Deputy Tony Hernandez, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department

2005: What Challenges do we face?

Whose role is it to handle labor disputes, the first responder or a person designated by their department? In reality it is both, but if your agency has a designated labor relations officer, this person is better trained on current labor law and is current on how to handle labor disputes. The trained officer in return could provide training for his/her department?s personnel on first response to a labor dispute. The California Association of Labor Relations Officers, CALRO, is committed to provide the most updated and current training available to law enforcement officers. It is the goal of the association to get as many law enforcement agencies involved with CALRO as possible.

We need all law enforcement agencies that have a person designated as their labor dispute officer to join our association. It is the association?s goal to recruit law enforcement agencies throughout California and beyond. We know that labor disputes cross jurisdictional lines, and if we as labor relations officers get better training and are consistent with labor laws, our job would be a lot easier.

This coming year, 2005, could be another challenging time for labor relations officers. The rising cost of health care and other economic factors could cause more organized labor activity.