The State Worker
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
May 11, 2016 – 11:58 AM

• Three-year deal includes salary increases
• Employees to begin contributing to retiree medical benefit
• Pay for medical checkups now pensionable

California’s correctional officers will see a raise on their July paychecks under terms of a new contract they overwhelmingly ratified, the union announced this week.

More than nine in 10 ballots cast approved the three-year agreement, according to a press release by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. The union did not say how many of its 29,000 members voted. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the package into law Monday.

“Our negotiations team worked hard to get us a good contract, a fair contract,” union president Chuck Alexander said in a press statement. “Our membership recognized this, and voted accordingly.”

Our negotiations team worked hard to get us a good contract, a fair contract.

CCPOA President Chuck Alexander

The contract includes annual across-the-board 3 percent pay raises. The first raise kicks in for the pay period following ratification, so employees covered by the union will see that money on July paychecks that cover the June pay period. The second and third raises take effect on July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018.

Salaries for CCPOA members cost the state about $2.1 billion in 2015, state pay data show. The new contract will add incrementally more cost each year, topping out at $588 million in fiscal 2018-19, according to a recent analysis.

Meanwhile, the members will begin contributing to a retiree benefits trust fund. The contributions increase incrementally to 4 percent of pay beginning in 2018-19. The state will match payments into the fund.

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