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CCPOA Disputes Union Hours with State
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June 1, 2005 - State officials have charged that union officials have spent tens of thousands of hours on union business activity, beyond what has been allowed under the union contract. Because of this charge the DPA as well as the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency has denied any further "release time" and that the CCPOA President and other staff officers must return to line prison work next week.
CCPOA, however, says that the state is wrong on the number of hours that are set aside per the contract for its members to spend on union activity. Some believe that this most recent move by the state was in an effort to counter attacks made by the union against the Schwarzenegger administration in recent months.
A binding arbitration hearing has been agreed upon by both parties in order to resolve the dispute, which began on May 31st. A ruling is expected from the arbitrator by Friday.
The DPA's Chief of Labor Relations, David A. Gilb, sent a letter to the CCPOA on May 20th saying that in a state review of the union's release time bank, it had been discovered that the organization had used over 122k hours in its current contract for union activity. According to Gilb, the state believes that the current 5-year contract between CCPOA and the state sets aside only 10k union hours. The letter demanded that CCPOA representatives such as Mike Jiminez and Lance Corcoran must return to regular state employment no later than June 6, 2005.
Corcoran told the press that there is virtually no chance of Jiminez returning to line prison work anytime soon. "It's not going to happen. Even if we have to absorb his entire salary, it's not going to happen." He did state, however, that the decision would not affect CCPOA Vice Presidents, including himself, as those salaries were negotiated with the state in the current contract that doesn't expire until July 2006. In addition, Corcoran stated that the union hour limitation that used to be a part of the labor agreements was removed in side letters to the past two contracts, including the current one.
Some feel that it is the CCPOA's harsh public criticism of the Schwarzenegger administration and its participation in the public employee union alliance that opposes the Governor's call for a special election regarding state spending, redistricting and teacher tenure. The Union's current membership vote on a special $33/month assessment charged to its 31,000 members between now and the November 2006 election would raise $18.4 million dollars to support the union's efforts.
Corcoran told the press: "Obviously we're having some impact. They must not like what's going on and they want to silence the voices that are critical of their operation."
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