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2006
POLICEPAY INDEX WHO IS
NUMBER 1? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT
TEAMSTERS CONQUER
NASHVILLE From
Policepay.net, February 8, 2006 – Nashville, Tennessee –The
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 327, have succeeded in
replacing the Fraternal Order of Police as the bargaining agent for the
Nashville Metropolitan Police Department.
Today’s election victory culminates a two-year struggle. During 2004, the Teamsters forced the FOP
into a representation election and almost succeeded, but ultimately lost by
16 votes. To get to today’s representation election, the
Teamsters had to prevail in a December 1, 2005 decertification election that
required the approval of more than 50% of the qualifying police
officers. The Teamsters managed to
jump that hurdle, although there were only 36 votes to spare. Two factors contributed to the Teamsters victory –
a disgruntled former president of the FOP and a new police chief. The origin for both factors was just 11
days apart during January, 2004. FOP
president, Calvin Hullett, completed his term as the FOP president on January
1st. Less than two weeks, later Ronal
Serpas became the new police chief.
These two actions started a series of events that would eventually
lead to the FOP being removed and the Teamsters taking over. Hullett completed his FOP presidency as an unhappy
person. He had fought several battles
with his executive board and lost. As
a result, he chose not to stand for re-election. Overnight, he changed from being the chief
advocate for the FOP to being the FOP’s chief nemesis. Hullett’s family has long-term ties with the
Teamsters union. The thought of
getting the Teamsters into the Nashville Police Department was not a sudden
impulse, but something that had been brewing in his mind for a long time. Ronal Serpas arrived in Nashville after a career
with the New Orleans Police Department and then a term as the Chief of the
Washington State Police. Mayor Bill
Purcell picked Chief Serpas because of his reputation as an agent of
change. The Nashville Police
Department was long overdue for modernization. The chief wasted no time in implementing
changes. Most of those changes were
not trail-blazing ideas. They were
standard police department practices being used by many major police
departments. Unfortunately, Chief
Serpas can be a little heavy-handed at times.
As a result, it was not long until he had a vocal group of police
officers that were calling for his head. Capitalizing on the discontent with the chief,
Hullett began a behind-the-scenes drive to overthrow the FOP and he almost
succeeded. For his reprise performance
in 2005, he came out from behind the curtain and began to lead the charge.
His campaign focused on how much he and his Teamster buddies despised Chief
Serpas. The only problem with this
strategy was that the FOP was saying the same thing. The FOP had begun an all-out war with the
chief not long after he arrived. The
battle between the two unions became an argument about who hated the chief
the most. Eventually, both started to
sound like parrots. You can only take
hyperbole to so high a crescendo. The Teamsters then moved on to a new issue – the
pension plan. The Teamsters started
accusing the city of messing with the pension plan assets and
investments. This is an area where the
Teamsters are universally recognized experts – messing with pension plans. The Teamsters claimed that the plan had not
been audited, which was incorrect.
They then claimed that what they meant was a “performance audit”
concerning the return on investments.
The Teamsters even filed a bogus lawsuit in an attempt to force the
city into doing a “performance audit.”
