1 Mayra Ochiqui
From:Charles Leone
Sent:Monday, July 8, 2024 10:08 AM
To:Dan Koops; Raymond Dunton; Wendi Morse; Victor Sanchez; Sonny Santa Ines Cc:Jenita Igwealor; Robert Feria; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Daisy Virgen; Ryan Smoot; Travis Sais; Lydia Munoz Subject:16% - 33.25% Pay Raises for SEAACA Executives??? Attachments:Letter to Bellflower - July 8, 2024_cls.pdf Importance:High
Honorable Mayor Koops, Mayor Pro Tem Dunton, and Members of the Bellflower City Council, my name is Charles Leone, and I am a proud dogfather of two fur babies, blessed to do the work for the working class in the LA/OC Region as Coordinator for SEIU Local 721.
We hope you All had a nice 4th of July celebra on! On behalf of our membership, this Union wanted to provide you the a ached le er, we would like read during public comment at tonight’s City Council mee ng, and entered into the public record. We are asking for your City Council to take a stand with SEAACA workers who have been facing ongoing disrespect and injus ce by the agency they work for, and to please make your voice heard for these workers to achieve proper animal care and service as visioned by the founding ci es of this Joint Powers Authority back in 1975, that you chose to be part of.
We have been figh ng for a Living Wage for SEAACA rank & file workers, who service your community. You may even know some of the SEAACA Animal Control Officers, and if you don’t it wouldn’t come as a surprise since turnover at the agency is high as they con nue with a 40% vacancy rate. Some have referred to SEAACA as a training ground, however even “training grounds” pay be er than what a rank & file SEAACA worker makes; some don’t even make $20 an hour. Making ma ers worse, the healthcare SEAACA offers rank & file workers is dismal and expensive. Some, if not most, don’t even buy in to the agency’s health care because premiums are so expensive.
YET SEAACA Management, including the Director & HR/Finance Manager are doing well. All execu ve management at SEAACA have their medical paid, 100%. SEAACA Management have also seen very handsome raises over the last four years: 16% - 33.25%!
Dr. Mar n Luther King Jr. said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that ma er.”
Workers ma er. SEAACA workers ma er. SEAACA rank & file workers will not be silenced, and we ask for your assistance to lend your collec ve voice so we can finally achieve jus ce and a Living Wage for SEAACA rank & file workers. Let me know if you have any ques ons. We are asking the same for all member and contract ci es SEAACA serve, to lend your voice, & with the SEAACA Board of Commissioners, to speak out against this ongoing injus ce and support workers. We are available should you have ques ons or wish to discuss further.
Stand for Animal Care.
Stand for a Living Wage.
Stand for SEAACA.
Charles Leone
Coordinator, LA/OC Ci es Team
SEIU Local 721
Cell: 213/479-6406
2 Email: [email protected]
SEIU Local 721 Member Connec on:
877-721-4968
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SERVICE EMPLOYEES
INTERNATIONAL UNION, CTW, CLC
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Roger Nuñez
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RETIREE MEMBER
Charley Mims
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
David Green
http://www.seiu721.org
July 8, 2024
Honorable Mayor Dan Koops,
Mayor Pro Tem Ray Dunton, &
Members of the Bellflower City Council
City of Bellflower
16600 Civic Center Drive
Bellflower, CA 90706
RE: Our Concerns with SEAACA (Southeast Area Animal Control Authority Management
Dear Honorable Mayor Koops, Mayor Pro Tem Dunton, & Members of the Bellflower City Council,
We are writing to you all with an update regarding the employees of the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA), which services the City of Bellflower. SEIU Local 721 represents workers at SEAACA.
The hardworking employees are still being stonewalled by SEAACA in reaching an agreement that is fair and rewards the hard work of the employees who make SEAACA work and serve your city. They are still facing record short-staffing, which SEAACA seems content to ignore. For example, SEAACA by their own budget documents is supposed to be employing 17 Animal Control Officers, yet they currently only employ five that are full -time, and three more that are in training (two more were hired just recently, bringing the total, assuming no one quits or is terminated, still leaving a vacancy rate of over 40%)
We are very concerned that SEAACA has not come to the table in good faith to reach an agreement with their employees after over a year without a contract. It has gotten to the point where the Union has had to file charges with PERB due to SEAACA’s behavior in negotiations.
And while the employees of SEAACA have been overworked and underpaid, SEAACA management has seen fit to propose themselves raises several times larger than what they have proposed for their employees – some of whom are still stuck making less than $20 an hour. SEAACA management this year has proposed their salaries increase by 5%, and one by almost 9%. Over the last four fiscal years, managerial pay at SEAACA has ballooned with increases ranging from 16% for their Executive Director to over 33%. Meanwhile the regular employees who put in the work to keep SEAACA running, who service your communities and residents, have gone another year without any pay increase at all.
Reviewing SEAACA’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year shows the organization in good fiscal health, but the authority seems unwilling to pay fair wages or address the issues that have plagued their employees and result in hundreds of calls going unserviced. We ask you, as one of the contract cities of SEAACA, to intervene in this matter for these SEAACA employees who provide vital services to your community, and the number of other member and contract cities, to help champion a robust MOU negotiations in good faith for a successor MOU, so that SEAACA can attract and retain the dedicated staff needed to provide quality services for your community, to protect both residents and animals, and to ensure adoptable animals can find a forever home. We thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Charles Leone
Coordinator, SEIU Local 721
Cc: Jenita Igwealor, Regional Director
Robert Feria, Chief Negotiator
Daisy Virgen, Worksite Organizer
SEAACA Bargaining Unit Members
Ryan Smoot, Bellflower City Manager
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