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Peace Officers of California (P.O.C.)
has a multi-pronged plan of attack to get
PAY-PARITY!
Law Enforcement, nationwide, has always operated along paramilitary
guidelines, yet CAUSE / CSLEA seems to be the only place where having
the same or greater responsibilities and training means you should
receive less pay.
Many of you want to know exactly what “pay-parity” means. Yes, of
course it means that people who do like work should receive like pay;
but, more importantly, we all know which outside classifications we
compare ourselves with. We should be paid comparable to what other
employees in our same job pools receive, which is exactly what the CHP
has done and what we will do. We do not believe it is unreasonable for
a Police or Patrol member, Investigators, Detectives, and Agents in
CAUSE / CSLEA to get paid what their local counterparts do – just like
other unions.
CAUSE / CSLEA actually celebrates the fact that a Supervisors’ lawsuit,
brought by exempt employees, asking for pay-parity with the CHP
Supervisors was dismissed because Warden Supervisors didn’t perform
exactly the same job duties as the CHP. We understand this apples and
oranges comparison, but just because an apple isn’t an orange doesn’t
mean that one is necessarily of lesser value. I think we could all
agree that CHP Officers aren’t local police and sheriffs officers, but
that doesn’t mean that they don’t get paid the same wages; in fact, by
law they do!
Just because we do not perform ‘exactly’ the same job, doesn’t mean that
the service that Special Agents, Hospital Police, Food & Drug
Investigators, Fire Marshals, or any of the other peace officers in the
state don’t deserve fair compensation. CAUSE / CSLEA might be willing
to rollover and take what the state is offering to them, but
P.O.C.
won’t.
Now CAUSE / CSLEA will tell you that the timing isn’t right to ask for
that – and that may be true for now, but it doesn’t mean that we
shouldn’t explore the idea, save money, and do polling on the issue. A
ballot initiative could be funded in two years at a cost of $20 a
member, per month, - less than what CAUSE / CSLEA collects in PAC dues
from you now!
P.O.C.
will hold a general membership vote within 3-months of representation
for approval of a budget to fund a pay-parity ballot initiative program,
at the same time
P.O.C.
will work diligently with Marty Morgenstern to bargain for pay-parity
for
all State Peace Officers
and utilize
California
Strategies
to develop a legislative package to deliver the same.
Initial steps will include developing different versions of ballot
initiative language and polling; right off the bat, we believe we should
look at language that would give us ‘binding arbitration’ so that an
independent arbiter could be called in to make the call if we reach
impasse with the state. In the end, you will get to vote at least twice
on the
pay parity ballot initiative
– once to start the process and at least once more to expend the funds.
That way you can see what you are paying for, polling, and staff /
consultant recommendations!
P.O.C.
isn’t going to pour your money down the drain like CAUSE / CSLEA has.
P.O.C.
is
going to make sure we take the pulse of the voters before we carry
through with spending your money.
CAUSE / CSLEA could have put something like this on the ballot 20-times
over with all the money and time they have had, but they have failed.
That is a promise you can not only count on, but also vote on!
While all this is going on,
P.O.C.
will be developing a print and digital video expose on each of the
affiliates, with integrated PC functionality to highlight the best of
each affiliate and encapsulate the essence of your job – what you do for
the public, what your impact is, law enforcement functions, budget
information/cost savings.
Full
POST
training for all
P.O.C.
members will be of the highest priority. In the case of the
Hospital Police
at Dept. of Mental Health and others, the lack of full regular basic
POST training is simply a management tactic to intimidate employees and
stop them from having access to other law enforcement positions – it’s
bad public safety policy and its bad for moral. We will seek full
POST
compliance for all agencies and departments.
We need to establish dedicated funding sources for as many
P.O.C.
members as we can, so we do not have to rely on general funds money in
times like these. A fee can be passed on any good service by a simple
majority vote of the legislature, as long as it is related to the
product or service it is being applied to. Telephone bills have fees
for 911 service attached to them to pay for emergency dispatchers. The
CHP has the VLF (Vehicle Licensing Fee) - dedicated funding sources. Is
it too much to ask that the industries and people contribute to the
shared community interest of public safety? No!
P.O.C.
is never going to stop trying to get its members better compensation.
Our jobs should be promotional for most local and State Peace Officers -
not pay cuts.
CAUSE / CSLEA could have tried this a dozen times over in the last
15-years, since Barcelona has been President, but the problem is they
haven’t thought of it, cannot follow through with it, and aren’t
politically savvy enough to carry it out. How could we possibly do
worse?
You can be part of the change to help State Peace Officers gain
pay-parity:
 
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