August 7, 2008
President’s Message: July/Aug PeaceKeeper Issue
As CCPOA prepares for the upcoming convention, your leadership uses the opportunity to take a look around and see where we stand, see where the organization is headed, to take stock of what roadblocks lie in our way, and to come together to figure out the best way to approach it all.
Generally speaking, we're currently at a rough spot in the road. The lack of a contract - or any good-faith negotiations, for that matter - hasn't done much for the morale of our members around the state. We fully recognize that.
In addition, the state's budget-less condition, which could very well be remedied by the time most of you read these words, put another politically-charged kink in the armor when Gov. Schwarzenegger signed an executive order to, in effect, balance the budget on the backs of the state's hardworking citizens. It's not the first time he's tried to throw his state employees to the wolves, and it might not be his last.
It's long past time that CDCR and the Schwarzenegger administration gave up their adversarial attitudes and started looking at its correctional peace officers as the valued resource they are.
Until they do, we'll keep moving forward with our members in mind. We've had to navigate around rough spots before, and we've had to reevaluate our objectives along the way. We're convinced that CCPOA's new set of goals, which were introduced in these pages in the last issue of Peacekeeper, will help us continue our unparalleled membership representation, and to keep the organization on track as we maintain our spirit of teamwork and our commitment to the profession.
Now is the time to focus on the future.
At CCPOA, we value the voices of our members. Their interests are our interests; their concerns are our concerns. Our mission statement has always been simple and straightforward: to enhance and protect the profession for those who choose corrections. At CCPOA we are all about going forward. We are about growth, not change.
Our enemies come out of nowhere and from all sides now as never before in the 150 year history of corrections. Defending the profession and protecting our members - from combative inmates as well as from unsupportive management - will always be our top priorities.
For now, take care and have a safe shift.
At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past.
- Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian Nobel laureate
