By Bob Walsh
A finger belonging to California Correctional Peace Officers Association president Glen Stailey points at a bullseye taped over the official portrait of Democratic Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer in a Facebook video produced by the association.
There
are 21 collective bargaining agents for rank-and-file employees within
the civil service of the formerly great state of California. One of
them, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA),
has just made a deal with Governor Newsom.
Newsom
wants to stall off the pay raise for civil service due in July. CCPOA
has agreed to it, in consideration of some stuff further down the line.
I
know more than a little bit about CCPOA. It is a very "flat" labor
organization. It has three levels. The local chapter members (I think
there are 30 local chapters now) elect their local board. The local
boards presidents are the state board. They elect specific officers,
such as the union president and various vice presidents. That is it.
The state board makes the decisions for most things. The paid staff
make pretty much zero operational decisions. The union president makes
decisions for things in his wheel house or things that come up between
state board meetings and when no other direction is available. I was a
member of my local chapter board for virtually my entire career with the
Dept. of Corrections and was a member of the state board, as the local
chapter president, for some significant piece of time. Assuming you
don't think that public employee unions are inherently evil the sort of
organization you want is one like CCPOA.
For
many years CCPOA was THE big dog in state politics. It isn't as
overwhelmingly powerful as it once was, but it is nothing to sneeze at
either. Getting this group on his side will I expect make it much
easier for Newsom to convince other groups to join the parade. Also now
the other groups will have an idea of what can be had for making a
deal.
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