Thursday, October 20, 2011

Sacramento Bee: CA Department of Corrections layoffs appear very likely

This time, California prison layoffs look real

Published: Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
 
Some employees who work for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation can't believe that their jobs in the state's prison and parole system are going away.
Calls and emails to this column spiked Wednesday after The Bee reported that state employee unions had agreed to deals that end moving allowances for many CDCR employees, replacing them with much cheaper incentives to transfer to some of the least desirable jobs in some of the remotest parts of California.

Labor agreed to the deals hoping the concessions would save jobs. State workers asked: "Are they really going to lay people off?"

If you're not a state employee, that question may seem silly. The state faced a $19 billion deficit going into the current fiscal year. Republicans didn't put up the votes for a tax increase. So of course, you think, government's costs – and jobs – need cutting.

But the state's layoff procedures and history have conditioned state workers to disregard layoff warnings.
The government generally issues three termination warning letters for every one job it intends to cut. That gives the state flexibility and legal cover when it starts axing positions.

It's also supposed to prod employees to move from targeted endangered positions (such as correctional officer jobs in overstaffed prisons) to vacant slots that are secure (such as guard jobs in understaffed prisons).

But workers know there's a chance, maybe a very good chance, that the warning they receive is meaningless. Many gamble and sit tight.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used layoff warnings as a political tool to pry budget concessions from labor-friendly Democrats who control the Legislature. Little came of it.

"This time, it's more than a threat of layoffs," said Judy Gelein, deputy director of human resources for the CDCR. "This time, unfortunately, it's going to be real."

It's easy to believe her.

The courts have ruled that the CDCR must drastically cut its prison inmate population to relieve overcrowding. The latest budget calls for turning over some state penal functions and money to local governments, which will in turn cut the department's workload.

Officials are taking it seriously by putting out detailed layoff info on the Web, in newsletters and in meetings.
"We know the process will be traumatic," said CDCR spokesman Paul Verke. "We're making a real concentrated effort to communicate with employees."

And this time around the unions are on board, making those new concessions and telling their members to brace themselves.

"In the past, employees have been told sit on your (layoff notice), you're probably going to be fine," said Ron Yank, head of Gov. Jerry Brown's Department of Personnel Administration.

To review: Court order. Less CDCR work. Less budget money. Management and labor on message.
From here, it looks like the layoffs are real.

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