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Post by Warren on Mar 15, 2013 21:57:30 GMT -5
Are there any updates from Teamsters concerning possible pay raises,promotions, and hiring?
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Post by Mr Hat on Mar 24, 2013 15:46:15 GMT -5
We have been hiring TEA's down south.
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Post by lawton on Mar 29, 2013 17:32:37 GMT -5
The only update I have seen is that PBA represented state officers are getting seniority raises on top of the basic raise in both the Senate and House budgets. I have heard that CO's represented by the Teamsters arent getting them in the budgets right now it appears.
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Post by brownversesblue on Apr 12, 2013 14:52:46 GMT -5
Dear Mr.
Thanks very much for sharing with me your thoughts regarding pay raises for Florida correction officers.
I appreciate you taking time to discuss the importance of a pay raise and the impact it would have for officers, such as yourself, and their families who devote countless hours and hard work to serving in our state prisons. Like you, I am in support of an across-the-board pay raise for all state workers.
As you may know, the Florida Senate passed the proposed Senate budget (SB 1500) on Wednesday, which included a 3% pay raise for all state employees except state legislators.
With the Florida Legislature continuing to convene over the next 3 weeks, I, along with members of the Florida Senate, will continue to intensely review the state’s budget during budget conferencing with the Florida House of Representatives. Let me assure you that I will certainly keep your views in mind as I, Speaker Will Weatherford, my Senate colleagues and members of the Florida House discuss various budgetary differences including funding for increased pay raises of correctional officers.
If there is a way that we can include an additional pay raise for corrections officers, similar to the program in the Senate budget that would impact law enforcement, I would certainly be open to discussing that option in the budget conference.
Again, thanks for writing. Your comments, criticisms and suggestions make me a better Senator.
Respectfully,
Don Gaetz
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Post by sfcwoodret on Apr 13, 2013 7:47:44 GMT -5
I really wonder how DOC got overlooked from other law enforcement in the first place. It's really not a budget breaker to simply include DOC in the step pay raises that all the other LEO's are going to get. After-all it's a 74 billion dollar budget. It sure looks like they had the money to me.
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Post by lawton on Apr 13, 2013 21:53:23 GMT -5
We have made more noise the past few years than FHP and FDLE and them by far and also have many more officers so that isn't the issue. I agree its possibly intentional as the Teamsters aren't giving much to the people that control things in our legislature (and will for the next 3 years at least) and are considered the enemy (Big Dem fundraisers nationwide working against them) The PBA at least plays to the power players in the legislature trying to get what they can. I think we 100% would have got the same just like the previous years we got the compression raises in the good budget years. The have over 2 billion extra this year so saying we wont take 30 million of that to help COs is saying we are punishing you for having Teamsters imo. Also the Teamsters should have made the case much earlier before the budgets were submitted so as to have had it already on the radar instaed of mostly focusing on that fantasy 7% bill which had basically no chance. Hell the PBA was telling their people for over a month they were getting them compression raises. The head Teamsters for whatever reason dropped the ball. Do they represent other state people and didnt want to say they were trying to get us more than them ? (I don't know if they do or not).
Also that FHP and FWC stuff is just trying to take the heat off the Teamsters. ALL PBA Officers got extra in good budget years like this including COs while those separate years the budget was terrible and FDLE and them got nothing either.
