We’re four months into contract negotiations with LA County and county negotiators have yet to present a fair proposal to county workers. Enough is enough—in August, we’re going to bring the heat.

Every time our union comes together, hits the streets and demonstrates our unity, we make a difference. That’s how we won a $15 an hour minimum wage for the City of LA and a first-of-its-kind contract for part-time faculty at Whittier College last month. Now it’s time to do it in LA County.

Beginning this month, we’re encouraging all LA County members to wear their “Raise up ALL of LA County” sweatbands every day on the job. The show of purple will demonstrate to management our unity and our commitment to a contract that invests the workforce and increases services to the communities we serve.

We’re going to follow up with a wave of workplace actions and rallies to remind county management that it’s frontline county workers who deliver the vital services LA residents need.

All around Southern California our strategies are working. A new UC Berkeley study predicts the $15 LA minimum wage law will increase wages for more than 600,000 workers — mostly from communities of color in LA’s poorest neighborhoods — over the next four years.

Our effort to organize part-time faculty at private universities around the region is taking hold, as part-time educators at Whittier College ratified a new contract with pay increases, improved job security, a greater say in scheduling and other union protections usually denied by private universities and college in the area.

Now it’s time to bring these winning tools and team back to LA County. Let’s turn up the heat.

Bob Schoonover, President