WE NEED A NATIONAL UNION!!! THAT JUST REPRESENTS OUR JOB GROUP THE WAY THE POLICE OFFICERS HAVE THEIR OWN UNION. WERE I WORK, OUR UNION REPRESENTS ALL THE CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES IN THE ENTIRE CITY. THIS MAKES IT HARD FOR US CSO'S TO GET RAISES BECAUSE THE UNION HAS TO GET THE CITY TO GIVE RAISES TO EVERY DIFFERENT POSITION IN THE CITY. THE OFFICERS NEGOTIATE A SEPERATE CONTRACT GIVING THEM LEVERAGE. DO YOU GET PAID A HAZARD PAY BONUS,SAFE DRIVER BONUS,LONGEVITY BONUS,SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL? I BET THE OFFICERS YOU WORK BESIDE GET PAIDED THESE. THE POLICE UNIONS LOBBY FOR LAWS THAT BENEFIT OFFICERS AND HELP THEM DO THEIR JOBS. WE NEED A UNION THAT DOES THE SAME FOR US. WE ARE CONSIDERED FIRST RESPONDERS, THIS MEANS WE NEED THE SAME TYPE OF LEGAL REPRESENTATION THE OFFICER UNIONS PROVIDE THAT THE CIVILIAN UNIONS ARE CLUELESS ABOUT. WHERE I WORK THERE ARE ABOUT 50 CSO'S. I BET THAT THERE ARE ENOUGH CSO'S NATIONWIDE TO GET A UNION INTERESTED.

I am a Public Safety Aide with the Lakeland Police Department in Lakeland, Florida. A PSA is exactly the same as a CSO just named differently. Our police officers also have a union which negotiates with our city commission on pay, hours, and other benifits. We however have no union at all and are always at the mercy of our commission. There are 13 PSA's in our department and many more in Florida. Let me know if there is anything that I can help with as far as trying to organize a labor union for our class of employee. My e-mail address is above. Thanks.

I agree!! I am going through a problem with my Supervisors and the Union for the City employees is doing a great job, however, they still don't really understand what we do in the field and it's diffucult to explain everything. We are City paid employees, but yet we are dispatched through the Sheriffs Dept. We log on as a dispatchable County unit, but when something happens the City Supervisors are who we answer to. Last year I was asked to do a latent Print Investigation by a Detective Sargent, and said yes, I got 3 days off with no pay because I was suppossed to ask the City Supervisor if it was OK to do the prints!! The Union didn't really understand what the process was and I didn't fight it any more. We all need help with these types of issues. I hope one day there will be help and we can get something like ALADS or POPPA for us little people!