POC Responds to CAUSE Statements

Q. Who will be in the new bargaining unit?
A. Peace Officers/POFF (Peace Officer Fire Fighters) Currently in BU7.

Q.What will signing a Severance Card do?
A.If we get half of the Peace Officers from the current bargaining unit to sign - it will ask PERB (Public Employees Retirement Board), appointed by the Schwarzenegger Administration, to decide if peace officers from BU7 currently represented by CAUSE/CSLEA should be put into a new State Bargaining Unit - BU22 to represent themselves.

Q.Why do the peace officers need to leave the union can’t they fix the problem?
A.CAUSE/CSLEA has turned down blanket pay increases for PEACE OFFICERS because the non-sworn weren’t offered the same pay increases. CAUSE has been under the same leadership for the last 15 years. If they had a plan they should have used it by now.

Q.Will POC be affiliated with any other union or is the a decertification?
A.No. CAUSE/CSLEA is trying to create a smokescreen about what this really means to them because they know the more you understand the more likely you are to sign the card and put the CAUSE leadership out of work. In POC there are no full-time release positions or stipens, or free cars, or bottomless expense accounts.

Q.How much of CAUSE/CSLEA is sworn or non-sworn
A.2,500 Peace Officers make up about 40% of the 7,000 CAUSE/CSLEA members, employees such as the “license registration examiners” – DMV employees who administer drive tests, make up the rest.

Q.CAUSE/CSLEA said that the last severance petition failed and that this one is even more likely to fail, is that true?
A.No, CAUSE/CSLEA is trying to stop PERB decision before they are even requested to make one. There are three reasons that the previous petition failed; we have addressed that below (see last petition under downloads):

Last petition didn’t include all the peace officers – this one does.

Last petition BU7 members had never been without a contract – BU7 members have been without a contract about ½ time since the decision.

The last petiton wasn’t filed on time – we have the timelines, we have two windows Nov.1-Nov.30.

Q.Will both classes of Hospital Police be included in the new Unit?
A.Yes, both DDS & DMH Police will be included in the new unit.

Q.Who will be included in the new unit?
A.All law enforcement employees, those who have POFF (Peace Officer/Firefighter) Retirement.

Q.Will Sergeant and Lieutenants at State Hospitals be allowed to join as well?
A.Yes, we will allow any peace officers classification to purchase LDF through POC. We also believe that we should follow the CHP model with regard to first line supervisors being included in the new union.

Q.Does POC have to get 50% +1 of all positions, filled or unfilled, or only those that are filled.
A.We have to get 50%+1 of current peace officer employees, not positions.

Q.What is the petition process?
A.POC needs 50%+1 of the peace officer classifications within BU7 to file the petition for a severance petition[PERB 40200(b)]. At that time PERB will get to decide if the peace officers are law enforcement under Governement Code Section 3521.7, CAUSE will have a chance to refute POC statements before PERB and the PERB Board will be able to question both parties to determine the truth.

Government Code Section 3521.7

3521.7. The board [PERB] may, in accordance with reasonable standards, designate positions or classes of positions which have duties consisting primarily of the enforcement of state laws. Employees so designated shall not be denied the right to be in a unit composed solely of such employees.