The State Worker: California may sue prison guards union over its unpaid union leave tab

SacBee: State Worker ^ | 3/18/10 | Jon Ortiz

[SmithL]

Rev up the lawyers.

Last month this column reported that the state was prepared to sue the California Correctional Peace Officers Association for nearly $4 million it owes for something called "union-paid leave."

Here's the latest: CCPOA didn't meet the March 1 deadline to pay at least half the bill. Instead, the correctional officers' union cut two checks totaling $122,496.27.

CCPOA sent the checks with a note that the payments were in keeping with an agreement between CCPOA President Mike Jimenez and Corrections Undersecretary Scott Kernan.

"To set the record straight, there was no agreement reached between Mr. Kernan and Mr. Jimenez nor was there any agreement on this matter between CDCR and CCPOA," Corrections Secretary Matt Cate said in a March 11 letter to the union.

CCPOA's tab goes back to 2005 for wages and benefits paid to prison officers who left their regular jobs to do union work. The state was supposed to bill the union and receive reimbursement.

To be fair, Corrections has a long history of bungled union-paid leave accounting. It has struggled to keep track of leave hours, failed to send out timely bills and failed to collect on bills it sent, state auditors and investigators have said time and again.

[Joann37]

Good. These unions are running this country into the ground, and it has to stop!

[Del Rapier]

California is a giant prison,run by a bunch of crazed scabs.