The Mythical Temporary Restraining Order

So, back when the County was preparing to vote for the new budget, a threat was issued from the DSABC that they were willing to file a temporary restraining order for injuctive relief regarding our staffing issue.  Our CBA dictates that basically, neither the County nor the Sheriff can alter our work environment drastically without the approval of the union.  Welllllll, today I found out directly from Captain Thomas (soon to be Chief Thomas, so congratulations Captain) who was on the phone with Capt. Long of DSABC, in my presence, that CLEAT is apparently unsure as to whether or not the TRO should be filed.  What. The. Hell?

This issue should be a complete no brainer.  This is what CLEAT is supposed to do.  Instead of standing up for the labor issue and protecting the employees of the Sheriff's Office, they are going to meet with some representatives of the DSABC to determine who, or if anyone, is going to file this TRO.  This TRO needs to happen.  Now.  Its obvious the County is going to fight us tooth and nail regarding the CBA and as usual, they are going to try and screw us.  This should not happen and the DSABC and CLEAT should be fighting over who gets to file the TRO not whether it should be filed at all.  Was this just an idle threat in the face of the Commissioners?  I sure hope not.  They will never take us seriously again if it was.

If CLEAT stands aside and lets this fall to DSABC to file on the outside (and how long is that going to take?) then I would suggest that the DSABC re-evaluate its professional relationship with CLEAT.  When the labor issues become complex and serious, such as they are now, we need help and representation, not waffling and abdication.

UPDATE: I had emailed DSABC President Janssen regarding the restraining order and asking about the lawsuits and what progress was being made.  Apparently, the union needs to file a grievance through proper channels prior to asking for a restraining order and are in the process of doing that.  Im not sure if we have actual labor representatives pursuing this issue or if its elected DSABC personnel, but perhaps they can focus on using a labor attorney or other qualified representative to handle this issue so that we are not taking two steps forward and one step back, which is what it looks like.

Standby for a message from rumor control...

So, here is the latest info... out with the old in with the new.  The DSABC announced the election results and its no surprise that Lt. Janssen and his running mates were elected.  They are well respected from what Ive seen and heard and lets hope that they have the good fortune and dedication to turn the Association around.

Meanwhile....

Booking is going back to 8 hour shifts, allegedly, due to the claims made by Commissioners Court that there is apparently a 10% 'waste' of manpower at the time that the shifts overlap.  Im not a staffing genius, but when you change shifts, theres always an overlap of personnel.  Many officers sought those positions in booking specifically to have the 13.20 hr shifts to spend more time with family and have their lives set up for that schedule.  Also, some of those currently assigned to booking are being reassigned to the floors.

Classification is also slated to lose 4-5 officers across their shifts. 

I wonder if any of the officers in the 46 support roles outlined by Commissioners are going to be reassigned.

KSAT discovers the jail staffing issue

And not a moment too soon......  Meanwhile, today was the day the budget was to be passed and if passed, a temporary restraining order was to be filed by the DSABC to bring the issue of our staffing before a judge.  Comissioner Paul Elizondo called it "sabotage".  Interestingly enough, Elizondo seems to be the latest Commissioner with his facts out of whack.  He told KSAT that the "state" has said we are 200 officers over our minimum required.  I sent him an email asking where he got those numbers and if I should hear from him, Ill post the reply but I'm not holding my breath.  Those of us that work at the jail know damn well we do not have 200 officers over our minimum staffing level.  Almost every day we are at our minimum staffing level.  I think it would be incredibly refreshing to see the media fact check these Commissioners and their lackeys like Haven for Hope CEO George Block and call them on their 'mistakes'.

I've also sent emails to KSAT Reporters Jesse Degollado and Charles Gonzales asking them to confront the Commissioners for the claims they have made which are completely untrue.  I've yet to get a response from either reporter.

The DSABC strikes back

On Tuesday the 13th, the Bexar County Commissioners plan to meet and finalize the proposed budget that includes the elimination of 128 positions at the jail.  If they vote to pass this budget, the DSABC has said they will file a temporary restraining order for injunctive relief.  Right now, its unclear what effect this will have on the overall issue or if it will stop the elimination of those positions, but it should put the issue before a court.  If you can make it, be at the courthouse at 10:30am to make your voice heard.

New piece in the SA Current highlights crusade against the DSABC

Writer Michale Barajas at the SA Current has a new piece on Commissioner Kevin Wolff and his apparently fervent desire to get rid of the DSABC, Wolff says, because its standing in the way of his goal to privatize the jail.  I'm not sure why Wolff is so intent on pursuing privatization given its sordid history in Texas and the obstacles in the way, not the least of which is the Sheriff.  Why he would rather risk the safety of staff, inmates and the community in an effort to save a few million dollars is a mystery given how many millions they have in the budget in discretionary spending that could be curtailed.  When cutting budgets, public safety is usually not on the chopping block.