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Post by lawton on Apr 13, 2013 21:56:31 GMT -5
I really wonder how DOC got overlooked from other law enforcement in the first place. It's really not a budget breaker to simply include DOC in the step pay raises that all the other LEO's are going to get. After-all it's a 74 billion dollar budget. It sure looks like they had the money to me. They have 2 extra billion or so for reserves this year so you are 100% correct. I hope we can pull it out still but Negron saying find it in criminal justice if we can which is already underfunded tells me he wont make a big effort probably. |
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Post by Drauka on Apr 14, 2013 1:15:15 GMT -5
We have made more noise the past few years than FHP and FDLE and them by far and also have many more officers so that isn't the issue. I agree its possibly intentional as the Teamsters aren't giving much to the people that control things in our legislature (and will for the next 3 years at least) and are considered the enemy (Big Dem fundraisers nationwide working against them) The PBA at least plays to the power players in the legislature trying to get what they can. I think we 100% would have got the same just like the previous years we got the compression raises in the good budget years. The have over 2 billion extra this year so saying we wont take 30 million of that to help COs is saying we are punishing you for having Teamsters imo. Also the Teamsters should have made the case much earlier before the budgets were submitted so as to have had it already on the radar instaed of mostly focusing on that fantasy 7% bill which had basically no chance. Hell the PBA was telling their people for over a month they were getting them compression raises. The head Teamsters for whatever reason dropped the ball. Do they represent other state people and didnt want to say they were trying to get us more than them ? (I don't know if they do or not). Also that FHP and FWC stuff is just trying to take the heat off the Teamsters. ALL PBA Officers got extra in good budget years like this including COs while those separate years the budget was terrible and FDLE and them got nothing either. The FHP got a 5% raise in 2008. We did not. FWC got a 3% raise in 2011. We did not. We were PBA both times, same as them. You can say that's an attempt to take the heat off the Teamsters, I say it shows the truth that we got shafted by the Senate just the exact same way they are trying to shaft us now....The fact is, those two other times, and this time, it wasn't really the organization that represented us fault, it was our fault. FHP and FWC have much higher membership percentage rates than we have had in over a decade. They get in front of the issue and help ensure they get treated better. They campaign for themselves. We don't. We get exactly what we deserve because we don't care to even bother trying most times. They know if they screw us this time, we will all blame the Union instead of them. The Union is trying to get us off our a$$es and show them that we know it's them and will place the blame where it belongs. That's the purpose of the e-mails, phone calls, and letters. You cant tell me that the Senate doesn't realize that we deserve a raise, and have deserved one in the past. These are not stupid people. They are doing what they are doing because they know we will never form any meaningful opposition to them. It doesn't matter a bit who represents us, its all a matter of they have control of the money and if they don't have to give us any, they wont. Why throw money into prisons that 90% of the voting public never even see when they can hold that money back for their pet projects at home that impress their constituents and ensure votes in their favor. They play a numbers game, and our disorganized numbers don't impress them a single bit. FYI, Teamsters were asking for the seniority based raises since at least December, according to this: fdocteamsters.unionactive.com/contractupdate121012.pdf which leads me to believe they were likely asking for it for at least a month prior to that and this an update. Also, Teamsters have 7 Locals in Florida representing hundreds of individual employers in FL (UPS being probably the second largest besides us). The Teamsters desperately want us to succeed, having us is a big deal to them since we are a statewide organization with 17,000 potential members. They know if they can get us something like this, that people will join. Everyone I've spoken to in the organization is shocked at the apathy here, and cant believe we wouldnt jump on the chance to take back what we've lost. |
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Post by lawton on Apr 14, 2013 8:54:15 GMT -5
We have made more noise the past few years than FHP and FDLE and them by far and also have many more officers so that isn't the issue. I agree its possibly intentional as the Teamsters aren't giving much to the people that control things in our legislature (and will for the next 3 years at least) and are considered the enemy (Big Dem fundraisers nationwide working against them) The PBA at least plays to the power players in the legislature trying to get what they can. I think we 100% would have got the same just like the previous years we got the compression raises in the good budget years. The have over 2 billion extra this year so saying we wont take 30 million of that to help COs is saying we are punishing you for having Teamsters imo. Also the Teamsters should have made the case much earlier before the budgets were submitted so as to have had it already on the radar instaed of mostly focusing on