The union representing California Highway Patrol officers is seeking to end its contract affiliation with the union representing prison guards, arguing that the state cannot bargain in good faith if labor negotiations are linked. The 6,000-member California Highway Patrolmen Association filed an unfair labor practice charge with the state Public Employee Relations Board this month. State labor negotiators established the connection in 2002 when they gave the 31,000-member prison guards union a deal that included a promise to keep guards' pay $666 a month below the highway patrol scale. The filing by the CHP union said that in creating the link, "the state has created an environment in which there is a disincentive to bargain."
See "CHP union seeks to end pay affiliation with prison guards union", Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, April 23, 2007