Labor Archives

► Oro Valley POA, AZCOPS fight local attempt to lay off six patrol officers
► Doran brings extensive union experience to NCPSO
► Tucson Chamber names TPOA Member of the Month
► Pinal County Deputies Association gains meet and confer rights
► Pima County DSA becomes first deputy sheriffs group in Arizona to gain meet and confer rights
► CLASA contract links supervisor pay with other cities in Maricopa County
► Tucson POA's media campaign warns community of looming public safety crisis

 

Yavapai County Probation Officers Association elects new leaders

The Yavapai County Probation Officers Association elected new leaders in March for its Board of Directors.
Melanie Cianchetti Schmid was elected President, Steve Cunning was elected Vice President, Lane Hoggett was elected Treasurer, and Renee Mashcher was elected Secretary.

Police Labor

Doran brings extensive union experience to NCPSO

 

(Posted: March 9, 2009)

For more than 35 years, John Doran has been organizing workers across the country and teaching them how to work together to improve pay, benefits and working conditions and communicate those needs to employers. 

His first experience with a union came in 1972 when he returned from the military to work for the fire department in his hometown in North Carolina. When the department reprimanded him for his union activities, it inadvertently sent him down a new career path where for the next three decades he would work to organize thousands of workers looking for fair treatment in the workplace and a better quality of life. 

What started in the local fire department, led him to become President of the state firefighters union in North Carolina. Since then, Doran’s career highlights have included organizing correctional officers across the Southwest for the Communication Workers of America (CWA), starting a state employees union in Oklahoma with 25,000 state workers, and running organizing campaigns in private and public sector unions in Arizona, Nevada and California. 

When it came time for CWA to select a new leader for the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers (NCPSO), of which AZCOPS is a member, Doran was the natural choice. He was selected to replace John Burpo, who left the post last fall to serve as Executive Director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT). 

Currently based in Nevada, Doran travels a lot assisting NCPSO associations. He advises them on organizing programs, helps develop media strategy, and provides guidance on bargaining matters. 

These days, Doran is talking with NCPSO association leaders about federal legislation that would allow public safety officers in Arizona and across the country to collectively bargain with their employers. If passed and signed into law, HR 980 will require significant changes in state laws to provide for collective bargaining. 

“This legislation will help unions across the country grow their membership and achieve more for their members,” Doran said. 

Doran is already working with AZCOPS leaders to prepare for legislative changes in the next two years. “While we anticipate resistance from groups that traditionally fight bargaining rights, AZCOPS is fortunate to already have political action and lobbying programs in place that will help promote these changes,” he said. 

AZCOPS President Larry Lopez said he believes Doran brings a unique perspective to NCPSO that will help AZCOPS and other NCPSO organizations grow and achieve more for their members. 

“We look forward to working closely with John and believe his experience and leadership will help us make a difference for Arizona public safety officers,” Lopez said.