The title references an old folk tune from the early 1900's sung on the picket lines in front of steel mills, coal mines, and other flashpoints of labor unrest. It was a time when being a "union man" was something to hold your head up about and be proud of. Today? The highest-paid state employee in California last year, a prison surgeon who took home $777,423, has a history of mental illness, was fired once for alleged incompetence and has not been allowed to treat an inmate for six years because medical supervisors don't trust his clinical skills. Since July 2005, Dr. Jeffrey Rohlfing has mostly been locked out of his job - on paid leave or fired or fighting his termination - at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, state records show. When he has been allowed inside the facility, he has been relegated to reviewing paper medical histories, what prison doctors call "mailroom" duty. Rohlfing's $235,740 base pay, typical in California's corrections system, accounted for about a third...(Read Full Post)