Just my 2 cents worth

Well, it has been a roller coaster ride this past month with all the crap from downtown. First we win our furloughs, then we were getting paid, to no we aren't getting paid, to loosing our furloughs. This is frustrating times for us. We are getting the info out to you as fast as we receive it. I want to send a special thanks to DVI and CMC for helping out with this process. Sharing information among institutions is awesome. Maybe someday all the institutions will be on board on having their own sites up for staff.

We still have our o.t. issues locally. We are aware of it and trying to handle it as best as we can. I did hear that Hunter did put out a memo to all the supervisors that they will not work staff over the 80 hour cap unless the place is burning to the ground. This is good They did listen to us when we sat down and talked to them a couple of weeks ago.

Lately I have been getting a lot of complaints on how the hiring is being done. I have been calling the new Sergeants trying to get it straight. This is just my thought, they are new, come from other prisons and do not know the whole policy on hiring/holding of o.t. This will be addressed at our next Wardens meeting.

Also, the triple doubles should not be an issue anymore. I heard that there was a memo put out on this as well. Thank you to the ones that got us on the roll on these problems. Our administration handled the problem immediately and appropriately.

One issue that has been happening and we are still collecting info on this, Annual Performance reports. We are aware that the Lt.s are forcing the Sgt.'s to change the reports after the employee reviews and signs it. We are also aware of the paperwork that has been passed out to the supervisors on this very issue. This paperwork was faxed down to HQ's on Friday. I should have an answer for you by Wed. the latest. This policy is illegal and will be dealt with. I did speak with the LRA briefly on Friday with this.

They are also attempting to use old ECR's and LOI's on the performance reports. This is also deemed illegal. They cannot use an ECR or an LOI that is old and if you have done the proper training that is included in these. These actions are not meant to be used for any adverse action (as they are trying to do now). In fact it even has verbiage in our I.T. on this issue. I will post this on a later date. So if you fall under this, please contact me by phone or email and I will get your package ready for this. We have several cases on this issue that we are working on.

Another issue brought up was the watch office not hiring the o.t. in 4 hour increments. The information I am receiving on this is coming from the Watch Commander. It will be addressed.

Just some advise for the ones that do sign up for o.t., go in the watch, sign up for the days you want to work (they have a book in there that goes for 2 weeks), that way when they don't call you for o.t. we have it in writing and will file a grievance on it for call back time.

I also want to point out, since some use the direct email to this site or post on this site, the topics show my name as the author. For some reason, I got the settings messed up and need to fix it. So if something gets posted and my name is on it, it may not be my post. As you all know, I am a computer reject, so bare with me. I hope I can fix it. Most know when I post. And there are about a dozen or so people that have direct access to this site.

Lastly, the staff at our last chapter meeting voiced their opinion on how pissed they are with the whole mess down in HQ's, the Don Novey/Mike Jimenez issue. Your concerns will be brought up at the next State Board Meeting. As I have said before, I am the voice for you guys. It is not my personal thoughts or feelings. This is yours. I have full understanding on your dislike of our current E.C. This has been a topic for a couple of months now and I can honestly say, I have attempted to reach the E.C. on this and other issues and have failed. I never got my calls returned. So I will handle it when I go down there on the 30th. I am sorry that I could not answer your questions. I personally feel shoved off in the corner (so to speak) from this whole mess. So I apologize to you guys. This is not how it is supposed to work in CCPOA. I am hoping this will be resolved at the state board. I cannot express enough how disappointed I am on this whole mess. It's almost like going into a battle, fire the first bullet and look around and your back up scrammed leaving you to defend everything yourself. I cannot apologize enough on this. Everybody knows me by now, I am gung ho on open communications with all. I cannot stress this enough.

Finally, we have two new job stewards in the watch. J. Peralta is the new chief job steward for third watch. Kim had to step down for her own reasons. D. Bias will be in the watch behind me until I return. I should have the new steward list posted Monday. Randy Langslet is also a new board member. He works on Sierra yard 2nd watch.

I am compiling another Job Steward Training list. If you are interested, contact me.

Bollie has posted our minutes on the site here, so this should make it easier access for everyone.

Until next time, Stay Safe and Sane

Lori Olah