|
|
| Oakland jail staff sues over closure |
| By Contra Costa Times |
| Published: 06/27/2005 |
|
The union representing 85 employees of the Oakland City, Calif., Jail filed a lawsuit Friday to try to block next week's planned closure of the facility, asserting the plan violates their employment contract. The suit filed in Alameda County Superior Court seeks an injunction blocking the jail closure until the union's claims can be reviewed by an arbitrator. A judge is scheduled to hear the union's bid Tuesday afternoon, just hours before jail employees are slated to begin moving inmates to the county's Glenn Dyer detention facility, one block away, in a mass movement starting Wednesday morning. The City Jail's civilian employees filed a grievance June 17 claiming its closure would violate contract terms that prohibit the city from outsourcing services if doing so results in job losses for city workers. The action by Local 790 of the Service Employees International Union says the union's claims should be subject to a grievance procedure articulated in its contract with the city. It asks a judge to send the dispute to an arbitrator for a "final and binding" decision. The Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to close the jail July 1 to save about $5 million over the next two years. Council members said the move was necessary to help eliminate a $32 million deficit and save essential city services. Because the Alameda County Sheriff's Department is the local jailing authority, it is required by law to accept arrestees who now go to the City Jail. The Sheriff's Department runs Glenn Dyer in Oakland and Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. Oakland jail employees have already received layoff notices and have been told that their last day on the job will be Thursday. City officials said they have found other city jobs for jail employees, but Anthony Bradley, a corrections officer for 21 years, says most of those jobs "pay far less" than the employees now make at the jail. The lawsuit cites a number of reasons the dispute must be resolved before the jail's closure. It says the 13 agencies other than Oakland police that book suspects into the City Jail will soon change their practices, booking at Glenn Dyer instead, and likely wouldn't switch back if the City Jail were reopened. That fact would make re-opening the facility less viable financially, the suit states. In addition, the suit notes that the jail is not bound by several state requirements for jails that were enacted since the Oakland facility opened in 1962. Were the jail to close for a significant period of time, it says, those newer standards would apply to the City Jail and make re-opening financially prohibitive. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think