Negotations Training in Las Vegas, Nevada
October 22-23, 2008

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Fort Worth, police can't agree on contract

From the Star-Telegram, June 27, 2007, By Mike Lee  (http://www.star-telegram.com)

FORT WORTH — More than a year after voters gave Fort Worth police officers the right to bargain for a contract, the first-ever contract negotiations are stalled, with each side accusing the other of derailing the process.
The Fort Worth Police Officers Association, which represents most of the department’s 1,400 officers, made its "last, best and final offer" to the city this week. The group offered to drop most of its demands and accept the same pay raises given to other employees in exchange for a one-year contract, which would be the first signed under the "meet-and-confer" bargaining system.

First Assistant City Manager Joe Paniagua said the city wouldn’t agree to an on-the-spot decision since it won’t know if it can give raises until it gets a better idea of its tax rolls for next year.

"This demand for an immediate decision [is] contrary to the negotiating process and ground rules that the parties agreed to," Paniagua wrote.

Association President Rick Van Houten said the city is negotiating in bad faith — and effectively flouting the will of the voters — by putting someone at the bargaining table who isn’t authorized to make a decision. Voters gave the association the right to bargain directly with the city in November 2006 under the state’s meet-and-confer law.

The negotiations are being closely watched by other employee groups. The Fort Worth Professional Firefighters Association won similar bargaining rights in a petition drive last year. Fort Worth’s General Employees Association, which represents most other employees, has been lobbying for equal treatment of all employees.

The meet-and-confer law gives the police association the right to bargain over every aspect of employment — hiring, promotion, salaries and benefits.

The association has been pushing for a multiyear contract, something the city adamantly opposes. Van Houten said long-term contracts give the rank-and-file officers stability.

The city has asked for the authority to change or end health and retirement benefits for officers, use civilians in jobs currently done by officers, back out of a contract if funding can’t be found or end a contract if the city’s crime-control sales tax isn’t renewed.

Paniagua said that the city already has most of these rights and that most labor contracts include a "management rights" clause.

Another change being discussed would give the police chief authority to hire one or more captains directly, without a competitive exam.

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Pr. George's Budget Shortfall Reported

From the Washington Post, June 27, 2008, By Rosalind S. Helderman  (http://www.washingtonpost.com)

Prince George's County is facing a new budget shortfall of at least $46 million and wants to trim pay raises for its unionized workforce to close the gap, said labor leaders who met with County Executive Jack B. Johnson behind closed doors yesterday afternoon.

Johnson (D) has not publicly revealed a widening budget gap, and his spokesman would not comment late yesterday.

Two union presidents said, however, that Johnson told a group of employees yesterday that new projections show that revenue from income taxes and taxes from the sale of houses will fall off even more sharply than anticipated. The drop-off in tax money will create a hole in the budget adopted by the County Council in May to take effect July 1.

The union leaders said they were told that they must renegotiate contracts to provide for smaller raises for their members or else face possible layoffs or forced furloughs.

"Now of all a sudden, Mr. Johnson is saying the bottom is falling out," said Arthur Emery, president of the union that represents civilian employees of the police department. "We sat down and negotiated in good faith. We think they should live up to their end of the bargain."

Johnson has talked publicly about the deepening impact of the souring economy on the county's budget. When he proposed his budget in March, he recommended a tax increase and some budget cuts to close what he predicted then would be about a $122 million shortfall.

He said he hoped to avoid layoffs or forced furloughs but has warned that the county's budget situation could worsen. Still, the union leaders said they were surprised to hear projections had dipped so quickly.

"We were all caught off guard," said Vince Canales, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police.

Several county public safety unions have been waiting for months for the County Council to ratify two-year contracts negotiated in the fall. Votes on some contracts were scheduled for Tuesday.

According to Canales, Johnson said he would ask the council to delay votes on the contracts to allow for further talks. The police contract called for a 3 percent cost-of-living increase and a 3.5 percent merit raise.

Contracts for firefighters, sheriff's deputies and police civilian workers would provide for a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase and 3.5 percent merit raises.

When the County Council adopted Johnson's budget in May, Council Chairman Samuel H. Dean (D-Mitchellville) said Prince George's did not share the concerns of neighboring Montgomery County, where some council members had contended that union contracts locked the county into unsustainable pay increases.

"We have been good stewards of our revenue, and therefore we have made sure we have not spent more than we could afford," Dean said then.

Canales said the budget contains other items that could be cut instead of pay increases for employees.

"There's money out there," he said. "They're just picking and choosing and putting the burdens on the backs of the workers."

Canales said the news is particularly upsetting given that earlier this month, officials held a big celebration of the county's financial stability on the steps of the County Administration Building, unfurling 40-foot-long banners and sending up helium balloons while announcing that a New York bond rating agency had awarded Prince George's its top grade for the first time.

