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SECTION QUARTERLY REPORT October 2019

Officers Refugio Dominguez

President

John Vassiliades Director

John K. Lee President-Elect

Ohannes Anserlian VP Rank & File

Oswald Elizondo VP Supervisory

David Koo VP At-Large

Fouad Dagher Treasurer

Sujaya Kalaneisan Secretary

Section Events Overview Quarterly Meeting The LA Section Quarterly Meeting was held on September 5th at Stevens Steakhouse in the City of Commerce. The guest speakers were Judy Chu, U.S. Representative for the 27th Congressional District; and Joe Mello, PECG Corporate President-Elect. The event was well attended reaching a milestone PECG Guinness Book record breaking 400 members.

At Large Lunch at OSHPD Building On July 25th, Section Officers and PECG Labor Relations Counsel Jesse A. Rodriguez had lunch with members from Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Schani Abeyesunder who works for OSHPD helped coordinate the meeting and it was a successful outreach since approximately 80 members attended. The meeting was well received and members had a chance to raise questions related to their work as well as for future Unit 9 bargaining negotiations.

Political Action Outreach June 28th, PECG Leaders from the Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside Counties attended a fundraising event honoring their local US Congress Representative Lou Correa.

July 17th, LA Section Officers were invited by Congresswoman Judy Chu to a Dim Sum Dinner Fundraiser benefiting the DCCC at the San Gabriel Hilton Hotel. Special guest speaker was the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

August 1st, there was a fundraiser event in Long Beach at the Free-Conference-Call, Inc. Office for the U.S. Representative Alan Lowenthal representing the 47th U.S. District.

September 16th, another fundraiser event at the San Gabriel Hilton by Congresswoman Judy Chu who was celebrating her 10-year anniversary of being elected to Congress.

September 17th, Section Leaders attended a fundraiser with State Senator Connie Leyva.

September 28th, Section officers and members from LA and OC attend the DPOC Truman Awards Dinner at the Anaheim Hilton. The US Reps. Gil Cisneros, Katie Porter, Harley Rouda, Mike Levin and Ted Lieu were among the speakers

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Photos above taken at the September 5, 2019 Los Angeles Section Quarterly Luncheon

LA Section Quarterly Meeting The LA Section Quarterly Meeting was held on September 5th at Stevens Steakhouse in the City of Commerce. The guest speakers were Congresswoman, Judy Chu representing the 27th District and PECG Corporate President-Elect Joe Mello. This quarterly meeting actually coincided with the Annual meeting and installation of officers following this year’s LA Section elections. The event was attended by 400 members which was the largest gathering ever for the LA Section and perhaps, the biggest one statewide. Congresswoman Judy Chu administered the Oath of Office to the incoming EC officers. President Elect Joe Mello spoke about his vision and goals for his term in office while encouraging members to get involved with union matters.

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Appearing in photos above left is PECG Scholarship Winner Student, Tyler Vo along with his mother, Corporate Pres. Elect Joe Mello, LA Section Director John Vassiliades and LA Section Incoming President John Lee. Photo to the right is Director John Vassiliades presenting a glass trophy on behalf of PECG LA Section to US Congresswoman Judy Chu in recognition of her many years of public service, her dedicated work as a California legislator and her outstanding efforts in the US Congress representing the people’s interest.

LA Section Quarterly Meeting Cont. Each year and based on a competitive selection process, PECG provides scholarships to PECG members or siblings who are pursuing college studies towards a degree in a PECG related engineering profession. This was the event that the LA Section PECG Scholarships winners were recognized and were presented their scholarship checks. The Students also received a congressional recognition certificate from Congresswoman Judy Chu. The LA Section had some impressive applicants listed below, along with a short description of each of their accomplishments: Hanbiehn Kim (dependent): Pursuing MS in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University with GPA of 3.59 with plans to pursue PhD. Work experience building prosthetics, research team leader experience on project to predict cardiac arrest outcome and recovery aspects and lab teaching assistant. Curtis Tin-Ming Tam (dependent): Junior at UCLA with a 4.0 GPA. Pursuing BS in biology with focus on biomedical technology. Plans to continue onto med-school. Already has experience as research assistant, coaches tennis, and assists primary care physicians at Veterans Ambulatory Care Center. Tyler Vo (dependent): Pursuing BS in computer science at Stanford with 3.77 GPA. Wants to work as a software engineer after graduating. Has experience working with multiple tech related Stanford groups, start-up coach for Teens Exploring Technology and interned with Boeing. Veronica Hughey (Dependent): Graduated with a BS in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA this year. Will be pursuing MS in same major at UCSD in fall 2019. Started a student group to teach undergads proper lab techniques, was a lab assistant for 3 years and her research has been featured at the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative medicine International Society Conference. Arman Toumari (Dependent): Pursuing PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering with GPA of 3.75. Intern with LA Regional Water Quality Control Board. Teaches Chemistry at community college, has 2 Masters degrees already, completed research project related to hazards of fracking.

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Photo above (left) is U.S. Congressman Alan Lowenthal speaking at the event and on the next photo (right) is with the LA Section Director John Vassiliades and Vice President At-Large David Koo.

