Thread: California may sue prison guards union over its unpaid leave

California may sue prison guards union over its unpaid union leave tab

Mar. 18, 2010
By Jon Ortiz - jortiz@sacbee.com Buzz up!

Last month this column reported that the state was prepared to sue the California Correctional Peace Officers Association for nearly $4 million it owes for something called "union-paid leave."

Here's the latest: CCPOA didn't meet the March 1 deadline to pay at least half the bill. Instead, the correctional officers' union cut two checks totaling $122,496.27.

CCPOA sent the checks with a note that the payments were in keeping with an agreement between CCPOA President Mike Jimenez and Corrections Undersecretary Scott Kernan.

"To set the record straight, there was no agreement reached between Mr. Kernan and Mr. Jimenez nor was there any agreement on this matter between CDCR and CCPOA," Corrections Secretary Matt Cate said in a March 11 letter to the union.

Call The Bee's Jon Ortiz, (916) 321-1043. Read his blog, The State Worker, at www.sacbee.com/blogs.
The State Worker blog CCPOA's tab goes back to 2005 for wages and benefits paid to prison officers who left their regular jobs to do union work. The state was supposed to bill the union and receive reimbursement.

To be fair, Corrections has a long history of bungled union-paid leave accounting. It has struggled to keep track of leave hours, failed to send out timely bills and failed to collect on bills it sent, state auditors and investigators have said time and again.

Now CCPOA says the $4 million bill unfairly charges it roughly 11 percent more than other unions with similar leave deals.

"We'll pay what we owe," union spokesman Lance Corcoran said in a Wednesday telephone interview, "but we're not going to get raped."

Accounting particulars aside, you can add this clash to a long line of bitter conflicts between CCPOA and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Today the state's 33,000 correctional officers are working under terms imposed by the governor after labor talks reached impasse a few years ago.

More recently, the union won a lawsuit that contended the way correctional officers are furloughed violates labor law. The governor is appealing that decision.

And now, after years of foot-dragging, Corrections is going to take the union to court over its leave bill.

"We're preparing a lawsuit," Corrections spokesman Paul Verke said Wednesday. "We hope to file within the next couple of weeks."

That will cheer folks who think CCPOA is acting like a deadbeat renter: Finally, the state is delivering an eviction notice!

Pro-CCPOAers will see it this way: More proof that Arnold wants to bust labor, especially CCPOA!

Neither side comes off well. Corrections gave the union a de facto multimillion-dollar loan while the state cut prison programs.

And the union, which has spent $17.5 million on political campaigns since 2005, looks blindly obstinate. Why not pay half the bill? Then let the lawyers fight over the balance. CCPOA could score some points with a "doing it for taxpayers" message.

Heaven knows the state needs the cash.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/03/18/186 ... z0iZ4e8nOz

http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/03/18/186 ... a-may.html

The Prison Guards Union is one of the 3 most powerful political forces in CA.

The other 2 are: The Teachers Union and The State Employees International Union SEIU.

They have the money that politicians need for their campaigns.