The fact is that the pension plan is a defined benefit plan and the
employee benefits are fixed. No
employee is helped nor harmed by the return on the pension investments. Even the 2000 performance audit that the Teamsters
frequently referred to stated that the Nashville Metro Plan out-performed the
average pension plan. Today’s victory is a major coup for the
Teamsters. Prior to taking Nashville,
the largest city police department represented by the Teamsters was Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, the 190th largest city in the United States. Nashville is the 25th largest city. The raid on the Nashville FOP was more of
an opportunistic action by the Teamsters, rather than part of a strategic
plan. With Hullett in place, ready,
willing and able to betray his union, and the high level of anger toward the
police chief, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Nashville is not a big labor city where the
Teamsters can really benefit from infiltrating the police department, but it
is a big foothold. The Teamsters will
probably try to repeat this process by cultivating dissonant police officers
in other cities where there is strong animosity toward the police chief and
the mayor. Orlando, Florida is probably a prime target. Hatred for the mayor has been overwhelming
in Orlando. In addition, the Teamsters
are already in a nearby department – Daytona Beach. To really reap any tangible benefits will require
the Teamsters to raid police unions in cities where they have stronger ties
with organized crime. Their primary
focus will need to be in Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Based on their rhetoric, the Teamsters will
attempt to use muscle to accomplish their goals. Whether they succeed in doing this will
depend on how Mayor Bill Purcell and Chief Serpas deal with the problem. If the mayor and chief “roll-over” for the
Teamsters after playing hardball with the FOP, it will validate the arguments
for using muscle. In addition, it will
energize the Teamsters to try this same approach in other cities. Last week, James P. Hoffa, son of the first Jimmy
Hoffa and the current president of the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, was in Nashville to address police officers that support the
Teamsters in their bid to take over the Nashville Police Department. Hoffa declared that “Chief Serpas is a
bully. We’ll take care of Chief
Serpas.” It did not sound like he was
talking about getting better pay and benefits for the chief. What motivates police officers to essentially become
“suicide bombers” is hard to understand.
Anger and hate are powerful motivators. Internal strife and turmoil will continue
to be the Teamsters’ allies in their drive to dominate law enforcement in
this country. Angry and frustrated
police officers can easily fall victim to the Teamsters promise of using the
boot heel to accomplish change. There is a lesson in this for the leaders of other
police unions. The fanning of the
embers of animosity toward the chief and the mayor may start a prairie fire that
eventually consumes you and your union.
As tempting as it may be, playing to your membership by attacking the
chief and the mayor offers much more risk than reward. The art of politics may not be as macho,
but it is much more affective. Manchin
seeks millions for trooper pay raises Pledging
to make state troopers the highest-paid law enforcement officers in West
Virginia by the end of his term, Gov. Joe Manchin asked lawmakers to provide
$6.2 million worth of raises to the State Police over the next three years. The
pay increases would be on top of the $1,350 raise troopers received during
last year's special session devoted to public employee pay issues. The
proposed raises would also be in addition to the $76.7 million Manchin has
recommended for the department for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Manchin
spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said the raises stem from the anti-crime measures
the governor outlined in January's State of the State address. "It's
one of the components needed to make sure that our troopers have the
resources they need to attack crime in West Virginia,'' Ramsburg said Monday.
Versions
of the bill (HB4410, SB503) were introduced Monday in the House and Senate,
and referred to their respective finance committees. Over
the three years, the total raises to base pay would range between $2,000 for
the ranks of corporal and above to $7,000 for troopers in their second and
third years. All classes of troopers would receive raises to their base pay,
except for those in their fourth and fifth years of service. Cadets would
also get a pay hike. The
bill would also boost pay for troopers on the job for two years or more by
$400 per year of service. Troopers now receive $600 in extra "longevity
pay'' after five years of service, with increases every three years. Troopers
now rank seventh for compensation among state law enforcement agencies.
Police in Ranson, Charleston, Charles Town and Martinsburg and deputy
sheriffs in Kanawha and Jefferson counties all receive higher pay, according
to figures cited by Ramsburg. Though
lawmakers sought to address pay raises during the September special session,
Manchin's bill might still have a chance, House Finance Vice Chairman John
Doyle said Monday. "I
personally don't think we did as good a job as we could have done on pay
raises,'' said Doyle, D-Jefferson. “But the question, as always, is what
other priorities are there.'' Arkansas-side council
agrees to correct parity pay oversight The
Texarkana, Ark., Board of Directors agreed to take nearly $95,000 out of the
city’s general fund budget to make up for a parity pay misunderstanding. Last
month police officers were surprised to find only a 4.5 percent increase on
their paychecks, when in previous talks, they understood their raise was to
be 6 percent. The
6 percent was made up of 3 percent of what Texas side officials had given
their officers and firefighters for the fiscal year 2005-2006 and the other 3
percent was to cover unpaid parity from July to December 2005. However,
the finance director, