Service Employees Local 1000 on Friday filed an unfair labor practice charge against the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for failing to meet and confer over layoffs that could commence Sept. 15.
Employees working jobs that departments plan to eliminate will be receiving notices soon, since the state must give an employee a 30-day notice before a layoff. But before that happens, departments must meet and confer with unions at least 60 days prior to laying off represented employees.
The meet and confer sessions aren't just a formality, Local 1000 negotiator Cindie Fonseca said in a telephone interview with us Monday. Meetings with the Department of Veterans Affairs , for example, brought the number of SEIU-covered employee layoffs from 50 down to seven.
According to the PERB complaint, of the 10 departments that are eliminating positions, "... only CDCR, with the largest number of layoffs pending, has refused to meet, has refused to schedule meetings, has refused to provide information, and has refused to mitigate layoff or address procedural defects in the layoff process."
Corrections has to cut 3,665 jobs. About 1,800 of the targeted positions are correctional officers covered by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and a bit more than 1,200 are covered by Local 1000, Fonseca said.
Click here to read the charges against Corrections that SEIU has filed with the Public Employee Relations Board.
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