CA: A crazy ruling on a crazy deal

One of the most difficult problems state officials face in trying to reform state government is the special privileges public-sector unions enjoy that enable them to halt reforms that they oppose.

A good recent example came last week when an arbitrator ruled that members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association - the prison guards union - can essentially devote an unlimited amount of working hours to union business.

The state Department of Personnel Administration has tried to limit the amount of time used by prison guards to do union business, under the clear terms of a 2001 contract. It's absurd that union leaders can be paid by taxpayers and yet spend their time doing union business, which usually means advocating for higher pay and benefits.

The contract limited union leaders to 10,000 hours of what is called "release time" - holiday leave and vacation days contributed by union members so that their union bosses can do the union's business during working hours, including lobbying, traveling, etc.

The contract the state signed with the powerful union - a union that secured 37 percent pay increases over five years from then- Gov. Gray Davis after contributing to his political campaign - limits such release time to 10,000 hours over a five-year period, according to the Sacramento Bee. The union instead has spent more than 100,000 hours on union work since 2001.

"But in siding with the union, arbitrator Carol A. Vendrillo cited testimony from the CCPOA and the state's former negotiator that the parties agreed to get rid of the cap in an off-the-record agreement that was made two months after the contract went into effect in 2001," the Bee reported. The arbitrator called it a "meeting of the minds" between the state and the union.

the metal trades council has the same rule. officers punch in, then retire to the union hall where they spend their day. private company.

i for one wopuld like to see the public sector enjoy the same rights as the private sector - such as the right to strike.

we'll soon see whether people really think that public and private employees ought to have the same rights...

>> what will you say when they go out on strike? same thing?

Abso-floggin-lutely! If you'd rather b!tch and moan than bust out a good day's work; get yer taillights down the road, Jack, and don't let the doorknob hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.

You're making $60K and moaning about making ends meet? Tough! But, I don't have a salary problem, YOU have a spending problem. Maybe you CAN'T really afford that new Escalade with the 22" spinners, leather interior, On-Star and GPS navigation. Maybe that $650,000 house is just a teeny-weeny bit out of your financial universe. Maybe that Alaskan cruise with the family ISN'T realistic after all.

Ya think?!

Maybe, instead of whining and crying and going out on strike, you need to go back to school. Maybe you need a totally different career. If you don't like the life you have, maybe, just MAYBE the person who needs to take the initiatve to fix it is -- YOU!

Personal responsibility: What a NOVEL concept!

oh how you must wish to be me. only i don't like escelades, i have a jag, sorry.

my point is that most people want public employees to have the same rights as everybody only when it hurts them. where were you when they took away their right to strike?

i think you're trying to be consistent here, but your rantings seem to get in the way. and your opinion of public workers is a tad skewed by pre-conceptions and negative stereotypes. don't let envy riun your conception of equality and fairness.

cheers

> oh how you must wish to be me...
I like being me just fine, thanks, and, as nice as it may be, I wouldn't want your Jag unless it's an old classic. Not that I'm a Jag expert, but I haven't really liked much they've put on the street since the 60's. Not a bash, just my preference.

> ...don't let envy riun your conception of equality and fairness.
Envious? Me? Hardly! I guess it's all a matter of confidence. I cut my own groove and I think highly enough of my fellow man that I expect him to do the same for himself. If the next guy needs a third-party organization to cut a deal for him, I think that's a shame.

Also, FWIW, I had private sector union trade workers in mind as I was pounding out my last rant, so your defense of public-sector employees is misplaced.

Look, I try to be a reasoable guy. I would very much like it if pulic- and private- sector employees had the same realities in their work experiences. I think everyone ought to be free to make an honest living and to stand or fall strictly on their own merits. That means that every employer ought to be able to retain or release individual workers whenever they need to. I have a family member who is LACoFD; I know the realities that are in play JUST because of the labor org. Weird stuff that would NEVER enter the reasonable mind is going on all the time just because the union has various policies about everything. Frankly, it all needs to go out the window so each employee can stand on their own two feet.

THAT would be fair and equitable. Can we get there? No. To do so would require an entire generation -- or three -- to appear that held up personal responsibility as a paramount ideal and refused on both sides of the equation to coddle the present organized labor paradigm. A whole nation of employers AND employees would have to simultaneously reject the labor orgs in favor of individual contracts and being personally responsible for one's own situation.

We'll get wiped out by an errant asteroid, first.

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