California Prison Guard Union: The Toughest Beast in the State
PolicyNook Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 at 1:15PM 
The California correctional officers’ union (CCPOA) has been guarding more than just prison inmates. As one of the most influential special interest groups in the state, it has secured and steadfastly held onto some of the highest salaries and benefits awarded to state employees.
CCPOA maintains an annual operating budget of over $23 million. With that sum, it makes contributions to ballot initiatives, lobbying efforts, and political campaigns.
CCPOA is best known for its support of ballot initiatives that keep prison populations high. In 1994, CCPOA spent $101,000 on the Three Strikes Initiative, making it the second largest donor to that campaign. That proposition passed with a 72% majority. In 2008, CCPOA spent $1 million against Proposition 5, helping to defeat an initiative that would have emphasized treatment over incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.
Flexing its Political Muscle
According to FollowTheMoney.org, during the 2010 election, CCPOA spent $1.9 million in contributions and independent expenditures against Meg Whitman and for Governor Brown. This outlay ranked the union well within the Governor’s top 10 supporters.
In an open letter to members after the election, CCPOA Executive VP Chuck Alexander wrote: “Now that the campaign is over we can begin talking with Governor-elect Brown and his team about what it will take to better our working conditions.”
Notwithstanding its steadfast support of Governor Brown, CCPOA distributes campaign contributions to and supports legislators across both parties. In the last ten years, CCPOA has given money to every current state senator. During the same period, it gave slightly more to Republican senators overall, a reversal of overall union giving, which favored Democrats 9 to 1 in 2010. And in the 2010 election, 104 of the 107 candidates endorsed by CCPOA won election.
Salary Successes
CCPOA negotiated a collective bargaining agreement that covered the union from 2001 to 2006. The agreement secured a 34% raise in base pay for correctional officers over those five years, far ahead of most other state employees. In 2010, the average California prison guard salary was $72,400, over 60% higher than the national average – $44,230. Counting overtime pay, California prison guard salaries routinely surpass $100,000.
When the union’s collective bargaining agreement expired in 2006, the Schwarzenegger administration and CCPOA could not agree on a contract. Union members received no pay raises until 2011, when the Brown administration reached an agreement on a 2-year contract with CCPOA. The administration presented the contract as a cost saver, largely because it increased employee contributions to their pensions.
Although it marginally lowered overall costs in 2011, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) estimated that the contract would increase annual correctional officer personnel costs by $350 million in the 2013-14 fiscal year. Given the $3.2 billion personnel costs for correctional officers, that amounts to an expenditure increase of more than 10%. The increase is largely attributable to a 4% base pay raise, increased state contributions toward healthcare coverage, and a policy that allows prison guards to cash out unused vacation time.
Excessive Compensation?
Given differences in cost of living and different demands placed on guards in different states, the most accurate evaluation of compensation might focus on whether the compensation level allows the department to maintain its desired staff levels. If the department has no trouble filling positions – if hiring rates are consistently higher than attrition rates – this suggests that compensation is adequate.
In February 2008, based on the comparison of hiring rates and guard attrition (1,575 vs. 600 respectively), the LAO concluded that "the data suggest that current [prison guard] compensation levels are sufficient, if not more than sufficient, for the state to meet its staffing needs."
CCPOA’s upcoming raise should also be considered in the context of the state’s General Fund budget, which also funds other departments’ salaries and services. Absent state revenue increases, raising prison guard compensation necessarily means trimming provisions for other state employees and services. Citing this, the LAO tentatively recommended rejecting the employee contracts negotiated in early 2011. Ignoring the recommendation, the California Legislature approved the contracts. Three months later, the Governor and the Legislature passed a budget that issued major cuts to K-12 and higher education.
Today, as Sacramento finds itself facing difficult budget decisions, one must ask: how effectively can the Governor defend the state’s varied interests when negotiating with one of his largest and most influential political supporters?
