had a 100% approval for the contract.
Please make time to go to the County Council Meeting on January 31st (@1900) at the Community Building to show support for your contract.
Thank you everyone for your time and patience in this matter.
Cari
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Dear brothers and sisters,
As per “Article 5, Section 11” of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Los Alamos Firefighters Association Local 3279, new officials have been appointed the duties of the elected officials due to the retirement of our president Flavio Martinez.
The new assignments are as follows:
Cari Mace – President (appointed)
Paul Grano – Vice President (current)
Chris Bartlett – Secretary (appointed)
Wayne Sanchez – Treasurer (current)
The new assignments were effective as of Friday January 13, 2012.
Thank you.
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Parents save daughter's burning home
By Carol A. Clark
Los Alamos Monitor
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 4:42 pm (Updated: December 21, 5:02 pm)
Parents saved their daughter's burning home at 3503 Pueblo from total destruction this morning.
The daughter was at work when her parents, who live across the street, saw smoke and heard the smoke alarm.
"The parents opened the front door to their daughter's home and her dog came out," Acting Assistant Fire Chief Justin Grider said. "Their quick thinking saved the dog as well as the home, which in another five or 10 minutes would have been fully involved."
The parents placed the call at 10:48 a.m. to the Los Alamos Fire Department. Crews were on scene within minutes and had the fire contained by 11 a.m., Grider said.
"They entered through the front door and found the fire had started in the kitchen and spread to the cabinetry," he said.
Grider commended the firefighters responsible for fighting the home fire including Capt. Kelly Sterna, Capt. John Snyder, Driver Engineer Daniel Jamerson, Driver Engineer Keith Henry and firefighters Brandon Torry, Daniel Garcia, Tim Baca, Allen Quintana and Dylan Mahoney.
"The crews ventilated through the back of the home and did a fantastic job of stopping the fire and minimizing damage to the structure," he said, adding, "No one was injured and the dog survived because the parents heard their daughter's smoke alarm. This is important for people to remember - working smoke alarms save lives and property."
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9/11 Memorial Bike Ride! Hunter, Montoya and Stone
NEW PHOTOS UPLOADED 9/25/2011
Some photos from our brothers making the ride to the 9/11 Memorial in NYC!
Want more??? Sign in and go to Member's Area -> Gallery
More pictures will be posted as they come in.
Support the Brotherhood.
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The Los Alamos Firefighter’s Union Local 3279 would like to
thank all the agencies, organizations, businesses, and individuals who
supported our members during the Las Conchas Fire. We will always appreciate the cooperation and the generosity
demonstrated during this difficult time.
While the number of individuals and organizations who supported us is
too extensive to name, we would like to mention a few who assisted during the
fire. We would like to thank the
DOE, LANL, Los Alamos County Employees, National Guard, surrounding law
enforcement agencies, The Hill Diner, The Elks Lodge, LAMC, the Red Cross, NM
state agencies, federal agencies, the countless private volunteers, and all the
firefighters including those from the US Forest Service, the Albuquerque
Firefighter’s Union Local 244, the Santa Fe Firefighters Union Local 2059 and
all the other fire departments around New Mexico who came to our aid. The generosity shown is one of many
reasons that we are proud to serve the community of Los Alamos and the Los
Alamos National Laboratory.
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AFF’s Chemical Process Industries (CPI) 8-hour hazmat refresher training
Interested in HazMat/WMD training (IAFF’s Chemical Process Industries (CPI) 8-hour hazmat refresher training) through the IAFF? The training is completely federally-funded, therefore there is no cost to you. They will need 18 students per class (maximum of 30), and the instructors will come to us.
For a complete course overview, please check out the following link www.iaff.org/et/HW/PDF/Information_CPI.pdf
If you're interested, please email your letter of interest to Flavio Martinez at mjmartinez@zianet.com.
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We are going to be able to send 4 brothers to paramedic school without a contract. Congratulations and good luck with your testing and school, the brotherhood supports you.
We are also going to trial over our litigation with Los Alamos County in September.
For more info on either of these topics, please attend an upcoming union meeting. All meetings for the rest of 2011 are scheduled and available on this home page.
Be safe,
Mace
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IAFF.org - Los Alamos Collective Bargaining Rights Protected
www.iaff.org/Comm/SpotLight/11Stories/022811LosAlamos.htm
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February 28, 2011 – The Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico has upheld a previous district court ruling, protecting the collective bargaining rights of Los Alamos, NM Local 3279 members.
