Fresno County Public Safety Association Going On Strike
The Fresno County Public Safety Association is announcing its intent to strike commencing May 23rd, 2022 to draw attention to the extreme lack of equity between our members and those of other bargaining unit(s) within the County. The exhaustive working conditions within the Corrections classifications and the simple fact that it has become virtually impossible to recruit and retain qualified staff has resulted in unsafe and understaffed working conditions.
How Did We Get Here?
In 2011 the County obtained many concessions from various bargaining groups including Unit 1 which consists of the Deputy Sheriff classifications and Unit 2 which consists of Correctional Officers and Juvenile Correctional Officers (represented by FCPSA). Since that time many of the concessions have been returned to Unit 1 and in addition they have received approx. 22% in salary increases from 2010 to 2021, when this latest round of negotiations started.
Meanwhile Unit 2 has still not received what it gave up in 2011 and the salary increases have totaled approx. 7.5% from 2010 to 2021 when this latest round of negotiations started. In fact, for many officers who worked for the County in 2011, if they retire today, they would have to report their 2011 income as their highest year. Inflation during the same period of time was 26.6%, and that was in October 2021, when FCPSA began negotiations. It is considerably higher now. (As of March 2022, inflation since October 2010 has been approx. 31%.)
A Reasonable Comparison to Make
Let’s just look at a base salary comparison of Deputy Sheriff vs Correctional Officer to compare.
In 2010 a top step Correctional Officer III made $5052 per month, while a top step Deputy Sheriff made $6012 per month (19% more).
At the end of 2021 those numbers were $5453 and $7610 respectively (40% more). This is before Unit 1 received their latest salary increase of 5%. This is simply not fair.
Working in a County Jail or a Juvenile Corrections Facility has gotten significantly more dangerous since Proposition 47 and Assembly Bill 109 (AB109) passed. With
these laws many of the inmates who would be serving time in California State Prisons, or the California Youth Authority are housed in County facilities. This makes for a more dangerous environment. Physical assaults on Officers have increased significantly. Because of short staffing, officers have to work double shifts consisting of sixteen (16) consecutive hours two and three days of their workweek. Additionally, other classifications who are represented by FCPSA are also included in the calculation of how far they have fallen behind inflation. This includes County Security, Child Support Assistants, Child Support Specialists, Probation Technicians and Program Technicians.
What Was Offered?
The County has put forward 3% 3% 3% over the next three years for non-corrections employees and 5% 3% 3% for corrections employees, as well as increases to some other pays. Some of them might look good on paper but not in reality. An example is a 5% incentive for employees who work more than 10 years in their correctional job. This sounds good, but it doesn’t take effect until the end of 2023. The County offered a very good increase in family medical coverage but only 74 members of the almost 1000 members in the bargaining group are enrolled in that plan.
And let’s not forget the comment from the County’s negotiator, that it isn’t about the County not having the money, it is that the County doesn’t want to spend it on what you are asking. With AB109 a significant amount of money was moved from the State to the Counties.
What Is It We Want?
If a bargaining group ever needed equity adjustments, it is FCPSA and they are long overdue. The County has not disputed any of the salary or inflation numbers included in this press release during our collective bargaining meetings. The County needs to provide equity adjustments to bring our salary in line with what inflation has done since 2010.