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Lemonade Stand:
How CCPOA is putting a bad LBFO to good use
by Dan Lindsay, CCPOA Chief of Arbitration Division, West Sacramento
 In mid-September 2007, the state employer, through the actions of the Department of Personnel Administration, imposed what CCPOA believes to be an illegal Last, Best, and Final Offer (LBFO). The state contends this LBFO replaces the 2001-2006 Memorandum of Understanding. CCPOA disagrees with this position. The matter is currently being litigated before PERB.
One of the critical results of implementation of the LBFO is the loss of the right to arbitrate grievances. Therefore, CCPOA must now address the wrongs that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and DPA commit against Unit Six employees in a variety of alternative forums including PERB, Cal-OSHA, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, Small Claims Court, state and federal courts, and before any other applicable state or federal agencies that may provide relief.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, as the saying goes. So, beginning in late 2007, the Association began sending lawyers to the local CCPOA chapter meetings to hear firsthand, from those affected, how poorly CDCR is running its prisons, and to try to match the wrongs with the appropriate forum to remedy them.
To date, CCPOA has identified and is evaluating:
- Wage and hour violations;
- Unfair labor practices arising from the state's unilateral changes to the LBFO, as well as its continuous refusal to engage in good-faith negotiations with CCPOA; and
- Cal-OSHA violations stemming from CDCR's failure to properly maintain a safe workplace (for example, not timely or properly cleaning snow-covered sidewalks, or properly dealing with problems stemming from improper ventilation, mold, and bird and animal droppings).
We are requesting your assistance in providing your local chapter presidents and statewide elected officers with information regarding the topics listed above–and any others that are detrimentally affecting your work environment.
You can do this by attending local chapter meetings, by contacting your chapter president directly, or by sending an email detailing what you believe the violation is to the CCPOA field representative assigned to your institution.
Contrary to the viewpoints of Gov. Schwarzenegger, DPA, and CDCR, the Last, Best, and Final offer from the state did not reduce Unit Six employees to the status of feudal serfs. While we may not have binding arbitration of violations of the LBFO, we now have a new quiver of arrows that do not require exhaustion of the arbitration process. We have just begun to use them. With the help of our members, we will soon have more arrows in the air, and, hopefully, lemonade on the table.
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