Formal Grievance Filed Over Reassignments, County Supervisors Put on Notice

Dear Sisters & Brothers,

After today’s all-day Executive Board meeting, we want to be very clear about what your union is doing and why.

First, AFSCME Local 685 has formally filed a Grievance General in Character over the Department’s unilateral actions involving the permanent reassignment of approximately 200 Field Officers and RTSB Volunteers. These reassignments were imposed without proper process and without regard for the impact on officers, operations, or safety. We are not going to let that stand.

Additionally, we have sent a formal letter sent to the Board of Supervisors outlining the unsafe operational conditions created by these decisions and demanding immediate corrective action. This letter is part of our coordinated strategy. We are putting the Board on notice that the current path is unsafe for youth and officers and that the Executive Board expects accountability. Click here to read letter.

Because this grievance is now active, the Executive Board has determined that the scheduled February 25 meet-and-confer with the Chief would not be productive. The Department cannot expect to sit down for routine discussions while simultaneously violating our rights and destabilizing assignments. Accordingly, the Union has formally notified the Department that the February 25 meeting is being rescheduled to April 2, 2026, when the full Executive Board will participate in a substantive and accountable discussion.

In the meantime, we are not standing still. We are actively scheduling meetings with members of the Board of Supervisors and their staff to raise the real operational issues impacting the membership, including:

• Unsafe staffing levels

• Reckless and permanent reassignments

• Co-housing decisions that compromise safety

• Policy confusion that places officers at risk

• Decisions being made without input from the professionals who actually run these facilities

Let us be clear: this Executive Board was elected to fight. We are using every tool available to protect your rights, defend your assignments, and force accountability where it belongs. Filing the grievance, escalating concerns directly to the Board, and controlling the timing and structure of meet-and-confer are deliberate strategic actions, not delays.

We will not allow the Department to divide us, exhaust us, or quietly roll over our contract and our working conditions.

You elected us to defend this membership. That is exactly what we are doing.

Stay united. Stay informed. Stay engaged.

In solidarity,

AFSCME Local 685 Executive Board