that fantasy 7% bill which had basically no chance. Hell the PBA was telling their people for over a month they were getting them compression raises. The head Teamsters for whatever reason dropped the ball. Do they represent other state people and didnt want to say they were trying to get us more than them ? (I don't know if they do or not). Also that FHP and FWC stuff is just trying to take the heat off the Teamsters. ALL PBA Officers got extra in good budget years like this including COs while those separate years the budget was terrible and FDLE and them got nothing either. The FHP got a 5% raise in 2008. We did not. FWC got a 3% raise in 2011. We did not. We were PBA both times, same as them. You can say that's an attempt to take the heat off the Teamsters, I say it shows the truth that we got shafted by the Senate just the exact same way they are trying to shaft us now....The fact is, those two other times, and this time, it wasn't really the organization that represented us fault, it was our fault. FHP and FWC have much higher membership percentage rates than we have had in over a decade. They get in front of the issue and help ensure they get treated better. They campaign for themselves. We don't. We get exactly what we deserve because we don't care to even bother trying most times. They know if they screw us this time, we will all blame the Union instead of them. The Union is trying to get us off our a$$es and show them that we know it's them and will place the blame where it belongs. That's the purpose of the e-mails, phone calls, and letters. You cant tell me that the Senate doesn't realize that we deserve a raise, and have deserved one in the past. These are not stupid people. They are doing what they are doing because they know we will never form any meaningful opposition to them. It doesn't matter a bit who represents us, its all a matter of they have control of the money and if they don't have to give us any, they wont. Why throw money into prisons that 90% of the voting public never even see when they can hold that money back for their pet projects at home that impress their constituents and ensure votes in their favor. They play a numbers game, and our disorganized numbers don't impress them a single bit. FYI, Teamsters were asking for the seniority based raises since at least December, according to this: fdocteamsters.unionactive.com/contractupdate121012.pdf which leads me to believe they were likely asking for it for at least a month prior to that and this an update. Also, Teamsters have 7 Locals in Florida representing hundreds of individual employers in FL (UPS being probably the second largest besides us). The Teamsters desperately want us to succeed, having us is a big deal to them since we are a statewide organization with 17,000 potential members. They know if they can get us something like this, that people will join. Everyone I've spoken to in the organization is shocked at the apathy here, and cant believe we wouldnt jump on the chance to take back what we've lost. Show me the nespaper articles mentioning extra for DOC compression prior to now. The PBA had plenty with Puckett in the newspapers quoted. Those collective bargaining meetings do nothing basically and everyone knows its the floor bills/budget that gets you anything. The Teamsters on their own site were just telling us to push the 7% fantasy bill - nothing on compression raises until the bugets were out and we were left out. They are doing damage control now at the lowest level trying to get us to blame a union that actually did their job properly this year unlike them. We have way more officers than the PBA state people so that is a joke excuse also. In the good budget years where they didn't have nearly the extra for reserves like they do this year we got compression raises just like the other PBA Officers and we got a true raise with the other PBA people one year when all other state employees got a bonus not a true raise so those arguments hold no water imo and are just the business agents of the Teamsters trying to keep DOC in tow. FDLE and the other state LEO PBA Officers didnt get anything that year FHP got that in a super tight budget year as that was Rubio's thing mostly. I know they want us to succeed just like any union would to keep the duescoming in but the bottom line is they were naive focusing all the energy on that 7% bill instead of making compression the priority the same time PBA was for their Officers with the power players (They should have had press releases early saying that we deserved compression raises also) knowing when there is extra that the Republican legislature is willing to do that sometimes. Also we will not get the same attention from them because the Teamsters money goes mostly against them and they will control the budget for the next 3 years regardless if Crist beats Scott or not for Governor. All that being said Evers got this being talked about very late and there is a chance to still get us something extra like the PBA people but it shouldn't have came to this when you have that much extra in the budget. If we dont get it they need to go plain and simple as they are affecting our pay now. |
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Post by lawton on Apr 14, 2013 10:08:13 GMT -5
