The California Highway Patrol officers union and Gov. Jerry Brown's administration have reached a furlough agreement to cut pay 5 percent for a year.
Under the deal, the CHP's roughly 6,300 officers will be furloughed eight hours per month starting July 1.
The union is the first to reach agreement with Brown, who wants pay reduction deals in place with all state worker unions to save an estimated $839 million to help close a budget gap estimated to be at least $15.7 billion.
The governor proposed putting most state workers on 9.5-hour shifts four days per week and closing departments on either Fridays or Mondays.
The agreement with the California Association of Highway Patrolmen signals that other unions representing workers in 24/7 jobs – prison officers, psychiatric technicians, firefighters and others – are under pressure to take similar deals.
It may also complicate talks scheduled with other unions, including today's scheduled negotiations with SEIU Local 1000, which represents 93,000 workers. Those talks center on Brown's plan instead of the arrangement worked out with the CHP union.
CHP officers will be able to bank the hours to take later, but their paychecks will reflect the 5 percent pay reduction regardless.
Jon Hamm, CEO of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, said that the language of the agreement encourages officers to take their banked furlough time before taking paid vacation.
The Brown administration had said that it wanted to avoid a policy that allowed banking furlough hours because that leads to employees taking less paid leave, creating a deferred cost for the state when the leave credits with monetary value are cashed out at the end of an employee's career.
Until now, CAHP members had never been furloughed. Hamm said union members understand that they need to make a sacrifice, given the state's $15.7 billion budget crisis.
"Our members' reaction has been pretty positive (to the furlough)," Hamm said Friday. "I think this is sinking in. They're saying, 'I'm lucky to have a job.' "
The union plans to put the furlough agreement to a ratification vote next week.
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Source: www.sacbee.com
California faces blackouts as nuclear plant sits idle - Herald Times Reporter
LOS ANGELES — Southern California utility officials are warning that blackouts in the region are possible this summer as a result of the sidelined San Onofre nuclear power plant.
The damaged plant is likely to remain shut down until at least the end of August while investigators probe excessive wear in tubing that carries radioactive water, the plants operator said Thursday.
The officials say if a heat wave hits while the twin-reactor plant is offline, rotating blackouts are a possibility. Utilities have been scrambling to find replacement power as a precaution, including restarting two retired natural gas-fired plants in Orange County.
Southern California Edison said the company intends to submit a plan by the end of July to federal regulators to restart the Unit 2 reactor, where damage to tubes in its steam generators has been less severe than in its twin, Unit 3.
A proposal to restart either reactor must be approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and that review could take weeks or longer. Edison spokeswoman Jennifer Manfre said its likely the plant between San Diego and Los Angeles will remain offline at least through August.
The trouble began in January, when the Unit 3 reactor was shut down as a precaution after a tube break. Traces of radiation escaped, but officials said there was no danger to workers or neighbors. Unit 2 had been taken offline earlier that month for maintenance, but investigators later found unexpected wear on hundreds of tubes in both units.
Gradual wear is common in such tubing, but the rate of erosion at San Onofre alarmed officials because the generators are relatively new. The company has said 1,300 tubes will be taken out of service, although the number is well within the margin to allow the generators to keep operating.
The company has found that the wear is being caused by vibration and friction with adjacent tubes and bracing, but investigators have yet to say why thats happening or how they will fix it.
The NRC has said there is no timetable to restart the reactors, which were replaced in 2009 and 2010 in a $670 million overhaul.
About 7.4 million Californians live within 50 miles of San Onofre, which can power 1.4 million homes.
Safety issues at the plant have attracted congressional scrutiny, and some officials in nearby communities have called for San Onofre to be shut down permanently. The Irvine City Council urged the NRC to review safety conditions at the plant before it is considered for relicensing in 2022.
Source: www.htrnews.com
Man filmed whipping his son during game of catch arrested for child abuse - Daily Mail
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A California water agency director has been arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse after a neighbour shot and posted an online video of him whipping his stepson with a belt while playing catch.
Imperial Irrigation District Director Anthony Sanchez, 34, was arrested Friday on $100,000 bond according to Sheriff's Lt. Scott Sheppeard after caught hitting the child with a belt in one hand and a baseball glove in the other.
In the video uploaded to YouTube, the stepfather's seen repeatedly beating the boy, even knocking him to the ground, before stepping back to wait for him to toss the ball back which he drops.
Scroll down for video
Catch: Imperial Irrigation District Director Anthony Sanchez, pictured facing his stepson while holding a belt, has been arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse
Punished: The stepfather was captured by a neighbour on camera who saw the man repeatedly beating the child when he wouldn't throw or catch the ball
Arrested: The 34-year-old public utility director was arrested Friday and held on $100,000 bond after turning himself in to authorities
After a long stall by the boy who stands frozen in place, the man returns to him - a glove on one hand and a belt in the other - hitting him once again.
The boy can be seen physically upset, holding his body, before Lopez opens his window, calling at him to stop.
'Are you having a problem with the way I'm raising my son?' Sanchez can be heard responding.
'I'm having a f----- problem with you for beating the s--- out of him because he won't catch the damn ball.'
'Do you know my son?'
'I don't know your son but I'm watching you. I'm a f---- father too.'
Lopez says he posted the video on Facebook and YouTube then gave it to authorities.
Ongoing: After several minutes of watching the man hit the boy the neighbour, Oscar Lopez, opened his window to yell to the man to stop
Dad knows best: Sanchez, seen here beating the child, yelled back at his neighbour saying he didn't know his child, alluding to what he deserves
Upsetting: The child was visibly upset after hit and thrown to the ground, with the boy holding his body after the attacks
Role model: Mr Lopez, a father himself, expressed his surprise in the man who held both a belt and a glove to play with the boy
'I didn't understand why he was playing with him and disciplining him,' Lopez told KYMA. 'It just didn't stop.'
Sanchez attorney Ryan Childers acknowledges the video is disturbing, but urged people to wait until details were revealed before reaching conclusions.
The condition and injuries of the boy has not been released.
According to Lt Sheppeard and the Imperial Valley Press, Sanchez has no known prior record of child abuse or anger management issues.
'Every parent in the state of California has the right by law to discipline their child,' Lt Sheppeard said at a press conference, 'when you cross the line between what's legal and what's not legal is if the infliction of injury.'
Elected to the utility board of directors as a public official, Sanchez' term expires December of 2014.
Watch the video here:
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
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