Meet Jaime Alcala – Trustee
By Kelly Hartog
Jaime Alcala is proof that you don’t have to wait to get involved. The senior admin clerk with the LAPD joined Local 3090 in 2020 but, in the last five years, has gone from being on his department’s negotiating committee to becoming a steward and a Volunteer Member Organizer (VMO). Now, he’s embracing his new role as a trustee.
In 2019, Alcala took the admin clerk test, and the LAPD hired him in August that year. Barely six months into his job, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Alcala still hadn’t joined the union.
“Suddenly, they began discussing furloughs,” he recalls, “and they eventually furloughed us.” Back then, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep my job. Being a new employee, I thought I better join the union.”
Before he knew it, Alcala became involved in his department’s negotiations committee after returning from being furloughed. “Our contract was coming up, we were short-staffed, and we knew other divisions with the LAPD had bonuses, but we weren’t getting ours,” he recalls.
While many in his department retired or were laid off, Alcala decided to get involved and push for his department’s 8.5% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) by joining the negotiations committee in 2021. “I got to give an entire presentation to the City in 2022 over Zoom,” he says. At the end of 2023, the City agreed to the bonus, which went into effect beginning in April 2024.
Alcala went on to work as a steward and a VMO. “I felt like going to people’s work locations and their homes and getting to know them and meeting in person was a great way to get involved, give members information and sign them up for the union.”
Then, in 2024, President Larry Gates encouraged him to become a trustee. A lot of Alcala’s job as a trustee involves auditing. “I want to make sure all the union’s books are good and that we’re not wasting money on unnecessary things because this is our members’ money, and we want to help them,” he says.
Some of the things Alcala is focused on right now is helping those affected by the terrible fires in January. “We had 40 members that lost their homes,” he shares. “And I want to see more people being encouraged to get involved, the way I was. This builds our union up. The more people sign up, the more it helps us in our contract negotiations and job protections.”
Alcala counts his mother as a role model — “She’s the head of our neighborhood council,” — and wants to encourage members to get involved. “Don’t be shy,” he says. “I can be a shy person, but closed mouths don’t get fed.”
The union he shares can help others. “It helped me financially, gave me job security, helped my family, and my co-workers and I look at my co-workers as family, too.”
