Dom’s Blog Post 18 Mar 10
March 22nd will mark my 19th year anniversary with Oakland Police Department. I have been truly fortunate to work here and be surrounded by true soldiers, past and present. I want to take this opportunity to thank my Oakland Police Department
Sunday 3-21-2010, will be the one year anniversary of the worst incident in OPD history. On Sunday, the OPOA will have a BBQ. There will be nothing formal just a place to go, have some BBQ and reflect and pay tribute to our fallen comrades. Sam Armerding will be the BBQer, I’ll one of many assistants at the grill. OPOA members and our Law Enforcement friends are welcome.
When we settled our concession contract last year, most of us members understood how important it was to lock in what we have and push off any raise. Each day that passes this appears to have been a fantastic idea. Our country’s economy is poor to say the least. I have not heard of one police agency that has not had some type of concession. I am very glad we did, what we did when we did it.
With that said, let’s look at Vallejo. What a disaster!! I am trying to be nice here. They have demoted and have had layoffs of several police officers. Now the city politicians are going after their Binding Arbitration. I can tell you this, if they are successful in getting rid of their Binding Arbitration, they will come after ours. This is a serious fight, and we will be joining PORAC and several police departments in their fight.
I was contacted by LDF Trustee DeDe Torres with good news. She advised that the OPOA lobbing efforts were successful. However, she could not tell me an exact dollar figure, but it sounds like much less than the proposed 100% increase. I do not have the final numbers. But I will get them out as soon as I get them.
Benefits day on March h 8th and 10th was a huge success. If you did not get the opportunity to attend the very successful Benefits Day, you can still make changes at the OPOA. After what we saw last year, it is imperative that you set up your estate and take care of your family, your current family!!! Need I elaborate?
I am hoping to get the website up and running for online purchases. I hope to have this done before summertime. This will be a great service to our current and past members. Also remember our website has our MOU and all kinds of benefit information that we use and need. We will be advertising on the front page, don’t be afraid to click on their links, this helps pay for our website.
The ethics commission has cleared the OPOA of any wrong doing on November 5th, 2009 when we endorsed Don Perata for Mayor. Even though we were cleared of any wrong doing, they want $709 dollars for use of city services. We will not be paying this fine as we did not do anything wrong.
On March 22, 2010, there will be a freeway dedication for Dan Sakai in Castro Valley, later there will be a reception for the OPD officers running in the Baker to Vegas, at the Toyota Dealership in Dist 6.
Till next time, stay safe out there!
