Sunday, December 9, 2012

Speaking Out ?


 What are the top 5 biggest issues you would like to see TDCJ correct in 2013 ?Let em' hear it from the horses mouth.

20 comments:

  1. Pay twice a month,would be a great step in retaining employees,let holiday & comp.time
    Carry until retirement,longevity
    Pay be added & increase the amount
    Start longevity at 3yrs not five,include TDC employees,at turn out have money management training

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  2. 1. The PAT needs to be eliminated. I have personally seen it cost the State employees that have served for years and years and were able to do the job for years, but now because they cant do sit ups they lose their careers?? Are we not short enough??
    2. Institute an immediate 5% accross the board pay raise for all employees with 1-5 years service, 10% for those with 6-10, and 15% for those with more than 11 years. Then a yearly 3% C.O.L. raise for the next 10 years.
    3. Institute a grievance process that isn't corrupt in its entirety. You file a grievance and you WILL get retaliated against...not immediately, but you better believe its coming. I have seen this happen on more than one occassion.
    4. Upper admin, and Im talking the big boys, not wardens, im talkin directors, need to start actually "caring" about what is being done to their frontline employees. They need to severely punish rank who are proven to be "harassing" employees and "abusing" employees through abuse of their authority and actually "investigate" such claims. There is DEFINATELY a "deliberate indifference" attitude among upper admin, and the vast majority of employees correctly feel as if they do not matter in the least and will be chalked up for any little descrepency.
    5. Reinstitute incentive raises. I know it exists, but this "big foot" has never been seen in my over 2 decades of service. This is a fiscally substantial incentive that employees can hold in their hands..not like those cool "officer of the month" certificates, of which i have over 6, annnd they mean absolutely nothing. Oh yeah...and care about us...were out there doin a job most wont. If the economy is so bad, and TDCJ has all these positions open...why arent people lining up to get in? It ain't that easy cheesy.

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    1. Well Anonymous...i have over 22 yrs under my belt. corrections dept. and i have to beg your pardon on the PAT complaint. its based on a total score, if you cant do sit ups you do something else to get your score. if you cant pass that how the hell are you going to help a fellow officer in an emergency. when i started in the system, there were requirements that had to be met to even be hired on. your weight-height-and bone frame had to be within a certain scale. there are people hired today that cant run 20 yards to help you, much less up stairs and across a unit. and the raises you are talkin about...if it wasnt soooo easy for people today to go get welfare, we would have more jobs filled. why should the public work if they can get every thing for free. lastly, i find it hard to believe that you have been officer of the month 6 times as you have stated. honestly......be glad you have a job at all. if not, wal-mart,target,home depot, can use you as a stocker. oh i forgot you cant stoop down or bend over....be a door greeter then. have a better day sir.

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    2. First of all sir, I really couldnt care less if you believe what I said about the Officer of the Month awards. I know what I have acheieved in my career and who the hell do you thing you are to question my integrity. Second, I bet when your getting your little wise ass beat down in tank you wont care whether the person responding is Kosher in his/her "height/weight and bone frame system". Third, how the hell did you jump from the subject on the table to wellfare?? Lastly I never said I wasnt glad that I have my job with the State, the article asked for the top 5 issues you would like to see corrected in TDCJ, so the whole point was to offer an opinion. Oh yeah, and your absolutely right sir, I dont make a habit of "stooping" or "bending over", that sir are habits of yours that would probably explain how YOU made over 22 years in the system. Thank you and have a bad day.

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    3. I wish I had read working at the Walls comments before I jumped in to help a neighbor who was getting beat by her ex husband. I have a hard time with the push ups, I think I did three of them, my sit ups are not that great either, let's face it, I'm getting older. The younger officers put me to shame. Who am I to think I can help anybody. After all I barely skimped by on that test. Just celebrated my 30 year anniversary. I didn't think about what my score was on that test though when my young neighbor was on the ground, she needed help. The adrenaline was pumping. That same adrenaline when I get when a officer at the Unit needs help. I am a Correctional Officer, regardless of what my Pat score says, I will always have the back of my fellow officer.

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    4. Yes sir , I commend you towards your attitude of backing your fellow officers up!! Lot of cowards out there these days. But can I say a little working out a few times a week could help you , save your life , or fellow officers life.
      Stats show running 1 mile equal 3 minutes of stright fighting time. I know we all sometimes need whole lot more then 3 minutes.. Just food for thought.
      Stay safe stay Well..

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  3. One TDCJ employee said she was threatened by an assistant warden to shut her mouth up and make no more complaints, that she will be fired and will be made useless, so that she will not be able to find job elsewhere in Texas if she refuses to stop complaining about the harassment she was facing. This is the plight of TDCJ employees. What can she do?

