Achievements

With more than 260 years of collective experience in the H1 Union, our PSCOA members sent this dedicated Team to Harrisburg to advance their mission. their goals include holding elected officials  accountable, ending wasteful spending, implementing policies that support our members, and advocating approved training of local officials to better serve you.

Contract Achievements
  • We secured the largest pay increases in PSCOA history. This was the first time in our history
    that the membership had the opportunity to vote on a multi-year deal.
    We have been and will continue to be good stewards of membership money.
  • When our team became elected officials of PSCOA in January 2021, the general fund had a balance of
    roughly $1million. Today our net worth is just over $11 million.

  • Prior to 2019 only the five chair officers in the main office had access to the Document management system to review all spending. Now all executive board members have access to this information.

  • We discontinued two different PSCOA retirements.

  • We eliminated wasteful spending.
  • We went after prior elected officials by conducting audits of credit card spending. When we found that there was misappropriation of funds and outright theft, we took our findings to the Pennsylvania State Police and those individuals were prosecuted and we recovered the stolen funds.
  • We sold the adjacent property collecting $334,800. In addition to this total being added to the general fund, this also created cost savings of over $30,000.00 a year in property tax, upkeep and utilities.
  • We have an active Finance Committee who is brought to the main office for training, and they’re also given the ability to review the finances. This committee consists of every local treasurer in each local in our union.
  • We created multiple spending policies to ensure that when an elected official does spend money, that money can be tracked and accounted for to ensure that the expenditure is legitimate and used for its intended purpose.
  • We use an independent accountant to audit our financial statements annually. This report is disseminated to all Presidents and Vice Presidents to return to the membership for review.
  • We are the only public sector union in the commonwealth that has cut membership dues. Not only did we cut membership dues once, but we also cut them three times.
  • We increased the death benefit that is paid out to members when they lose a spouse or dependent. If the member passes, this benefit is paid to the survivors.
  • We created a policy that will pay the cobra benefit for your spouse and or your dependents for 30 days upon your death.
  • We created an indemnification policy for any member that is sued by an inmate while in the performance of their duties as an H-1 member and the Commonwealth refuses to provide a legal defense. If you are sued by an inmate while dutifully performing your duties and the commonwealth will not represent you, the PSCOA will provide legal counsel at no cost to the member.

  • We created trainings for all Local Presidents and Vice Presidents so that they can better serve their H-1 members.

  • We created a policy that mandates annual training for all local stewards to ensure that you are properly represented by your elected and appointed officers at your local.

  • We created treasurers training to ensure that your local’s money is spent and documented properly.

  • We no longer allow nonmembers to attend local union meetings.

  • We were successful in getting language added to the contract that removed people from a bid job if they accept a TWOC assignment outside of the bargaining unit.

  • We conducted town hall style meetings at locals to give the membership the ability to meet with and talk to their elected state representative.

  • 72t omnibus federal tax bill You can now access your money from an employer based governmental plan at either age 50 or with 25 years of service without paying a 10% penalty.
  • HB1278 The wiretap bill – BII no longer has the right to unknowingly record you in your own home.
  • Senate Bill 411 – Gives H-1 members Peace Officer Status while on duty.
  • Sgt Mark Baserman was murdered by an inmate at SCI Somerset in 2018. The Commonwealth would not recognize Marks common law wife as a beneficiary. We provide Lyn with legal counsel. The court ruled in her favor and made the commonwealth recognize her as the rightful beneficiary to Marks commonwealth provided line of duty death benefits.
  • Covid provided tough times for our members. The PSCOA was the only union in the commonwealth that challenged Governor Wolf’s draconian covid rules. The Governor attempted to make all H-1 members vaccinate. We were successful in fending off mandatory vaccination. We did this while prioritizing members that wanted to receive the vaccine.
  • The Governor created a work rule that would have made it mandatory for all H-1 members to be tested for covid utilizing a nasal swab test. We negotiated using a spit test instead of the nasal swab.
  • Quarterly newsletters
  • Local officers receive several reports to include quarterly finance reports, Political Action Campaign reports, and the annual independent financial accounting audit. These reports are to be shared with members of their local.

These are just a few ways we have been able to better serve our members. This Team has created systems for transparency, accountability and continuing member benefits.

We will never stop fighting for you.