In January 2022, Your PACSO represented a new member who learned his pay had been incorrect for almost 5 years. After an audit and notification to Walden Security Company of the problem, under the CBA - 8.3 Undisputed Error, this employee was immediately made whole of over a thousand dollars in back pay.
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Courthouse Tour 2021
Mike and I took a tour of the Southern District of Texas Courthouses over a three-day period starting on Monday, December 13, 2021.
It was a great experience putting names to faces and seeing the various courthouses that encompass our district.
For everyone of our members, Thank you!! It is your membership and helping us stay abreast of what is going on in each courthouse that helps us build a stronger union/association.
Overall, everyone was very positive about their jobs and being a CSO/SDUSM.
Three common concerns were brought up in every courthouse.
-Discipline. This was the number one concern of all the CSO’s in every courthouse. Some have more issues than others. Since intrusion tests are the number one driver of discipline and Walden security believes a three day suspension is appropriate for it, it is wholly understood that progressive discipline is not practiced by Walden Security.
PACSO agrees with that assessment and will continue our fight for Walden Security to follow Progressive Discipline through the discipline process.
-Healthcare. Each courthouse had multiple CSO’s ask about Centerra offering comprehensive healthcare for us. We don’t have any contact information yet, but we will let you know as soon as it is available.
-Pay. The Southern courthouses don’t receive the same pay as the Northern courthouses. The pay scale is set by the Department of Labor and as such we as a union can only negotiate a fair increase above what is set by the DOL. We will be asking for Bilingual pay on our next contract.
Our current contract expires on September 30, 2022. We will be negotiating is July or August of 2022.
Speaking of Centerra, as you all know Walden Security lost the bid for the fifth district. Centerra is taking over the contract.
As of this writing on Sunday, December 19, 2021, it is still unclear when Centerra will take over the contract.
Mike and I were told by Wanda Bunn that the Marshals Service issued a Task Order for Walden to be funded to run the contract until March 31, 2022.
The USMS still shows Centerra taking over on January 1, 2022.
Remember we are planning a new election in February 2022. If you want to run for office, please let us know and your name will be included on the ballot.
We still need people to volunteer for multiple positions including board members and Union stewards. Ideally, we will have one union steward for each courthouse.
That’s it for now. Once again, thanks for being members of PACSO.
John Lynch
Updated: Dec 20, 2021
During the latest contract negotiations in 2019, PACSO union officers were able to receive substantial raises and night shift differential pay for our union members. We have also been able to get shift bidding back on the contract.
We researched, collated information and then documented through a comprehensive correspondence to management detailing the case law and common practices of why we should be paid to don and doff (Dress and undress) on the job site our necessary equipment which is essential to complete the mission assigned to us and faithfully executed by our outstanding CSO’s for the United States Marshal’s Service on behalf of all who enter the courthouses.
We are presently fighting for progressive discipline instead of the common and erroneous three days suspensions that are handed down for the majority of policy violations documented by management and more importantly, we are successful!
I cannot stress this next fact enough...
We have won an arbitration hearing which overturned an unfair decision by management to terminate a CSO for using his cell phone on duty.
The Federal arbitrator ruled in the member and PACSO’s favor which will allow an inappropriately terminated Houston CSO to get his job back and continue to provide for his family.
As usual, labor law, procedures and practices is causing the case to continue to be ongoing, but make no mistake, winning this arbitration award to overturn an erroneous management termination decision was one of the greatest hills we have had to climb.
Stay tuned for any new developments as they occur!!
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