You sent us your safety surveys and the results were crystal clear. Big changes needed to happen to improve safety throughout our LA County Parks & Recreation sites, and soon.
Our union took that message straight to the Board of Supervisors. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, we are proud to share with all of you that action has been taken.
The new ordinance authorizes certain county officials to hand out “exclusion orders” to people exhibiting dangerous or threatening behavior, barring them from county parks (and potentially the park system) for a set period of time. It’s a big change but we have ample justification for it.
As SEIU 721 President David Green stated in the Los Angeles Times article, “The status quo is our workers are being harassed and assaulted and spit upon.” That is unacceptable, as is the fact that roughly 40% of parks employees had been threatened, harassed or physically attacked while at work, with half saying such attacks happened at least three times.
We are very pleased by the new ordinance and we want to thank everyone for participating in our safety survey. Your responses provided the hard data we needed to make our case to the Board of Supervisors and to prove to the public at large that this is a serious matter.
Our union led the fight on this issue and now we have solid legislation to help protect us on the job. Together, we win!