A Message from our President John Lynch

January 26, 2024

Good morning fellow CSO’s/SPDUSM’s. I wanted to write and give you some good news.

First let me say thank you for being a member of PACSO. It is only because of members such as yourself that I can tell you of the positive things happening here in the 5th circuit.

It is because of you and your monthly dues we could afford to pay our incredible counsel for the following victory. Thank you!

This victory for the CSO program is wholly due to the calculated risk of one of our own, Arturo Casas.

I will make this as short as possible, but in essence the following has occurred.

Arturo got in trouble and was removed from the contract by the USMS while an investigation was being conducted.

After a lengthy time, he was brought back to work.

His time off work was considerably greater than his suspension time.

His additional non suspension time without pay was grieved under “Just Cause” of the CBA.

Walden Security denied the appeals because “Being removed from the contract is not grieveable under the CBA.”

It went to arbitration and Walden lost.

Walden then offered to pay Arturo his money if he would agree to set the arbitration ruling aside, so future CSO’s could not use the ruling as a legally binding in similar cases.

Walden threatened to sue in federal court and have the ruling overturned. If the ruling was overturned,

Arturo would not be able to collect his lost wages.

Arturo and his wife spoke about it and decided to take a chance for all CSO’s…

Think about that…

Would you and yours risk $10,000.00 of your own money for other people as well?

Walden sued.

The Honorable Judge Charles Eskridge was assigned the case and ordered mediation.

Walden again offered the above and Arturo refused.

Judge Eskridge upheld the arbitration award!

Walden Security did not appeal the judgment, and paid Arturo his back pay with interest.

This has never occurred before with the CSO program and sets precedence for future discipline cases.

What does this mean for us CSO’s?

Simply put, we now have precedence for other CSO’s to be paid for any additional time above and beyond the imposed discipline.

I want to be clear that any additional lost pay a CSO is owed will not be paid by the company without a fight.

We will need to go through the appeal and arbitration process each time, but each win brings a better chance of a successful outcome.

Once again, thank you for your membership and helping to keep our judicial family safe!

The President's Message

August 17, 2022

Good afternoon, members.

It has been a while since I last messaged you, and a lot has changed and been accomplished since then.

First, let me thank each and every one of you for being a member.

Simply thank you, to each and every one of you…

Without your support, we as a board would not be able to continue our struggle to ensure each and every CSO/SDUSM is treated with dignity, respect and fairly every day we wear the uniform to protect the judiciary and every person who walks into the Federal Courthouses in the Southern District of Texas to conduct their business.

As you may be aware, PACSO has been actively fighting unfair discipline determinations inflicted upon our members from Walden Security.

We have spent a large amount of time and treasure to help ensure that the discipline process is conducted fairly.

I won’t get into specifics, but Walden Security has taken PACSO and a CSO to Federal Court because of an arbitration ruling they do not want to be enforced in the future against Walden Security or any other Contracting company.

In a nutshell:

• The CSO was removed from the contract by the USMS for 59 workdays due to two unrelated incidents.

• The USMS and Walden Security took longer than 59 workdays to investigate and come to a conclusion on discipline.

• After the conclusion of the investigation, the CSO was suspended for 17 workdays, leaving 42 workdays he was taken off of the contract for unpaid.

• The Arbitrator ruled Walden Security is required to pay the CSO for the 42 unpaid workdays the CSO was taken off of the contract and not suspended for.

• Walden Security was willing to pay the CSO for the 42 workdays, but wanted the arbitration ruling set aside, so it couldn’t be used for any other CSO in the similar circumstance in the future, regardless of who the contracting company is at the time of the incident.

PACSO and the CSO disagreed, so Walden Security filed suit.

The ruling from the court will not be forthcoming for approximately 18 months, so we will patiently wait and see.

As we are all aware, inflation has hit us all very hard. We are all feeling the impact of it on our lives, financially, emotionally, and intellectually.

Just know, you are not alone, and your fellow CSO’s are experiencing a lot of the same issues you all are on an individual basis.

On a more positive note, PACSO has negotiated a new contract with Centerra Corporation.

We will be receiving pay raises for three years of 3.6%, 3.6% and 3.8%.

Our Health and Welfare is increasing from $4.23 to $4.41, $4.56 and $4.71.

Juneteenth is a paid holiday.

Veterans of 25 years or more will have 256 hours of vacation instead of the previous cap of 216 years at 15 years of service.

We also asked for bilingual pay. Centerra was receptive to the idea but explained no other union has asked for it before.

They said they would write a letter to the USMS and IF FUNDED by the USMS would implement bilingual pay.

That is all I have as of this writing. I encourage all of our members to utilize the forum section of our website to speak with each other about any issues you are concerned about.

Once again, thank you for your support. Mike and I will see you in person in December!

John Lynch

President

P.A.C.S.O.

We have a complete Board!

Thanks to our Members who participated in the Election.

President - John Lynch

Vice President - Mike Garrett

2cd Vice President - Jerome Powell

Secretary/Treasurer - Sean Lynch

Sergeant at Arms - Ron Vaughn