“Once again, the collective bargaining rights of our members have been upheld,” says New Mexico Professional Fire Fighters President Emily Kane. “This is a great victory for all New Mexico workers.
The County of Los Alamos has a contract with Los Alamos National Laboratory which is required to have a certain number of paramedics on site. The County offered its fire fighters an opportunity to train for those positions. In 2007, Local 3279 members John Paul Martinez and Michael Dickman agreed to participate.
Without discussion with Local 3279, the County required Martinez and Dickman to sign contracts.
The contracts provided that the County would allow training participants to continue their employed paid status and would receive a per diem for lodging, meals, and travel. In return the participants were expected to remain fire fighter/paramedics with the County for at least two years after completion of the training program. A breach of contract would be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
Both Martinez and Dickman left the Los Alamos Fire Department in less than two years. At which time, the County claimed they had violated the contract and were subject to disciplinary action.
“Our position was that the contracts were not valid because they were not negotiated through the union,” says Local 3279 President Flavio Martinez. Under the state’s Public Employee Bargaining Act (PEBA) and the County Labor Management Relations Ordinance, employers must bargain in good faith on all wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment.
Local 3279 filed a grievance alleging that the County was in violation of PEBA and the County ordinance that require bargaining when it comes to conditions of employment.
The case went to district court where the court determined that paramedic training contracts are subject to mandatory bargaining and that the County cannot unilaterally enter into such contracts without including the union in its negotiations.
Los Alamos County appealed the ruling to the Court of Appeals. After listening to testimony, the court upheld the district court’s ruling.
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Facebook Posts Cost Firefighter His Job
From NECN.com, February 24
BOURNE, MA – A Bourne, Massachusetts firefighter is out of a job. He was fired after his bosses viewed a post on Facebook. Can a Facebook posting get you fired? Just ask Bourne, Mass firefighter Richard Doherty who's alleged griping about a police colleague and other job-related matters blew up into a Facebook five alarm fire, and got him canned.
Doherty's not commenting , but the union is standing by him.
Gil Taylor, President IAFF Local 1717: "The union believes at this point that Mr. Doherty has been unfairly targeted and that the termination is improper."
That support comes with a candid acknowledgment about the 17-year department veteran also known for his charitable works.
"He's recently run a fundraiser to obtain funds to be able to build a ramp for a local handicapped child to gain access to the beach. but he is very vocal. if he doesn't think something is right, you can't shut him up. "
Doherty's Facebook posting offended some fellow workers who reported them to town officials..
In it, he allegedly railed against the police officer over some incident, angrily carried on about being forced to work on the Fourth of July holiday and made a homosexual slur.
Union representative Gil Taylor says the comments had Facebook restrictions, could not be viewed by the general public and were taken out of context.
Taylor: "He was exercising his First Amendment right to state that he thought he was being treated poorly by these individuals or didn't like the way they were doing things."
But town Administrator Thomas Guerino issued a statement Wednesday saying in part -- by publicly disparaging and ridiculing the lieutenant and then sergeant (and now police chief), Firefigher Doherty imperiled the link that must bind fire and police personnel. This conduct undermines the ability to serve the public and undercuts public confidence in the town's ability to provide these services.
All this puts Facebook front and center.
Taylor: "Is it private space, is it public space?"
Doherty and the union are deciding whether to appeal to the Civil Service ( he has already had a hearing and it went against him) or seek arbitration. He may also sue the town.
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2010 Employee Survey NOW AVAILABLE
Los Alamos County released their 2010 Employee Survey this week. All of your comments and the overall 'feel' from the guys is in this report. Thank you for all those who participated.
For a PDF copy, click here.
Mace
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We WON our Court of Appeals Case re: Paramedic Contracts
WE WON!
Please read the decision by three judges stating that we were correct in our case against Los Alamos County and their position in going around the Union and having brothers sign paramedic contracts.
Look under "Members Area" -> "Documents" for a copy.
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Congratulations to our new stewards!
Please familiarize yourself with your new steward(s):
2011 Union Stewards:
A Shift - John Snyder
B Shift - Wendy Servey
C Shift - Daniel Archuleta & Carlos Esquibel
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Why are we fighting to keep others from touching PERA? Read below.