Reader Comments (25)
While there are valid points to this ad, the depiction in the cartoon is wrong! First, the men and women working in the CA prisons are trained Correctional Officers who hold peace officer status. Secondly, they are not the ones who do the negotiating and giving political donations. The cartoon picture should have been of a union boss, not a uniformed officer. These men and women put their lives on the line every day and the conditions they work under and the garbage they have to take from the inmates, is horrible. My husband worked in the CA prisons for almost 30 years and I have a son and nephew who work in it today. No one mentions the pay cuts they have taken since CA found itself in the financial mess we are in. This mess goes way beyond the CCPOA union and don't forget, even retiree's like my husband, continue to pay taxes, which means they continue to contribute to the retirement fund. You people with big mouths and big ideas about how to fix the situation, should work the job in a CA prison for a few days! Get some urine or crap thrown at you or get assaulted by one of the inmates. I guarantee you'll either quit or you'll be asking for a pay raise. Or! better yet, you'll be asking why your pay is being cut, officer's laid off and the work load piled higher for those who were lucky enough to keep their jobs. I penned this for my facebook comment, before I read the ones here. It would behoove the writer of the article to pay close attention to the comments. Then you should apologize to the hard working men and women you are offending! and write an article that is deserving of the work they do each and every day. Living the life as the wife and mother of a Correctional SGT and Correctional officer, I could go on and on, but hopefully! you get my point! Just sayin :)
This is a very interesting analysis, but one question that needs to be asked is, "What type of officer/guard would be attracted to the job of working around convicted felons if wages were brought down to the national median in a state with a higher cost of living than the national median?"
This article was clearly written by someone with a good analytical background when looking at the numbers alone, but you have to factor in cost of living as well.
A failure in this analysis is analyzing the hiring/attrition rate instead of the actual cost of living for California relative to the rest of the nation. The analysis ignores the fact that since 2008 we have seen the worst economic downturn since the great depression. This translates to meaning that officers can't leave CDCR if they want to, not without taking significant pay cuts.
What we have in CDCR is a large amount of officers who actually have an impressive background that includes officers with BA degrees, which has significantly increased over the last five years.
Any policy change regarding potential cuts in officer pay must take into account that the department has been a beneficiary during this economic downturn by attracting what very well could be some terrific future leaders in CDCR, leaders who may very well be capable and receptive to implementing positive change that incorporates the needs of the community and officers in a balanced and fair manner.
Cutting pay of officers will increase the probability that the strongest future leaders in CDCR will leave when the economy finally allows them to. Many of these future leaders will probably start honing their skills in such a way that will not be entirely compatible with the department’s needs. In fact I’m one of those individuals, and I intend to leave CDCR due to the worsening prospects I see for my future in the department, regardless of whether pay decreases or not, which it already has in a variety of ways.
The CCPOA is not a special interest group. It's simply a union. And it backs who-ever they believe will treat it's members the best. They are doing their job the way we want them to do it. The way a good union should work for it's members. All the haters are simply jealous because they are not receiving the pay/benefits that correctional peace officers receive. Well, your probably not receiving it because your not a correctional peace officer.
Stay in school, and shoot for a better job than Burger king burger flipper. Stop being green and go earn some green. The salary of a Ca correctional officer is ok, but not outrageously huge like media outlets want you to think. Most other state workers earn much more than corrections officers.
Like prison healthcare employees for example. CCPOA does not act intentionally to keep prisons full. Prisons are full because people are stupid. Because criminals keep returning to prison on their own accord. By their own actions. Three strikes is a great law, It should be 1 strike!
Why is it, this website who spouts off, never replies to all the "good" replies to their stupid articles! Too chicken I suppose :) Is it because you don't really want to take on those who work in corrections? I think that's it. You run off at the keyboard, but wont come back at those who give you honest posts about the job they do every day. If you were to listen you'd have to stop writing crap against the CO's. You're not a watch dog group, you're a hater group. That's all you are. Jerks who don't know one darn thing about the people you talk smack about. Another thing, I don't see a lot of posts raving about your articles. I guess the only ones who see your crap are CDC and their family members like me. Get a life policynook!