The Current article paints Commissioner Wolff as intent on going after the union.  His blatant anti-union position is part and parcel to his role as the lone Republican on the Court and I suspect that he is looking to cement his position amongst Republicans and Tea Party members but his reasoning in this issue is lacking.  I contacted Michael Barajas at the Current and gave him some additional information and hopefully he can bring us some more exposure on this issue.  Check out his column and leave some feedback.  As always, let me know what you think by commenting or emailing me.

http://sacurrent.com/news/bexar-commissioner-wants-to-break-up-the-state-of-sheriff-8217-s-union-1.1198787

Writer Michael Barajas has also written on the topic of privatization in the recent past.  Check out these stories:

Do private prisons save money? Sept. 7th, 2011 

Prisons for profit: Deaths, lawsuits don’t stop expansion of GEO immigration prisons Feb. 16th 2011

Chief Dovalina and the Sheriff paid a visit to Commissioners Court today

It was a beautiful thing.  Chief Dovalina had the Commissioners by the collar and was kicking them in the ass.  We saw leadership and focus.  He had figures and information to rebut the recent claims and innuendo from the Commissioners that the jail is fully staffed. This was so very much needed.  Specifically, he went to ask for 64 positions and he showed where over the course of time, 832 beds had been added to the jail but that the aggregate number of officers added to staff for those beds was... 14.  We have a sizable number of positions unfilled and with the newly proposed relief factor, our situation is bleak.

David Smith made the offhand comment insinuating that no officer had soiled themselves in the unit for lack of a break.  I know for a fact this happened as I personally know the officer.  Be that as it may, David Smith and the Commissioners are not concerned with anything more than the bottomline.  Their ultimate suggestion came down to re-assigning 46 "support" positions to the 'front line' directly supervising inmates.  These positions consisted of mostly single officers in various temporary duty assignments such as SERT STU (2), Triangle (yeah, thats a position thats just being wasted...), Fleet Maintenance (2), Fire Safety Officer (1), Environmental Officer (1), Tech Support (1), Yeoman Main Jail (5), Yeoman Annex (5), Facilities Services Supervisor (1 Sgt), Facility Services Staff (3).  There are others, but these are the ones I recall off the top of my head.

Mr. Smith put forth the notion that these 46 positions could also be used to assist the shifts on a daily basis saying: "the folks in these support positions need to understand that they may not be working in those jobs every single day as that is not what their position was budgeted for"  He has a point.  Of course, the reality is a bit different in that many of the jobs filled by those officers listed above are not being done by anyone else and would cost the county thousands in order to staff if this were a perfect world.

When pointing out the fire safety position, one of the Commissioners or it may have been David Smith made the comment that we have a fire marshal.  Yeah, we have a County Fire Marshal but he isn't going to be going around making sure the air packs are full, officers are trained in fire compliance requirements and dealing with the myriad of duties that Cpl. Moncus currently does.  Its almost like they expect the fact that they came up with an idea, that its perfectly plausible to implement without exploring further.

Just as the suggestion from David Smith that instead of full time employees to staff the jail that we become more 'flexible' in our staffing and employ part time employees or retirees to help augment our staff.  Has David Smith or anyone done a study or other research to see if anyone is interested in working at the jail for zero benefits and crappy pay in a dangerous environment with the amount of garbage that we put up with?  I'm sure they will be overwhelmed with applications. 

I guess I also have to speculate as to whether or not this army of part time employees and retirees that are slated to save the day will even have the proper training to be of benefit, but I'm sure Mr. Smith has that covered. 


More to come.....

Shady attempt at attacking our retirement by State Legislators

I found out today that in the past few months, 2 separate bills were introduced by a Republican from Houston (Kenneth Sheets) and Warren Chisum from Pampa sought to eliminate various retirement plans in Texas, specifically affected would be the TDCRS, which is also known as the "Teachers Retirement" but also encompasses tens of thousands of government workers, including Bexar County.  Its unclear why these guys wanted to hurt so many people.  

Legislative Session: 82(R) - Relating to creating defined contribution retirement plans for persons eligible to participate in the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

Battle brewing over Texas public pensions-over-texas-public-pensions-1802578.html 

Attack on TRS pensions draws heavy fire

Bill to Undermine Guaranteed TRS Pension Benefits on Committee Agenda Tuesday

Basically, had the bills passed, you would have been grandfathered and allowed to stay in the TCDRS but anyone new coming on after Sept. 1st 2012 would have been forced to get a 401(k) or something similar for a retirement option...bully idea.  Anyone remember when the economy crashed for the first time a few years ago and how most people with 401(k)'s lost 50% or more of their value?  This is why when former President Bush suggested 'privatizing' social security and investing it in the stock market was such a spectacularly bad idea.  Rather than have a guaranteed retirement plan, you would likely see a reduction in benefits paid to you over time.  One bill is dead and the other was left in Committee back in April, presumably still on life support.  Contact your representative and fight this.

So, my next question is; WHERE IS THE DSABC ON THESE THINGS and why aren't they spending the members dues on getting into the fight on this?

Suggestions:

Hire an actual, honest to God labor attorney to protect our interests in the Texas Legislature.

Have a designated union representative be the DSABC watchdog for legislative issues.  These bills were introduced back in March and we should have been on the case day one.  Maybe we were...I don't know because I'm not a member of DSABC.  If so, let me know by commenting or email me at bexardeputyissues AT gmail.com