SECRETARY-TREASURER’S DESK | MIKE LOPEZ

An Active Spring and Summer

One of the pleasures of being a part of CPF leadership is connecting with, and listening to, the leadership of our local unions. We have already had many organized interactions since the beginning of the 2023: district meetings, the Cal-JAC Conference, and most recently, the Daniel A. Terry Legislative Conference. It is great seeing everyone come together to learn and exchange ideas.

District meetings are invaluable for your union leaders because they hear firsthand from the president and secretary-treasurer about how CPF is working for its members, and, in turn, provide feedback and insight from the front lines. Now every district meeting has a workshop component on topics designed to help your leaders better represent you. The most recent round of workshops covered retirement. The meeting rooms were full and the conversations robust.

One of the questions we often hear is “What is the CPF doing for us?” While there are many answers to this question, the district meetings represent one of the most important: CPF supports your local union leadership so they can do their job working for all our members. Leaders who are engaged with CPF – asking questions, being part of the team, and using all our programs to their full extent – are better able to engage on behalf of their members.

“Leaders who engage with CPF … are better able to engage on behalf of their members.”

As part of our commitment to full transparency, I wanted to briefly touch on the impact of the rising cost of living. As you may be aware, the CPF Constitution and By-Laws includes a provision for an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to per-capita dues, not to exceed 5%. Although the inflation rate over the preceding 12 months ran well ahead, the COLA will be held to 5% – a total of 39 cents. The COLA does not apply to the CPF PAC or Ballot Issues Committee. Those can only be raised through action at CPF Convention.

Beyond our district meetings and organized gatherings, President Rice, myself, and our CPF team are conducting field operations, where we come directly into your stations and union halls. One of the things we will be talking about is the memorial expansion.

As you may know, the California Firefighters Memorial is running out of space to honor our fallen. The expansion project – which will ensure recognition for generations to come – will cost millions of dollars and take a lot of effort. You can see what this amazing expansion will look like beginning on p. 12 of this magazine. For more info, go to cafirefoundation.org.

Whether it’s our groundbreaking presumption laws, workers’ compensation and retirement benefits, our benevolent fund, the California Fire Foundation or our myriad other programs, CPF supports you and your families in many ways. The key to this success is an active and involved local leadership and the engagement of individual members. I encourage everyone to get involved with your union and stay involved.