At Large Lunch with OSHPD Members On July 25th, Section Officers and PECG Labor Relations Counsel Jesse A. Rodriguez had lunch with members from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD). Schani Abeyesundere who works for OSHPD helped coordinate the meeting and it was a successful outreach since approximately 80 members attended. The meeting was well received, and members had a chance to raise questions related to their work as well as for future Unit 9 bargaining negotiations.

Political Action Outreach On August 1st, there was a fundraiser event at the Free-Conference-Call, Inc. Office in Long Beach held by the U.S. Representative Alan Lowenthal representing the 47th U.S. District. The Congressman graciously acknowledged those who came to the event and thanked each sponsoring organization including PECG by giving a narrative on issues that he has worked on since his time in the California Legislature, noting further that there’s lot more work to be done to fix our roads, highways and infrastructure. He further explained that the US Transportation Funding Reauthorization is not possible under the new plan proposed by the White House that eliminates congressional and public oversight.

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Appearing in photos above: top left is Congresswoman Judy Chu with LA Section Treasurer Fouad Dagher, Delegate Sam Luk, Director John Vassiliades and Vice President At-Large David koo. Top right photo is with State Controller Betty Yee and her husband Rabbi Stephen Jacobs.

Left photo above is with former SD 29 State Senator Josh Newman and right photo (showing on the overhead screen) is the Master of the Ceremonies, the former state Assembly-member Mike Eng.

Political Action Outreach On September 16th, LA Section officers and members were invited to attend a Dim Sum Dinner and fundraising event at the San Gabriel Sheraton held by U.S. Representative Judy Chu. The event was quite successful, attended by over 800 people and included multiple guest speakers and music performers along with a host of elected officials and local representatives, among them US Congressman Gil Cisneros, California State Controller Betty Yee, former State Senator Josh Newman, former State Treasurer and Controller John Chiang and many others.

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Appearing in left photo above is California State Senator Connie Leyva speaking to the attendees. Right photo with PECG officers left to right is Naem Taheri, John Vassiliades, Grace Pina-Garrett and Hamid Khorram

Political Action Outreach On September 17th, LA and OC Section Leaders, participated at a Labor sponsored fundraiser event held at the Anaheim Brewery with California State Senator Connie Leyva. Senator Leyva graciously acknowledged all the sponsors and attendees and pledged to continue strengthening the labor movement in support of good paying union jobs.

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Miscellaneous Other Political Action Outreach On June 15, 2019, shown on photos below, LA and OC Section Leaders, participated at the Annual Flag Day Celebration event held at the Carpenters Union Hall in Orange, organized by the AFL-CIO affiliate South County Labor. The event is to commemorate the adoption of the United State flag on June 14, 1777 and Americans are called to show respect for the US flag and what it represents, independence and unity. The Stars and Stripes have become a powerful symbol of Americanism and is flown proudly. On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation deeming June 14 as Flag Day and stating that the flag is the emblem of the Union. On this day Americans are called to rededicate themselves to the nation, ‘one and inseparable’ from which every thought that is not worthy of our fathers’ first vows in independence, liberty and right shall be excluded and in which we shall stand with united hearts.”

June 28th, at 6 pm, shown on photos below PECG Leaders from the Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside Counties attended a fundraising event at the Ruben Smith’s residence in Santa Ana, an event honoring their local US Congress Representative Lou Correa. Congressman Correa had a long career as a state legislator and was elected in US Congress in the 2016 general election after previously serving in the California State Assembly, AD 69th and in the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Photo left to right above, Grace Pina-Garrett from the O.C. Section, John Vassiliades from the L.A. Section, Congressman Lou Correa, Jane Pham from Inland Empire Section and last is Reza Jahromi, LA Section Fed PAC Presidential member!

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2019-2020 LA Section E.C. Elections The LA Section 2019/2020 Elections were concluded on August 23. The results are shown below and

can be viewed at the Section website: www.lapecg.net

PECG Los Angeles Section - 2019/2020 Election Results Director: John Vassiliades

President Elect: Jalil Khan

VP Rank & File: MD Bhuiyan

VP Supervisory: Refugio Dominguez

VP At Large: David Koo

Treasurer: Fouad Dagher

Secretary: Dapo Majekodunmi

Delegates: Schani Abeyesundere Enrique Jimenez Saedreza Hafeznezani Samir Bakar Varoujan Jinbachian Payman Kaviani Hosakere Anath Derek Chmielewski Scott Ratigan Saed Batarseh Mike Dipsia Hamid Khorram Ohannes Anserlian Vijay S. Kopparam Ojas Sheth Palani Chandrasekaran Vin Kumar Levi Onyiah Grish Biglarian Ainsley Kung Iqbal Qazi Ben Ehsani Samuel Luk Mitra Vahid Mohamed Ghannoum Oswald Elizondo John Zaki Nguyen H. Hua Bashar Nasser Omid Vaziri Edward Jackson Richard Osnaya Erwin Talag

Note: Per Section Bylaws ARTICLE VIII - OFFICERS (ELECTION AND TERM OF OFFICE)

The SECTION Officers and Delegates are elected annually from the SECTION membership; provided, however, that the Vice President (Supervisory and Management) shall be elected only by those members designated as Supervisory or Management, that the Vice President (Collective Bargaining) shall be elected only by those members designated as Rank and File, and that the Vice President (At Large) shall be only elected by non-Caltrans members.

Term: Officers and Delegates are elected at the annual election for a term of one year beginning at the annual meeting