Prison Leaders Want Same Raises as Guards

An organization of California prison supervisors is threatening a three-day sickout if members do not receive the same hefty raises that prison guards are scheduled to get next month.

State officials say such a labor action would be illegal and could result in disciplinary action.

The California Correctional Supervisors Organization, which claims to represent 2,500 supervising officers, began polling its 32 chapter presidents recently to see if the membership would embrace a sickout.

The group’s president, Richard Tatum, said Friday that the initial responses were favorable. “So far, we have had support for doing this,” he said.

The threatened sickout is the latest contentious maneuver surrounding a controversial 2-year-old contract between the state and a rival union representing prison guards.

Members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., which represents 31,000 guards, are due to receive 11% pay raises when the new fiscal year starts July 1. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called on the union to accept $300 million in concessions to help reduce the state budget gap. And some lawmakers have threatened not to approve a budget containing the pay increase.

The guards union also claims to represent many supervisors, but not in wage negotiations. Officers who hold the rank of sergeant and above do not have collective bargaining rights under state labor law.

The supervisors organization and the guards union both have complained that recent increases in guard pay have allowed some subordinates to make more money than their supervisors.

Last year, rank-and-file officers received a 6.8% raise, while supervisors got only a 1.8% hike, plus one additional day off each month. According to the state Department of Personal Administration, it would cost $41.3 million to give the supervisors the same raise that the guards are scheduled to receive.

“We understand as a union and supervisors that when the state doesn’t have the money, people shouldn’t get a raise,” Tatum said. “What we are saying is ... give us whatever you give the rank and file.”

After obtaining a copy of a May 19 e-mail that went to leaders of the supervisors organization, California Department of Corrections officials criticized the sickout tactic in a sharply worded letter to Tatum on June 9.

“It appears CCSO is soliciting fraud” by having supervisors call in sick when they are not, wrote Jan Sale, assistant deputy director for labor relations.

Sale also warned that “all cases involving absences of supervisors will be evaluated on an individual basis.” She said supervisors might be required to submit a doctor’s note or risk being docked pay -- and those who participated in a sickout could be disciplined and perhaps fired.

If there were a sickout, said corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton, the department would be prepared to keep prisons secure and functioning. California operates the nation’s largest state prison system, with 160,000 inmates in 32 facilities.

Margita Thompson, Schwarzenegger’s press secretary, declined to comment on the threatened sickout but said, “We are in ongoing discussions with the CCPOA [about its contract] and hope to make progress.”

A guards union representative could not be reached Friday. But last weekend, union members rallied here against attempts to reopen the labor contract.

The Legislature in 2002 created a task force to recommend ways to set salaries and benefits for prison supervisors and other supervisory personnel throughout state government who are not covered by collective bargaining agreements. That report is due July 1.