Gov. Gavin Newsom has long had a cozy relationship with the California prison guards union.
The union endorsed his run for governor in 2018, contributed over $100,000 in behested payments to his inaugural fund and spent millions to defeat Newsom’s recall in 2021.
In turn, Newsom has signed off on generous contracts for the union, even manipulating compensation comparison studies to justify unjustified raises.
As CalMatters reported two weeks ago, “The union representing 25,000 California prison guards struck a deal for a new contract that gives Gov. Gavin Newsom some financial relief in the short term but includes a mix of bonuses and raises that would kick in over time.”
In total, the deal will cost the state an additional $600 million over the next four years. That’s big money considering the state is forecasting major deficits for years to come.
Consider also that this contract comes just two years after a contract that came with an additional price tag of $1 billion loaded with $10,000 bonuses for some guards, stipends and other handouts.
Warning against the 2023 contract at that time, Govern For California’s David Crain reported, “Even before the 2021 increase, California correctional officer wages were more than 20% above the next highest state ($88,710 in CA, followed by $72,990 in Massachusetts) and more than double the median for all U.S. states ($43,800). That’s after controlling for education, experience and cost of living.”
But that didn’t stop the Newsom administration from signing off on raises the LAO couldn’t find justification for.
In fact, beginning with the 2023 contract, the Newsom administration began a peculiar practice of generating compensation comparison studies seemingly designed to make it seem as though California’s prison guards were underpaid.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office reported on June 23 that the Newsom administration has done this once again, putting forward a compensation study crafted in collaboration with the prison guard union in order to justify more money for the prison guards.
“[The] study omits overtime (a substantial component of Unit 6 compensation), compares Unit 6 compensation with a survey sample that is not representative of where state correctional officers work (largely reflecting regions with much higher wages and cost of living than where correctional officers work), and the study uses the wrong measure to compare the value of retirement benefits,” the LAO observed.
The California prison guards union is the only one to get this special treatment.
“Unlike the CalHR-developed methodology used for the compensation study of Units 2, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, and 19, the Unit 6 compensation study uses a methodology that was agreed to at the bargaining table through a Joint Labor Management Committee process,” the LAO notes.
This practice is, to put it plainly, nuts.
Given the union support of Newsom, this is also really just legal corruption.
Unfortunately, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association holds great power in Sacramento. Few dare to speak up against it.
As a consequence, Californians will continue to spend more on prison guard giveaways than necessary and less on things ordinary Californians might actually benefit from.
