A power struggle over prisons (Unions in Calif & Arnold)

Source: latimes



A power struggle over prisons

September 25, 2007
SACRAMENTO -- When a sunflower grew 5 feet tall along a fence on the grounds of state prison in Lancaster, correctional officers took note of the plant life thriving amid the desolation. They filed a grievance against the state, complaining that the flower violated their contract.

The stalk, which the union contended obscured a yard gunner's view, was one of a dozen problems the guards protested at Lancaster within two days in early August; others included broken lights, cracked windows, missing bricks and potholes.


Such floods of grievances are among many hardball tactics, says the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that the guards use to intimidate wardens and exert undue influence on a state prison system riven by crisis.

Now the governor is trying to take back some of that power, which was ceded to the politically formidable union in a contract awarded by former Gov. Gray Davis in 2001 and renegotiated three years ago by the current administration.........

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-guards25sep25,0,7466470.story?coll=la-home-center

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This was the headline on internet front page---more weak one above once I clicked on the story:



Governor plays hardball with prison guards union
By Michael Rothfeld

Schwarzenegger threatens to rein in the powerful group. With a prison system in crisis, his legacy is at stake.

The two most powerful unions in the state are teachers and CDC employees (includes correctional officers, parole officers, etc.). They tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats and the Republicans, for years now, have been trying to take away their power. This is just another union hit piece and the L.A. Times, in its fine journalistic tradition (*cough*) is just doing their job toward that end.

The entire criminal justice system in Calif is about to collaspe on itself. It is shameful that American citizens allow our own Abu Graibs to exist but become indignant when it occurs somewhere else.

I hope the union keeps pressure on Schwarzenegger.

Fuck the California prison guards.

"This is nothing more than union busting."

The guards are trying to keep their jobs. In their battle with the state they are exposing the dysfunctional Calif criminal justice system and the prison industrial complex.

It works for me.

industrial complex".

They ARE the dysfunctional California prison system and the prison industrial complex!

They are part of the problem. They have no interest in making anything better--except their salaries.

The folks lobbying for more crime bills to my knowledge are folks like 1) Dr. Charles Thomas who was the “academic guru” and Wall Street darling of prison privatization, 2) GEO, and 3) CCA.

industrial complex".

They ARE the dysfunctional California prison system and the prison industrial complex!

They are part of the problem. They have no interest in making anything better--except their salaries.

These guys lobby for more crimes, more time, more prisons. Fuck them.

saying "fuck you" quite so fast. One of the BEST on-the-ground activist organizations around here are our unions. Need 500 people on a phone bank? 24 hours, baby and they're there! Need people to canvass? register voters? poll watchers? These people are invaluable in an election.

Now, the "lobbying for more crimes, more time, more prisons" accusation. I'll await your source for that one.

I like unions, but I dislike prisons more.