“I never said I wasn’t willing to meet or to continue without negotiations, because ,at the end of the day, we have an obligation and a duty to protect and serve our communities,” Corpus said. “For me, this is all about working together, and I am open to continuing with these negotiations and coming to a resolution on this because nobody wins here.”
Though DSA President Carlos Tapia said he also hopes to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible, the concern remains in how the Sheriff’s Office is approaching these conversations.
“This has never happened before,” Tapia said. “In fact, this is not the type of relationship that we’re used to.”
The DSA filed an official complaint Aug. 30 regarding unfair labor practices and union busting within the Sheriff’s Office, alleging unilateral decision making without union conference and interference in protected union activities. In a joint letter from the DSA and the Organization of Sheriff’s Sergeants, members were notified of their “fight to improve working conditions in the Sheriff’s Office” by filing a formal complaint with the Public Employment Relations Board — a state agency that investigates and mediates labor issues for public agencies.
The DSA claimed the Sheriff’s Office administration “walked away from the negotiation table” but Corpus said she made herself available and is “just asking people to do their job.”
Before the negotiating parties came to a conclusion, the overtime special order that was in effect for many years expired Aug. 7. The proposed policy by the Sheriff’s Office maintained a required 24 hours of overtime per pay period, with an increase from 12 to 18 hours dedicated specifically to corrections.
“I don’t know why we’re here today,” Corpus said. “This is all because I’m asking people to pitch in and help out where the need is at.”
The ongoing battle between the Sheriff’s Office and its deputies’ union has raised concern over the safety of the jails, with Supervisor David Canepa believing if a resolution is not achieved soon, other county officials may need to get involved.
“We need to figure this out because if we truly prioritize, which I think we all do, public safety, and the sheriff has said that the jails are unsafe, that’s a red flag,” Canepa said.
Due to the evolving composition of correctional facilities — resulting in the jails becoming de facto mental health institutions or substance use recovery centers, and housing state prisoners — Corpus said the former overtime policy was “not working” as many officers would not dedicate their overtime to working in corrections.
The DSA’s complaint filed with PERB alleges the Sheriff’s Office administration failed to provide advance written notice or opportunity to meet and confer over decisions to changing minimum staffing levels or the now expired mandatory overtime policy.
Recent hiring efforts have lowered vacancy rates from 25% to 15%, Corpus said, and there are incoming officers currently in training that will ultimately provide relief, coming in phases later this year, and is asking her officers to “help out just a little bit longer.”
“I’m not going to give up,” Corpus said. “I haven’t taken my foot off the gas pedal and I won’t. I’ll continue to do it until we are at the level where we won’t have to ask anybody to work overtime anymore.”
Beyond labor disputes, the DSA also said they will be holding a vote of no confidence next week against Chief of Staff Victor Aenlle — who was brought in by Corpus after volunteering for her campaign for Sheriff.
The PERB complaint claims Aenlle, as a representative of the county, violated his duty of strict neutrality by engaging in “unlawful communications with DSA members where the county undermined the DSA board and encouraged DSA members to recall the DSA board for engaging in protected union activity.”
Tapia also said Aenlle has numerous HR complaints filed against him for “treating people badly” and that “he seems to have a problem with women.”
Aenlle’s position oversees the professional, civilian staff within the Sheriff’s Office, and Tapia claimed Aenlle is “making decisions for the sworn staff” and has heard from captains that they are being told to report directly to Aenlle.
“The guy is overstepping his boundaries, he’s crossing the line,” Tapia said.
Corpus said she has not been made aware of any complaints against Aenlle.
“I have not seen anything come to me and I have not seen him act in a way that would be concerning,” Corpus said. “I have only seen him be professional with people and be a champion for our professional staff.”
Tapia noted that the union is “not going after Corpus” but hopes she is made aware of the problem at hand.
“We’re not saying she’s not at fault, she can make this stop,” Tapia said. “Come back to the table, come talk to us. Let’s get this over with.”
Note to readers: This article was updated to clarify that Victor Aenlle was not Sheriff Christina Corpus' campaign manager, but volunteered for her campaign.
(4) comments
In 2023 Christina Corpus made $701,310.34 in salary and benefits. Since 2013, she has made $4,547,000 in salary and benefits. Simply using her as a barometer, it is apparent that Sheriffs do very well with respect to pay and benefits. I think the voters should look at placing a cap on public employees salaries and dissolving ALL public employee unions who are the cause of these insane salaries and benefits. BTW, the average salary in San Mateo county is $91,421 which means Corpus made 770% more than the average resident. There's definitely something wrong with these pay scales and the unions feel they need more money and power.
For the record, I did not vote for Corpus. But, she is the department manager and she should be able to assign her resources where needed most. It appears that the deputies prefer easy street instead having to deal with difficult situations in our jails. This is another example why public service employees should not allowed to be unionized. Sheriff Corpus should have the final say, not some disgruntled union bosses. She will have my vote the next time.
In my opinion complaints against management should be adjudicated by the voters. No need for public sector unions creating a drain on budgets and cementing bureaucracy. At this point a union is another risk I'd have to consider before seeking employment in this sector. Spent most of my life not thinking about this but what has been seen cannot be unseen. Why doesn't voting work to keep things in balance? Nothing against officers who are keeping our streets safe. Just hoping for the best most efficient operation of civil society.
With this going on, why would prospective candidates looking to join law enforcement look at San Mateo? It seems they would be better off looking somewhere else. Now will San Mateo law enforcement do a SamTrans and call in sick? Here’s an idea, let’s start axing SamTrans folks and use their former salaries and pension and benefit payments to pay for new and existing San Mateo law enforcement. I’d venture a guess more of us benefit from San Mateo law enforcement than we ever will from SamTrans.
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