In the good budget years where they didn't have nearly the extra for reserves like they do this year we got compression raises just like the other PBA Officers and we got a true raise with the other PBA people one year when all other state employees got a bonus not a true raise so those arguments hold no water and are just the business agents of the Teamsters trying to keep DOC in tow. FDLE and the other state LEO PBA Officers didnt get anything that year FHP got that in a super tight budget year as that was Rubio's thing mostly. The point I make is that when we get a raise, all the other LEO groups also get one, but the reverse is not true. Other LEO groups, FHP and FWC get a raises when we get none. This was true under the PBA, and could still be true under Teamsters. It's not the CBA's fault either. It's ours. If you cant see that, then you are exactly as blind as the Senate wants you to be. Of course they want dues money coming in, so did the PBA. That's how they pay for their campaigns. Are you so naive that you think the Business agents, lawyers and lobbyists should fight for us for free, out of some sense of duty?? People ardently refuse to join, and yet still demand that they get the goods and services of a Union. They still demand the ability to say how the Union should be run. This is the mentality that's going to kill us, not some fine point in our lobbying strategies. Right now we aren't paying for squat. Our 3800± members are putting about $115K a month into the coffers, out of which comes pay for all the Business agents (6 of them), Lobbyists, lawyers, and their overhead expenses like office space to work in and mundane materials like paper, pencils, staples and tape, not to mention rental cars when they drive to Tally, food, lodging and all that for while they are there. We are using National money to fund us right now, and will until we have more than 40% membership. Until we have that or more, you wont see full page ads in the paper, or billboards raising public awareness, or anything like that. We barely have enough money coming in to fund whats being done. The same happened to the PBA, that's why we stopped seeing the things we saw in the mid 90's and why they really didnt fight all that hard to keep us. They are likely glad we're gone to be honest. The House and Senate wants us blaming our CBA instead of them because it keeps us weak. We should NOT be trying to appease them with money and a$$kissing, we should be bludgeoning them with our votes and our families votes. We should be slamming home the fact that every time they act against us, there will be political repercussions. They can, and will, continue to smack us around until we step up and demand better. Truth is, if we showed them over and over that if they treat us unfairly they get kicked out the next election cycles, they'd start to tow the line pretty quickly. They know most of us are far too selfish to do whats necessary. As a result, we get what we get: crumbs. All that being said Evers got this being talked about very late and there is a chance to still get us something extra like the PBA people but it shouldn't have came to this when you have that much extra in the budget. If we dont get it they need to go plain and simple as they are affecting our pay now. Again. extra in the budget to them is extra they can put to work in their districts. Prisons are NOT popular, since the public doesn't ever even think about us except briefly as they drive by one. No matter how early or how loudly we holler at them, they will not give us anything more than scraps until we demand better by our voting power. If the Teamsters go, who will take us next? I haven't seen the PBA outside our institutions handing out blue cards to get us back...have you? its been well over a year since they lost us. Doesnt really matter who takes us next, or if we keep the largest labor organization in the country, if we don't start to take control of our own fates on a large scale. I have a prediction: We wont get the step raises, and people will drum up anger against the Teamsters that we 'only' got 3% as our first raise since 2006. People will continue to be either apathetic or outright hostile towards the Union and either the Teamsters will drop us due to lack of interest by employees or they'll take a backseat like the PBA did and let fate run its course as they use what little dues money we generate to fund locals that actually give a $#!7 about themselves. After a year or three of small or no raises, we'll push for a new CBA and the cycle will repeat itself ad-infinitum. I just hope the cycle doesn't tail-spin us into privatization before I'm ready to retire. After that, this younger generation that wants things spoon fed to them with no effort expended or risks taken on their part can reap the whirlwind. You are falling for the Teamster agents line of bs imo. The bottom line is it is a disgrace for them to try and pre-blame us getting screwed over if it happens by blaming the PBA which actually played the game right and is getting 100% of their state officers an extra compression raise while we right now will get the same as any other state employee that is not PBA. That is actually pathetic. We got extra just like all the other PBA Officers in the good budget years since Bush was Governor and that FHP stuff is a red herring and was given out in a terrible budget year and other State LEO didnt get it either just like us. Think about this for a second - They are going to have 3 billion in reserves now after this budget and wouldn't even use 30 million to gives us the same raise. That is all that needs to be said about having the Teamsters if things don't change soon. Gaetz acting like he is helping COs deflecting the question on us getting the same compression raise just saying we may give lower state employees more - not extra just for COs basically in that statement anyway. thefloridachannel.org/video/41113-press-availability-with-senate-president-don-gaetz/At about the 9:20 minute mark |
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Post by lawton on Apr 14, 2013 10:55:31 GMT -5