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    1. Tape the bastard!!!!!!! sneak recorder under her vest.. File hostile work enviorment....

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  4. Make some 'employee-friendly', low cost/high return changes. Right now on my unit, we aren't allowed to take food from the Officers Dining Room. It's really a pain to bring things in, like food and drink. Why not let us order out from the ODR? Who would it hurt for the desk to place an order for the building- a sack full of egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast? Or some plates for lunch? Why do I have to sneak a contraband PB&J back to the building for someone who won't get a break? Food seems like a cheap and easy way for the State to buy a little contentment and maybe a sliver of loyalty.
    How about not making us take our boots off for the pat down? You don't think a lot of things that could be hidden in a boot could not also be hidden in a booty? Maybe pat down every 3rd entrant? Seems like a really invasive way to remind us all that we're not trustworthy.
    Is there no wizard out there who could come up with a way for us to not freeze our asses off outside the shakedown entrance? Some days we wait 15 minutes in that cold. That's pretty tough when the mercury's in the 20's.

    There are probably a lot of other changes that might be made to retain good people. I'd love to make more money, but if the State is broke, maybe these would be some realistic changes that could make TDCJ seem more palatable.

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  5. Pay raise and a better promotion system. Other units come to do promotion.

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  6. In addition to some of the fabulous suggestions above, how about free-world charges on offenders who are always masturbating, or assaulting staff? As well, I would like to see a way to sue an offender in civil court for monetary damages for criminal behaviour behind bars. I know it wouldn't be much, but I would love it if their commissary money was awarded to a deserving officer-victim rather than to the coffers of the state of Texas. Offenders sue TDCJ all the time. They file false grievances all the time. Let's make the offenders finally responsibile for their own behavior. And suicide prevention? Let 'em hang!

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  7. Tdcj is going to get a higher agency to watch them then the higher agency will take over but really if tdcj has money to install hardware and give 3000 hire bonus then why cant they pay 1000 more at least to make it in an area where cost of living is fuckn insane 875.00 to 1300 rent

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  8. Actually pay you for your overtime instead of the mandatory take a day off in the work cycle, funny you cant get any days off but work some overtime and they seem to be able to let people off. You want me to work overtime then cut me a check

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  9. Funny, I've never had to do a push-up during a use of force.

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  10. How about a little employee "appreciation". Yeah I know we have that one day a year(like christmas without presents), then the spirit is gone. any other day it is a contradicting term. It's bad enough when we all have to suffer for actions of a few bad apples. Supervisors should handle up on the bad apples themselves. Regardless, a pat on the back, or a "good job" goes a long way for morale. 'Nuff Said.

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  11. Those are all good suggestions. I would like to see the state follow their own workers rights laws and actually pay us for holiday time worked. They also need to do away with forcing us to put a medical condition on doctors notes. The insurance company can get that from the doctors office themselves! It is not a Lt.or Sgt.buisness!

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  12. 1. Refuse to state your medical condition. That is your right.
    2. The Pat Test needs to be grandfatherd in. If you weren't hired with this mandate, it is unfair to use it to eliminate the long term employees who stuck it out.
    3. The pay needs to be better, the benefits should be GUARANTEED including for the retirees under what you were hired under. Reinstate the medical benefits.
    4. The working conditions, retaliation, a decent break and the excuses short of staff are used to circumvent time off and breaks. The higher administration and the legislature are aware of the problems they choose not to fix it.
    Why is it if you work OT they can find you a day off to prevent from paying? The state needs to pay straight OT this comp time first and if you use use or lose you don't get paid...no incentive in that proposal. They are struggling to keep staff now but never seem to make the changes to retain staff...

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  13. get rid of rick perry. then clean house from the top down until we find someone that remembers what it was like to be a guard. these idiots at the top are going to get a lot of people killed before they wake up..... but i guess that it is easer to pay death benifits than it is to grow a set and fix the problem..........

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  14. Unfortunately, the situation at Smit Unit is more serious than just shortage of staff. Let stop talking about sit ups and running 3 minutes. Street fighting is a diffrent issue. Its a prison full of sexual offenders, murders, aggravated assualt and drug dealers. Now, because of the staffing issue lets put a female weighing 120lbs in a room with these offenders (male offenders ) and no radio. Just a coworking in the control room trying to watch her, do paper work, and 2 other rooms ,if now 4 more rooms full of offenders. Even if the officer was male, still a dangerous sistuation for all. No street fighting, fast talking, or sprint run can help you when you have offenders twice or 3 times your size coming at you. You are lucky to come out of there in one piece everyday. Hopefully, your sanity doesnt destroy you if you do live through it.Warden Swift is just covering his own ass. He is never there by himself , with offenders. Bet your tax dollars he makes sure of that.

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