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Dunkirk 2009
Dunkirk has become the symbol for retreat and many times is portrayed as an act of weakness. This image is completely false. Dunkirk was not a cowardly act by the British. It was a brilliant maneuver that eventually contributed to the ultimate victory. Dunkirk was the best alternative to a certain defeat at the hands of the Germans.
Today, many police unions find themselves in the same position as the British in 1940, having to choose between certain defeat and retreat. The rational choice is obvious. Unfortunately, ego and pride often get in the way. Most police unions need to be in damage control mode until there is an improvement to the economy. The national economy is near the bottom of this contraction and will start growing soon. The recovery for local governments will lag behind by about six months. The Christmas retail season should be better than last year.
The predicament that we are currently in is not a normal recession. Recession is the correction of excess inventory and consumption. The malady that afflicts us now is the product of fear and panic. The last ten months have been a period of forbearance, not the purging of excess. Once confidence improves to a point of security, spending will rebound sharply. It will be the first quarter of 2010 before improvement will be seen in local government revenue.
Today is the most hostile environment to be negotiating in. The next six to nine months will not be much better. Cities will be in the Fred Sanford role - "This is the big one Elizabeth. I'm coming to meet you baby." This makes the seventh contraction that I have had to confront this pessimism. I am sure it is not the last.
If you are currently in negotiations, you have four viable options:
Backload pay increases
Tie raises to an economic benchmark
Provide for wage reopeners if certain conditions are met
Sign a no change or small change contract for one year
Fact finding and arbitration will be difficult to win in most places. The economy is out of your control, just like a hand of cards in poker. You play the hand you get dealt. You currently have a pair of deuces. I would not play like I had four of a kind.
The goal is to hold any damage to a minimum and live to battle another day. Now is the time to build the relationships that will be needed later. You are pinned down and the city has assault rifles and are firing non-stop. Keep your head down and wait for backup (economic recovery). I can hear the sirens in the distance.
If you have a contract that is not up for negotiations and your city wants to renegotiate the current year pay increase, impose furloughs, or other cost reductions, meet with them. It is okay to make concessions, just get their marker. Let go of the bravado. Just focus on the long term goal. The road to success is not straight. Retreat and compromise is not a sign of weakness. Forget about what other departments think.
The economy will rebound quickly and sharply. To benefit from the rebound you will have to still be alive. The biggest problem you will have is with your membership. Lowering expectations is job number one. To your membership, your success depends on how well you improve basic pay. Right now that will be difficult.
It is hard to not be distracted by the "gloom and doom" being disseminated by the press. Ignore them. Concentrate on controlling damages, managing expectations, and building relationships. Play it cool - real cool. Dying for the cause is not a requirement.
Call me, if you want. There will be no charge.
Ron
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Agreement reached over AUstin Police pay raises
After two full days of negotiations, the Austin Police Association and the City of Austin have reached a tentative agreement to defer 2010 pay raises.
According to union President Sgt. Wayne Vincent, the move would save the city roughly $4.7 million during the 2010 fiscal year.
The savings equals roughly the same amount of money needed to fund the 2010 police cadet class.
Chief Art Acevedo listed the cadet class as part of a 3.5 percent department-wide budget cut.
Under the union's current contract with the city, officers were supposed to get a 2.75-percent pay raise for the 2010 fiscal year.
According to Sgt. Vincent, if the union's membership votes to accept the tentative agreement, that raise would in effect be eliminated.
"Just the fact that the police officers allowed me to step up and try to work an agreement to where we defer a pay raise says a lot about their commitment to the community. Not just on the streets, but also stepping up at a time of economic crisis," Sgt. Vincent said.
City Manager Marc Ott told News 8 during an interview on Tuesday that he is very optimistic about the future of the 2010 cadet class.
The Austin Police Association will begin the process of voting on the changes to their contract in the middle of July, and hopes to have a decision by July 26.
The Austin Travis County EMS union members have also voted to forgo their raises for 2010, a savings over roughly $750,000.
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Unions, Chandler reach tentative deal
Chandler police officers and nearly 700 other employees would take a small pay cut under a new labor agreement the City Council was expected to approve Thursday night.
City management and three unions - the Chandler Service Employees International Union, the Chandler Law Enforcement Association and the local International Association of Firefighters - have been at loggerheads over two of management's demands. Had the two sides not reached an agreement via federal mediation by Thursday, the City Council would have imposed a solution.