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Post by lawton on Apr 14, 2013 11:32:39 GMT -5
You are falling for the Teamster agents line of bs imo. The bottom line is it is a disgrace for them to try and pre-blame us getting screwed over if it happens by blaming the PBA which actually played the game right and is getting 100% of their state officers an extra compression raise while we right now will get the same as any other state employee that is not PBA. That is actually pathetic. We got extra just like all the other PBA Officers in the good budget years since Bush was Governor and that FHP stuff is a red herring and was given out in a terrible budget year and other State LEO didnt get it either just like us. Think about this for a second - They are going to have 3 billion in reserves now after this budget and wouldn't even use 30 million to gives us the same raise. That is all that needs to be said about having the Teamsters if things don't change soon. Gaetz acting like he is helping COs deflecting the question on us getting the same compression raise just saying we may give lower state employees more - not extra just for COs basically in that statement anyway. thefloridachannel.org/video/41113-press-availability-with-senate-president-don-gaetz/At about the 9:20 minute mark No one is blaming the PBA for us not getting what we should have been fighting for with our membership numbers. It's not their fault that over 75% of us don't give a tinkers damn about what happens to us as a group. They aren't ? They say dont forgot under PBA FHP got 5% one year you didn't. What other reason is there for them to say that and not say that their other people didn't get it either. |
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Post by Drauka on Apr 14, 2013 13:18:12 GMT -5
Unbelievable. Ask the Teamsters business agents to explain this. thefloridachannel.org/video/41213-press-availability-with-house-speaker-will-weatherford/Absolutely Pathetic just prior to the 2 minute mark Weatherford is asked about the DOC not getting the same extra raises as the PBA Officers and he doesn't even have a clue what they are talking about and the other legislator has to step in and say they were approached about FHP retention problems (ours is worse than theirs actually) and moves on real quickly. TheTeamsters lobbyists didn't even have this on the House's power players radar so they could even give a bs answer to the reporters on why we aren't included. Simply pathetic representation for us specifically. The 'other legislator' that stepped in happens to be the Chair of the House Appropriations committee, Seth McKeel. It's been brought up over and over again to everyone on the appropriations committees in both the House and the Senate. If they are acting like they have no clue, its either a ploy or actual confusion based on the differences between the Senates Bill and the Houses version of the same Bill. The House Bill doesnt call for seniority based pay increase, but rather a fixed monetary amount for all state employees ($1,400) and a additional 3% for all FHP/FWC/FDLE. The Chair of Appropriations is telling the truth when he says they have no intention of adding us to their bills special pay issues section. They've been very resistant to us over this. Good thing the Senate, whose versions of these bills almost always win out, is working to at least try to find a way to include us in their version. At about 18:00 of thefloridachannel.org/video/4313-house-appropriations-committee/ he talks about HB5001 having an across the board $1,400 salary increase which works out to roughly 3% of the average state worker salary of 39K (his analysis), which is a monetized version of the Senate Bill. This House Bill also calls for additional 3% for FHP/FWC (but not the additional 5%, and not given based on time). 5:30 - approx 8:10 (Senate President talks about the debate on including us in the seniority raises in SB1500) thefloridachannel.org/video/41113....dent-don-gaetz/ |
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Post by Drauka on Apr 14, 2013 13:24:41 GMT -5
No one is blaming the PBA for us not getting what we should have been fighting for with our membership numbers. It's not their fault that over 75% of us don't give a tinkers damn about what happens to us as a group. They aren't ? They say dont forgot under PBA FHP got 5% one year you didn't. What other reason is there for them to say that and not say that their other people didn't get it either. Well fine, its the PBA's fault. They left us out in the cold. Blame them, they stink blah blah blah. Hate on them, PBA rabble rabble rabble! |
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Post by lawton on Apr 14, 2013 13:41:39 GMT -5
They aren't ? They say dont forgot under PBA FHP got 5% one year you didn't. What other reason is there for them to say that and not say that their other people didn't get it either. Well fine, its the PBA's fault. They left us out in the cold. Blame them, they stink blah blah blah. Hate on them, PBA rabble rabble rabble! Yep blah blah blah - its only in the update on their website. Facts hurt don't they but facts like this show just how pathetic the Teamsters lobbyists and agents are as far as DOC goes. Like they say - results matter and with things like this out here showing how inept they are. Its too bad people like you buy into their bs - hey the PBA is the reason DOC is screwed this year - FHP got 5% when you had PBA - how pathetic the Teamsters are. All that said I still hope we pull the raise despite their joke representation. |
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