By Kelly Hartog Stephanie Smith is steeped in union values. She’s been a 911 operator with the LAPD and a 3090 member from the first day she was hired by the City of Los Angeles 21 year ago. Prior to that, Smith worked for United Airlines for 10 years, first as a reservations agent and…
By Kelly Hartog Treasurer Rickk Montoya is coming up on 20 years with 3090 — the same time he’s spent working for the City of Los Angeles as police service representative (also known as a 911 dispatcher). Being a member of a union, you could say, is in Montoya’s blood. Aside from being raised in…
By Kelly Hartog Newly-elected AFSCME 3090 Vice President Adda Murillo has spent 34 years working for the Los Angeles Police Department. A single mother and a self-described wearer of all hats, she has a challenging full-time job in community relations for the 911 operators’ department, and recently received the 2022 Civilian of the Year Award…
Without the Union’s Plans, I Wouldn’t Have Been Able to Care for My Family By Kelly Hartog Cheryl Evans was elected last October to the AFSCME 3090’s executive board as recording secretary. After 28 years in the union working for the City of Los Angeles’ police department, and the union being there when she went…
Communications Information Representative, Department of Sanitation Debra Durham still recalls one of the first cases she worked on as a union steward. A city employee who was converting from contractor to full-time status was given permission to book a cruise with her family, Durham said. But after the employee became full time, management reversed itself…
Communications Information Representative, Bureau of Contract and Administration When a huge water main burst in Hollywood last year, Danielle Jupiter was part of the team that helped deal with the high-profile incident. “That day we had to send so many inspectors out to that site,” she said. “If the inspectors aren’t there, they can’t close…
Secretary, Central Traffic Division, LAPD Leticia Loredo, 58, remembers the exact day she joined AFSCME 3090. “It was back in the day,” she said with a chuckle over the phone. “It was July 10, 1989.” In her three decades working for the City of Los Angeles, Loredo has worked as a secretary in various departments,…
Secretary, LAPD During her nearly 20-year career with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Edwina Hunter, 57, has seen it all – the crime lab, the substation at Los Angeles International Airport, the patrol division and different bureau stations. She’s bounced around in administrative roles throughout LAPD, but in October she found a home as…
Science Communicator – Griffith Observatory, Local 3090 By Oren Peleg In his role as a science communicator at the Griffith Observatory, Local 3090 member Juan Gutiérrez, 32, answers an array of questions about the cosmos from Angelenos representing all walks of life. But there’s one demographic of answer-seekers that always stands out. “Kids ask way…
Senior Administrative Clerk, LAPD Norma Graziano, a senior administrative clerk in the LAPD’s records and identification division, often finds herself arguing with co-workers over the importance of being a part of a union. “They say, ‘what does the union do for us?’” To Graziano, the answer is obvious. “I’m a strong believer in unions because…