Chandler council open to unions ideas [http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/140373]
Council hearing to break labor impasse [http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/140270]
Under the proposed agreements, 263 officers in the police union would take a 0.85percent pay decrease. Officers' average salary range is about $63,000 to $74,000.
However, union members would receive a $173,000 credit from the city to divide among themselves. The city already had the credit in its budget, said Jane Poston, city spokeswoman.
Vacation accrual for officers with more than 20 years of service in Chandler would increase from 6.5 to 7.4 hours per pay period.
Next year's merit increase still would be added to officers' base pay to advance them through their pay grade, Poston said. The three unions had rejected management's demand that next year's merit pay be replaced with a one-time, 5 percent payment that would not be added to base pay.
Poston said the pay cuts would offset the continued merit increases.
The disagreement over merit pay, along with the unions' refusal to accede to management's request for the ability to renegotiate labor contracts in times of a fiscal crisis, led to an impasse in negotiations that forced the City Council to intervene this month. The council requested a federal mediator to help break the impasse by June 25. The existing contracts with the unions expire on June30.
Regular merit pay increases for the SEIU and firefighters' unions will continue, as well. The 681-member SEIU, with an average salary range of about $41,000 to $51,000, would see a 0.95percent decrease in pay. Merit increases for employees who have topped out on the pay scale would be frozen for the immediate future. But the union would receive a $391,000 credit to divide equally among its members.
The 189-member firefighters union, with an average salary range of about $53,000 to $69,000, would have holiday pay slightly reduced and would receive a $93,000 credit to distribute.
The remaining 537 nonunion city employees, which account for 31 percent of the city's work force, would receive a 5 percent payment, but it would not be added to base pay. That includes 120 managers, directors, assistant directors, police lieutenants, assistant police chiefs, police commanders, fire battalion chiefs and assistant chiefs. It also applies to the 48-member police sergeants' union, which has two years left on its contract.
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El Paso asks police and fire unions to postpone Sept. 1 salary increases
From the Newspaper Tree, June 30, 2009, by David Crowder
(http://www.newspapertree.com)
El Paso police and firefighters will be asked to temporarily forego their pay raises in the next fiscal year to help the city balance a budget that will continue to take beating in the national recession.
But first, the members of the two unions would have to ratify the proposals in elections before the raises set out in their contracts could be postponed.
City Manager Joyce Wilson said if both departments go along with the proposals, it could save the city as much as $1.3 million in fiscal 2010.
The El Paso Sheriff’s Officers Association may also be asked to make concessions to help county government through a $17 million budget crisis that is significantly worse than the city’s.
County Commissioner Veronica Escobar said the deputies are scheduled to receive raises amounting to 7 percent in the next year.
City Hall has been cutting expenses all year to cover an anticipated $14 million revenue shortfall to ensure that that the city has a soft landing at the end of the fiscal year in August.
For the next fiscal year, starting Sept. 1, Wilson and her staff intend to present a budget that would allow the city to stick with the effective tax rate, meaning no tax increase for the second year in a row.
Wilson’s office filed a proposed fiscal 2010 budget with the municipal clerk’s office just before 5 p.m. Tuesday that recommended holding back on any raises for nonuniformed city employees until nine months into the year.
The proposal that will go to 1,100 members of the El Paso Municipal Police Officers for ratification in coming weeks will ask officers to put off the 2 percent raise they are due to get Sept. 1 until Jan. 1.
The union’s election process is several weeks long and begins with an effort to educate union members about the proposal before the voting starts.
“Before the election, I have to present every detail,” police union President Robert Gomez said.
Asked how the city’s proposal – the first of its kind in memory – is being received by the police union members, he said, “They understand the financial crisis the city and the nation are going through. They’re asking questions and raising concerns.”
Police Spokesman Chris Mears said other public safety departments around the country, including in Austin and San Antonio, are also being asked to hold off on raises.
“I think we need to do our part, and I’m willing to delay the pay raise to help the city as a whole,” Mears said, speaking for himself.
Joe Tellez, president of El Paso Association of Firefighters, said their education process begins Wednesday on the proposal negotiated with the city to postpone the 3 percent raise that more than 700 firefighters were to receive Jan. 1 until April 11.