"You're doing dances and you're having big parties and parades, and then two to three weeks later you're broke?" he said. "We don't understand how that happens."

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Seattle police union contract wins panel's OK

From the Seattle Times, June 26, 2008, By Sharon Pian Chan  (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The Seattle City Council is on track to ratify the police union's proposed labor contract, adding stress to the city's 2009 and 2010 budgets.

The city will owe $10 million in retroactive pay raises for 2007 and 2008 to Seattle Police Officers' Guild members because the previous contract expired in 2006. The guild has 1,180 members, including officers, detectives and sergeants.

"Of course I'm concerned about sustainability" of paying for the contract, said council budget Chairwoman Jean Godden. "We will have to work on that."

Godden, and Councilmembers Tim Burgess and Nick Licata recommended approval in the personnel committee Wednesday. The full council will vote Monday.

In April, the city's finance department said it expected the local economic slowdown to continue the next two years.

"Our current estimate is that we are likely to have spending pressures that won't allow us to continue all the programs at their current spending levels when you account for inflation and so forth," said assistant finance director Glen Lee. "Through the summer we do another set of revenue forecasts, as well as expenditure estimates, and it's really premature to put a number on if a gap exists, and what the gap is now."

Mayor Greg Nickels plans to make his biennial budget proposal by the end of September.

The new police contract would substantially increase city spending on police. In 2006, the city spent $105 million on union police salaries. By 2010, the total would rise to $134 million.

The proposed contract, which gives most officers a 25.6 percent raise over four years, would make Seattle officers the state's highest-paid. It includes recommendations to improve police accountability and changes to work shifts.

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Bankrupt Vallejo wants to void 4 labor pacts

From the Chronicle, June 23, 2008, By Carolyn Jones  (http://www.sfgate.com)

A month after declaring bankruptcy as a result of spiraling payroll costs and declining revenue, the City of Vallejo has asked a judge to void all four of its employee labor contracts, including those covering police and firefighters.

The city filed the request last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento, which is overseeing Vallejo's attempt to reorganize its finances. A hearing is set for July 23.
"It's not unexpected. Our labor contracts are one of the main reasons we're in bankruptcy," said City Councilwoman Stephanie Gomes. "We have employee salaries and benefits we simply cannot afford."

Union leaders said they plan to fight the request.

"It's absurd, ridiculous. This doesn't just affect salaries, but working conditions," said Vallejo police Lt. Mat Mustard, vice president of the police union. "Although I think voiding the contracts has been their motivation all along."

The city faces its first major bankruptcy milestone Friday, when city and union officials present their initial arguments to the court.

Officials from the city will try to show how skyrocketing employee costs and the imploding housing market have resulted in a $16 million deficit, while the unions will argue that the city has money hidden in other accounts and is using bankruptcy as a ploy to scrap its employee contracts.

The hearing is expected to last several days. If the judge agrees with the unions, the city would not be able to claim protection under Chapter 9 bankruptcy and be forced to find another answer to its economic woes.

Voiding public employee contracts would set a major precedent, said Santa Rosa bankruptcy attorney Douglas Provencher, who has worked on several public agency bankruptcies.

"If Vallejo is allowed to do this, I can't imagine how many cities and counties in the state would file for bankruptcy," he said. "But the problem is, this really is uncharted waters. I've never heard of any public entity, ever, succeeding in rejecting its union contracts."

Vallejo's contracts cover about 400 police, firefighters, electricians, maintenance workers, secretaries, clerks and other city employees.

Salaries and benefits for the two biggest unions, police and fire, comprise three-quarters of the city's general fund budget. Most cities spend about half of their general funds on police and fire, according to the California League of Cities.

The Vallejo City Council voted unanimously to declare bankruptcy on May 23, after months of labor negotiations and cutbacks failed to solve the city's financial crisis. The city has promised its 117,000 residents it will maintain essential services during the bankruptcy proceedings, which could continue for years.

Meanwhile, the city is in negotiations with Cal Fire, the state fire department, to deliver fire protection services to the city instead of using its own Fire Department, city spokeswoman Joann West said Friday.

"The city has had discussions with Cal Fire to have them run the fire department," she said. "But it's very preliminary."

Vallejo fire officials were not available for comment Friday.

Despite the city's financial woes, private business is showing some signs of life, Mayor Osby Davis said.

Touro University, an osteopathic college on Mare Island, is planning to build a state-of-the-art cancer research center, and work is under way on the first phase - an underground parking lot - of a hotel and conference center project on the waterfront.

The city is also establishing a redevelopment area along the Interstate 80 corridor to attract more visitors and shoppers.

"Our city is going to surprise everyone," Davis said.

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