Prison Guards’ Pay: There Oughta Be a Law

Re “News a ‘Punch in the Face’ for Guards,” May 20: The state Legislature needs to get the prison guards union back to the bargaining table and strike a deal that is fair to the guards and to the people they serve. The guards union seems to have forgotten that the guards work for the state and its residents.

I appreciate what the union does. I work for the federal Bureau of Prisons and have worked, and still work, in an environment with the same inmates and the same conditions that these guards face. Should they be compensated for what they do? Without a doubt. But I don’t think too many people getting into a public service job ever expect to get rich.

The salary of $73,000 for a veteran correctional officer in the state system [projected for 2006, under the current contract] is about $22,000 more than a veteran correctional officer working in a federal prison in California could make. Legislators need to do what’s right for the state and its people, not one union.

Dan Reeser

Bellflower

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Re “Guards Union Spreads Its Wealth,” May 20: Every one of our esteemed state legislators who took money from the prison guards union in exchange for voting for its obscene pay and retirement package is guilty of selling his or her office. What a collection of snakes masquerading as “public servants.”

Mel Frohman

Los Angeles

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The fact that the prison guards could squeeze out such a sweet pay deal from former Gov. Gray Davis and state legislators only proves that our state has the best politicians money can buy. The brightest star in extracting this lavish contract must be their former union leader, Don Novey, who so successfully parlayed $14 million in campaign donations in the last decade into a nearly billion-dollar return. Perhaps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should consider asking Novey to come out of retirement to help our state solve its financial crisis.

John T. Chiu

Newport Beach