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From: wobbly@liberty.com
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To: iww-list@fido.wps.com
Subject: Most Reactionary Union?
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 94 17:40:17 PST
Status: OR


     I found this editorial in the Orange County Herald, of all places,
and thought you all might find it interesting....

     "Prison guards are locking up the tax dollars...

     Doubts are growing about whether Prop 184, the "Three Strikes
You're-Out" initiative, will quell violent crime or break the taxpayers
wallets.  But the smallish "No on 184" committee - though it has support
>from the Polly Klaas Foundation, named for the girl whose brutal
kidnapping and murder started much of the "three strikes" talk - doesn't
have money for TV or even radio ads.
     If 184 passes, it will be a tribute to the growing political clout
of an unlikely powerhouse - the union of state prison guards - and an
example of the use of the political process to enrich a special-interest
group.
     Prop 184 would be like a full-employment act for prison guards.
The measure - identical to a bill passed in the Legislature earlier this
year, but more difficult to change if also installed through the
initiative process - would increase the penalties for convicted felons
who had previously been convicted of serious or violent crimes.
     When the "three strikes" idea first emerged, most people assumed
the idea was to put violent criminals away.  But as lobbied through the
Legislature and put on the ballot, the present law permits one of the
strikes to be a non-violent felony.  So stealing a $200 car, using a
stolen credit card, or possessing marijuana while in prison could land
somebody in jail, at the tax-payers expense ($30,000 a year) for life.
Thats a lot of prison guards.
     The Rand Corporation estimates that while the "three strike" law
would reduce some serious felonies, it would cost and extra $4.5 to $6.5
billion a year.  Whith state government running a chronic defecit and
companies fleeing to escape high taxes, you have to wonder if the
expense is worth it [sic]  Despite the emergence of crime as THE
political issue this year, the California cDepartment of Justice reports
declines in crime rates for the last two years.
     The California COrrectional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), the
union of state prison guards, has, for some years, been quietly but
effectively dfeploying its members' money on behalf of members'
financial interestes.
     The CCPOA gave $101,000 to the campaign to get Prop 184 on the
ballot.  (Senate candidate Michael Huffington chipped in $300,000)  The
CCPOA's donation was clearly a key factor.  Prop 184 stands to make the
union larger and even more politically influential.
     This was not the first strategic deployment of the guards' union
money.  In 1992, CCPOA was the state's second-largest giver of PAC money
to candidates, chipping in $1,017,972 to various candidates.  The
largest contribution went to an obscure Republican challenger to
Assembly veteran John Vasconcellos of San Jose.  Vasconcellos signed the
ballot argument against a $450-million prison construction bond on the
1990 ballot, which lost.
     The CCPOA gave $1.8 million in campaign contributions in 1990,
twice what the California Teachers Association gave.  Some $921,000 was
spent on behalf of Gov. Pete Wilson.
     The union has received value for its political money.  In 1980, the
average prison guard salary was $14,400 a year. Today, prison guards
average $44,000 a year -58 percent above the national average.  Since
1984, California has adfded more correctional employees to the state
government - some 26,000 - than all other statre employees combined.
Prison guards recently got raises six months ahead of other state
government employees.
     This parallels a dramatic increase in the prison-industrial
complex. [!!!]  In 1977, California kept 19,000 inmates in prison.
Since then, the prison population has increased SIXFOLD, to 126,000 [and
they just approved funding to double that last month..G.S]  Since 1984,
19 new prisons have been built.  California puts a higher percentage of
its population behind bars than any jurisdiction in the world, including
Russia, South Africa, and the United States as a whole.
     But the prison guards -and some citizens - want to put even more
people in prison for longer setnaces.  The guards' union is using its
own money to manipulate the political process, but its paid off in
dollars extracted from taxpayers.  Is it really worth it to you? Do you
feel that much safer?"

.....And they say unions cant adapt to the modern world!!!!

General Strike BKA wobbly@liberty.com

