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| Deputies at Crowded Jail Vote to Start Union |
| By The Palm Beach Post |
| Published: 10/24/2005 |
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St. Lucie County sheriff's deputies assigned to the overcrowded county jail voted this week to form a union, according to the regional chapter of the Police Benevolent Association, a law enforcement union. The deputies voted anonymously by mail earlier this month. The vote was tallied Tuesday, with 60 deputies voting to form a union, 57 voting against it, and 42 not voting at all, said Pat McGuire, executive director of the PBA's Coastal Florida Chapter. Deputies have been preparing for the vote for six months, McGuire said. The sheriff's office has about two weeks to decide whether to challenge the vote. "I don't think this is a reflection of poor leadership at the sheriff's office," McGuire said "They (corrections deputies) were looking to have a voice in their workplace." Sheriff Ken Mascara said he believes the county commission's refusal to open one of two new jail pods recently built played a role in deputies' decision to unionize. "Their working conditions have changed dramatically due to overcrowding and the number of inmates," Mascara said. "This is an extra lobbying force for us." The jail's inmate population reached an all-time high Wednesday: 1,322 crowded into cells designed for 1,050, the sheriff said. If a second newly built pod with 320 beds were opened, the jail would be within its rated capacity. County commissioners in September voted not to include the operating cost of the 320-bed pod in the county's annual budget, opting instead to experiment with pretrial release programs, to see whether they could be a cost-effective way of managing the jail's population. |
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