“The city manager approached us about deferring our pay raise,” Tellez said. “We don’t want the city to have to lay off firefighters or close stations. That would negatively impact the community.”
Tellez said he is confident that firefighters will approve the proposal once they understand it.
“I know every dollar saved is going to mean something in his budget year,” he said. “We’re just willing to do our part.”
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Toledo, police reach tentative agreement
TOLEDO, Ohio - The City of Toledo said late Monday afternoon that the Finkbeiner administration and the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association have reached a tentative contract agreement.
Finkbeiner administration spokesperson Megan Robson said the contact package will be presented to the TPPA Wednesday, July 1, for ratification.
The Finkbeiner administration has requested city council to hold a special meeting Thursday, July 2, for council to approve the contract deal.
"We had issues as a city administration that I felt we had to address, that the shortage of revenue was forcing upon and the union had issues that it wished us to address," Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said.
Though not getting into too much detail, the mayor mentioned the tentative contract is a three-year deal. The hope is to get as many officers back on the streets as quickly as possible.
"We have a responsibility to the citizens of the city of Toledo, to protect them as best we can," the mayor added. "We have a responsibility to our employees to be as fair as we can at this given point in time."
The mayor would not address talk that this new deal stops future layoffs. He also would not say how much of the city deficit this deal eliminates.
On Friday the latest round of contract negotiations between the city's police union and the city broke down. TPPA President Dan Wagner said that both sides had finally come to an agreement and attorneys for both sides were finalizing it Friday afternoon, but at the last minute Mayor Finkbeiner was insistent on some changes.
"Hopefully we have a good, fair agreement to all sides," said Councilman George Sarantou. "I am optimistic. I'm very glad we have a tentative agreement and obviously council wants to get police back to work, but we also want to have a labor agreement that everyone can live with."
With this deal, the mayor hopes the council will now consider what he called "revenue enhancements," like an increase in trash fees or changes in income taxes.
"The deal has been, you get some concessions and we'll take a serious look at the revenue enhancements that need to be made," Mayor Finkbeiner said.
Wagner was unavailable for comment.
The TPPA has been working under an expired contract since Jan. 1.
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El Monte police union offers to give up raise
From The SGV Tribune, June 26, 2009, By Daniel Tedford
(http://www.sgvtribune.com)
EL MONTE - The city's police officers on Friday offered to give up next year's scheduled 4 percent raise, which they say would help the struggling city reach a balanced budget.
But there's a catch, the association wants six months notice before the city lays off any of its 113 sergeants and officers. The Police Department has lost about 35 positions during the last two years due to layoffs and attrition.
"For one, it obviously saves the city some money and (the city) is having some hard times right now with revenue," said El Monte Police Officers Association Attorney Dieter Dammeier. "With a contract year with no increases or decreases, it gives some certainty to each side."
The city cut $10 million from its budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year by slashing services and laying off 100 employees, but it must cut $2 million more to balance the budget.
The move to defer the raises is estimated to save the city $700,000 next year, Dammeier said.
City officials were reviewing the offer Friday evening and were preparing a response.
City Manager James Mussenden said he and other city officials were glad officers were willing to push the raise back a year, but they still wanted to discuss officers' healthcare and unfunded retirement benefits.
"I think this is a good time to look at the long-term costs associated with the benefits that have been given to employees in the last 10 to 15 years," he said.
He would like officers to pay $200 a month for medical benefits.
"Right now, they don't pay anything," Mussenden said.
The 6-month notice prior to layoffs may also be a sticking point for the city.
In a cash crunch, such a promise could put the city in a pickle, he said.
"I mean the state of California, for example, could give us IOUs," he said.
Dammeier didn't believe the association was asking too much with the extended notice.
"With the amount of people they have already cut, it shouldn't be a problem," Dammeier said.
If accepted, the new contract would go into effect on July 1.
The association also offered to revisit the cost of living increases prior to July 2010, in case the economy remains unstable.
Without knowing the details of the offer, El Monte Councilman Juventino Gomez saw the police officer's association move as positive.
"It sounds like they are reaching out to work with the city," Gomez said. "I think it is great."
Councilwoman Patricia Wallach also hadn't heard the details of any offer Friday, but hoped the deal was genuine.
"Well, I hope they don't have strings," Wallach said.
Councilmembers expected the details of any offer or deal to be brought to them during a closed session meeting Tuesday.
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