The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) provides legal representation to indigent persons in criminal and civil cases and administrative proceedings in which there is a right to counsel. The CPCS attorneys, social service advocates, investigators, secretaries and other professionals work on behalf of poor people in criminal cases, juvenile cases, child and family cases, mental health and other civil commitment cases. Everyday, staff at CPCS work hard for the most disadvantaged people in our Commonwealth. CPCS employees have been working for many years without a voice in the terms and conditions of employment. Although they have every indication of being state employees, they do not currently have the right to collectively bargain, as nearly all other states employees do. Exclusion from collective bargaining denies CPCS employees a basic right. This bill would remedy this injustice. Extraordinarily high turnover at CPCS is currently costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in training and court costs. Passage of the bill would give CPCS employees a pathway to employment stability, enable them to plan for their future, and provide them with a voice on issues that affect their clients, such as opioid addiction, criminal justice reform, and mental health. We are asking our elected officials to stand with the employees of CPCS and the entire labor community to support their right to have a voice at work through collective bargaining.
Please send Senate bill 1393 to the floor for a vote and pass it now!