ARTICLE FROM BOB WALSH/PV

Report from B O D meeting

Jun 26th, 2010 | By Bob Walsh | Category: Negotiations

As many of Paco’s readers know there was a Board of Directors meeting today. Except for a brief Treasurer’s report the entire meeting was taken up by the general field of Negotiations.

The turnout was excellent, with very few no-shows. Most of the no-shows sent someone to cover so the board was in good shape. For the MJ haters out there, he showed up looking appropriate and (allowing that the audience was all staff) speaking appropriate.

The E C gave out information, then requested input. They got it, and accepted it.

The E C has been in regular touch with members of the legislature and people within CDCr who seem to express interest in getting something done. They have not been in touch so much with the Governor or the DPA (which is pretty much the same thing) for the simple reason that (based on experience) the Governor is untrustworthy and seems to be uninterested in actually reaching an agreement, as opposed to scoring points.

Some good questions got asked.

Will we go to minimum wage in July? Nobody knows, except maybe the Governor. Nobody believes that there will be a budget in place by July 1. The Governor COULD do it at that time, Contrary to what he has presented to the media, he is not REQUIRED by the law to do so. Also, there is very real reason to believe that it is not possible for the Controller to do it. In addition, there is some good reason to believe there would be a huge negative staff reaction. Sure you will get paid EVENTUALLY. Will your child care take an IOU? How about Safeway? How about the gas station? How about your car payment and car insurance? It was pointed out correctly that some people will simply not be able to afford to go to work for $7.25 an hour. (How many of you could even take public transportation to work if you wanted to?)

Will union dues be taken out of a minimum wage check? Nobody knows, but the guess is, “No.” That will also depend a lot on the Controller.

Has the 12 hour shift proposal gone away for good? NO, it is still lurking in the weeds.

What’s going on with pensions? That is another one of those things no one is sure about. The Governor clearly wants to make changes, as do much of the legislature and a lot of the electorate. There is a lot of case-law supporting the notion that the employer can not unilaterally make the change. Whether the voters can is another matter. That is another thing that we might very well be right on (probably are in fact) but it could take years to fight it out in court. That might not do the guys and girls who are thinking of bailing out this year a lot of good. (Visit the Legislative Analysts Office web site, check out the document from 01-27-2010 on the Governor’s pension proposal for more on this.)

Can we get what the CHP got? No. For one thing, nobody right now is really sure what the CHP got. For another, they didn’t get it yet, they have not ratified the deal, nor has the legislature agreed. Also, on a purely economic basis on the things we are pretty sure of, it would cost the state $2 billion over three years. That isn’t in the cards. CHP is one tenth the size of Unit 6. What cost the state a few tens of millions of dollars for them costs hundreds of millions for us.

CCPOA is going to attempt to open a dialog with the Governor. Nobody believes it will have any success, but you never know. That is NOT the same thing as opening negotiations, though that is also likely to happen in some small, focused items. There are hazards to that. For instance, there is currently a court case running on “Donning and Doffing” time. If we open negotiations on that item, it could screw up the court case. Everything is connected to everything.

DPA has refused to answer CCPOA questions about their latest proposal (which is on the DPA web site). For instance, they use three different definitions of the phrase (Unit 6 employee) in the same section. It might mean any Unit 6 R&F, it might mean Uniform Custody only, it might mean institution staff only. That is the sort of thing they are refusing to even define terms on.

As far as I could tell, the B O D split about 55% to 45%. The minority wanted to tell the Governor to kick rocks and believe that there is no point in even pretending to talk with him as nothing he says can be trusted. (Ask SEIU about that if you don’t believe Unit 6.) That majority don’t believe he can be trusted either, but think that there is a point in talking, and letting it be known that we are talking, or at least willing to talk. They are concerned that it appears that we were being unreasonable and obstructive.

So, that’s where it sits. We will, rather soon, have some general indication as to whether or not the Governor is actually interested in talking or is more interested in scapegoating. When I know, you will know.