Regardless of that which you read in the paper, there is another side to the Bargaining Unit 6 MOU which does not always receive its proper share of exposure and, while I do not routinely look for the black helicopters, I think I may see one hovering, along with the vultures, over the grizzled remains of collective bargaining.
The manufacturing of the prison population/staffing crisis was catapulted into the headlines when that paragon of intellect, Roderick Hickman, closed the Correctional Officer training academy because of his estimation of a drop in the prison population. This, occurring during an unprecedented explosion in the prison system’s population - OOPS!
If this were taken, out of context, and viewed alone without any other information, it could certainly be perceived as a CDCr misstep. However there are other ominous developments which place a different perspective on this apparent miscalculation.
At the time the Federal Courts were taking over the medical aspect of the Department of Corrections, Governor Schwarzenegger assisted the Federal Courts by refusing to oppose the takeover. His stated attitude toward the California Department of Corrections was then, as it is now, that he just didn’t care, and his willingness to cede all of the Department of Corrections to Federal Receivership is more apparent today than it has ever been.
The staffing crisis has only become worse with age and, if Governor Schwarzenegger’s Department of Personnel Administration has their way, staff shortages will triple within the next few years as those that hired on during the prison expansion of the 1980's retire, forced out by the expiration of the last COMPETITIVE contract that BU6 members will be seeing for quite a while.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Schwarzenegger and his Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) are masters of deception as they have coined the terms “lucrative” and “generous” to describe their offer to CCPOA, and the news media has taken this mantra and carried it to the furthest corners of California. However, the application of this term is inaccurate to the point of making it a misnomer when used to describe the current offer to CCPOA by DPA. If compared to Wal Mart employee’s wages and terms and conditions of employment, the term would be properly used. On the other hand, if compared to other law enforcement agencies who are competing with the Department of Corrections for qualified candidates, the terms “lucrative” and “generous” would be inaccurate. Therefore, the term “competitive” would be far more descriptive and appropriate in describing the offerings of DPA to CCPOA and, in that venue, their offerings must be viewed as non-competitive.
Now we can flesh-out the skeleton of Rod Hickman’s seemingly inexplicable and isolated action to close the Correctional Officer’s Training Academy, during a time of unprecedented population growth, with the subsequent philosophy and actions of The Governor and his administration in the post Hickman era.
Now that thinking individuals have, hopefully, shed the words “lucrative” and “generous” in favor of the more descriptive term “competitive”, we can proceed with an analysis of the potential for a Federal takeover of the California Prison System because of the non-competitive nature of DPA’s offer.
In many of the Medical Receiver’s, Robert Sillen’s Quarterly Reports to the Federal Court (
http://www.cprinc.org/materials.htm) he vociferously complains of chaotic and inadequate recruitment and retention of staff by the California Department of Corrections, as being an impediment to the implementation of constitutionally guaranteed medical care for inmates within the CDCr. This commentary is not limited to medical staff, but includes ALL employees of CDCr and does not exclude BU6 members. With the DPA assisting in the under staffing of the Department of Corrections through non-competitive contract offerings and conditions of work, the nexus between a takeover of DPA duties as State negotiators in talks with CCPOA or, perhaps, even a unilateral implementation of a Federal version of an MOU could be justified to the court as necessary to achieve a staffing stability that would facilitate proper and “constitutionally adequate” medical delivery systems to inmates.
The members of the DPA are very savvy and must realize the future consequences of their failure to render departmental hiring plans competitive with other law enforcement agencies throughout the State. This failure seems to further implement the Governor’s previously stated philosophy that allows the Federal courts to do whatever they want with California’s prison system.
I think, if you look up, you’ll see that one of those birds is not a vulture.
