Correctional Officer Unions

California

The California Correctional Peace Officers' Association (CCPOA) is one of the major and most [Page 188]organized correctional unions in the United States. Founded in 1957 to bargain for better working conditions, training, and pay for employees in corrections, CCPOA strove to make the occupation more professional by providing appropriate training for the officers. It also began extensive background checks for all potential corrections employees and implemented policies and procedures that provide correctional facilities with the required safety equipment needed.

CCPOA has improved the working conditions of its members and has reduced the once-tremendous turnover rate for correctional officers. Statistics show that during the 1970s and 1980s, the state's turnover rate was 25%. Today it is down to 8%, in large part because of the effort that has been put into making the conditions better for correctional employees.

CCPOA has been particularly influential in politics, in large part because it has donated considerable sums to legislators' campaigns. As a result, it seems to wield considerable influence in crime and policy issues, leading some to claim that the CCPOA is the main reason for the success of the “three strikes” laws. In addition to addressing lawand-order issues, CCPOA has also lobbied for more mainstream union issues, such as the right to collective bargaining, home loan assistance for officers, benefits for officers and families of deceased officers, improved health plans, and income tax credits. Similarly, CCPOA has asked that peace officers may carry concealed weapons across state lines. In recent years, CCPOA succeeded in obtaining grant money to improve the juvenile justice system, thereby hiring more correctional officers, and in creating the National Corrections and Employees Week, which is celebrated the week beginning May 4.

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