The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is the second largest law enforcement organization in the country and the largest prison operator. On any given day there are about 170,000 people in custody in 33 prisons throughout the state, plus several thousand more housed in out of state private contract facilities.
CDCR is currently actively working towards a 12-hour shift operation in order to save money. About 80% of the operating cost of the department is personnel costs. They estimate this change would bring about a 5-12% decrease in staffing costs.
At the moment CDCR does not have a contract with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the union that represents rank and file prison custody workers and parole agents. There is a great deal of animosity over current labor relations in the state, and this may make it impossible to implement the desired changes.
Nevertheless, this is what is being proposed:
The current shifts are, generally speaking, 2200 to 0600 (1w), 0600 to 1400 (2w), 1400-2200 (3w). There are, of course, other shifts to cover the kitchens, recreations yards, transportation, medical and other items but most of the uniform custody staff work one of those three shifts. The staff work what is called a straight-8 without formal breaks or meal periods. Most staff like this arrangement. Staff can volunteer to work overtime shifts, up to 16 hours total, and can be held over to cover a second shift if necessary. More than 16-hour shifts are forbidden except during emergencies. (The longest I personally ever worked was 32 hours. I worked a lot of 20-hour shifts; those are very rare these days.)
The proposal is for what is called a 14-day 2-2-3 shift of 12-hour duration. The A shift would run from 2000 until 0800. This shift would be comparable to the old first watch in that very little inmate movement would take place, mostly for kitchen worker unlocks and early medical appointments. The “B early” shift would be from 0500 until 1700 and the “B late” shift would run from 0800 until 2000. This would give the prison an effective work day from 0500 until 2000.
The proposed RDO (regular day off) cycle would run like this. Monday, work. Tuesday and Wednesday, RDO. Thursday and Friday, work. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, RDO. Tuesday and Wednesday, work. Thursday and Friday, RDO. Saturday and Sunday, work.
This 14- day 2-2-3 cycle would give each employee a 3-day FSS weekend every other week. It would cut down on commute expenses. It would give the average worker more days off, but more time at work, 8 hours more per pay period usually. (CDCR staff are paid by the month so each payroll month averages slightly over 28 calendar days.)
Currently the CDCR custody staff are covered by a post-and-bid program, which is jealously guarded by staff (especially senior staff) and the union. Employees are allowed to bid for a particular post, most of which carry a specific job with a specific shift and specific days off. (For instance, the D-Wing #2 officer might now work 0630-1430 with Friday and Saturday off as post # 2044.)
As one might expect, second watch jobs with weekends off, or part of a weekend off, are the most sought-after. This proposal would greatly affect and possibly completely dismantle post-and-bid. Up to now the state has been unclear on how it proposes to deal with the issue. Presumably a new roster will be set up wherein jobs are on a two-week cycle instead of the current one-week cycle.
Additionally, if memory serves, under federal labor law an employer may not force union represented employees into a regular schedule of more than 8 hours per day without the concurrence of the collective bargaining agent. Under the current labor situation in California it is unlikely in the extreme that the union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) would do so. There is a general belief at the moment with much of the rank-and-file that the Governor will make an attempt to implement the program anyway.
Also, prison staff are not recognized by the Governor as being “real” public safety, even though the penal code says otherwise. They are forced into a 3-day per month furlough program, which reduces their pay about 15%. CalFire and the CHP are not in the mandatory furlough program. What is further galling is that most of the uniform custody staff are in fact not allowed (or forced) to take the furlough days due to short staffing, so they are working a full schedule with a 15% pay cut. That matter is currently in court.
It will be interesting to see what comes of the proposal.