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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