Prepared by IAFF 244
Fire Fighter Solvency Proposal
Fire
fighters want to proactively address the PERA solvency issues in Municipal Fire
Plans. Municipal Fire Plan 5 is comprised of 90% of the fire fighters in NM (2,100). Fire fighters understand the problem
and want to respond accordingly to maintain our 20-year retirement. We are willing to evaluate a
contribution increase and commit the time and all resources necessary to
generate a morbidity/mortality study of New Mexico fire fighters/fire paramedics
to effectively apply changes to our pension plan.
20-year Retirement
Justification
·
The dangerous and physical nature of fire
suppression/rescue and emergency medical service (EMS) responses cause
additional health risks:
- Exposure
to hazardous chemicals, infectious diseases and high physical stress are primary
contributing factors leading to fire fighters/fire paramedics being three times
more likely to contract a heart attack/stroke.
- Fire
fighters are also two to three times more likely to acquire certain cancers.
- Over
90% of calls require high-stress EMS responses with additional hazards.
- According
to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), two-thirds
of all deaths in the line of duty involve fire fighters over 40. The most dangerous time in a fire
fighter's career is above the age of 40.
- Adding
years to PERA service eligibility requirements for fire fighters/fire
paramedics result in prolonged exposure to hazardous conditions on the job
leading to higher rates of cancer, stroke, heart attacks and injuries
which will result in higher Worker's Compensation and increased operating
costs to back fill personnel.
- Fire
fighters/fire paramedics work a 56hr workweek; 20 years of service is
equivalent to 28 years of service in any other occupation that work a 40hr
workweek.
·
All municipal fire fighters/fire paramedics are
exempt from receiving Social Security benefits.
Additional years of service
requirements lead to an older and a more injury prone class of fire fighter who
upon retirement will not have access to Medicare therefore increasing the cost
to Retiree Health Care.
- Fire
fighter/fire paramedic life expectancy is between 52 and 63 years of age
according to the International Association of Fire Fighters Mortality
Study.
- Physically
capable and experienced fire fighters/fire paramedics are essential to the
demanding tasks of successor training. Statistically, there are more
injuries in training than on the fire ground.
- 20yr retirement is a
critical component to recruitment for municipalities with fiscal limitations.
For a printable PDF document, click here.
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A "60 Minutes" look into what's going to happen to our state pensions
Want to know what direction our pensions are taking? Please read the follow article (it gets interesting around the end of page 3) and watch imbedded video to find out.
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/19/60minutes/main7166220.shtml
Thanks guys,
Mace
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WE WERE APPROVED FOR OUR GRANT THROUGH THE IAFF!
Dear brothers and sisters,
Our case was reviewed and deemed worthy to fight by the IAFF. This means we have the FULL BACKING OF THE IAFF and all members therein - 300,000 strong! This grant also covers all legal fees and legal support by the IAFF.
We need to keep fighting the good fight!
Stay strong!
Mace
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Firefighters union takes county to court
Published in the Los Alamos Monitor www.lamonitor.com: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 3:00 pm (Updated: October 26, 4:26 pm)
By Carol A. Clark
The culmination of failed negotiations combined with the county’s recent rejection of a third party fact finder’s ruling has led the firefighters’ union to file a lawsuit.
President Flavio Martinez of the Los Alamos Firefighters’ Association Local #3279 said Monday that the union filed the lawsuit in First District Court in Los Alamos Oct. 18.
“It comes down to good-faith bargaining – that’s the whole issue here and we feel the county isn’t following the New Mexico Public Employee Bargaining Act (PEBA)…it seems the county has a motive every time they come to the table,” Martinez said. “The county council imposed a contract, we didn’t believe in it and we didn’t sign it – so we don’t believe we have a contract in place right now. The county believes it is right and we believe we are right – so we’re going to let a third party decide.”
County Council Chair Mike Wismer said during a previous interview that after reviewing the fact finder’s report, “the majority of the councilors felt it was not based on any analysis.”
Councilor Vincent Chiravalle rendered the sole vote in support of the fact finder’s report.
“I appreciate how much effort the union put into negotiating with the county for a year and a half,” Chiravalle said. “The fact finder ultimately ruled in their favor and I respect the fact finder’s report and I think we should have accepted that ruling, but the county didn’t do that, we imposed our own contract on the firefighters and I don’t think it was fair to do that and I feel badly about that. I think the council chair was wrong when he stated in a Monitor story in September that the fact finder’s ruling wasn’t based on analysis, I think it was based on very sound analysis
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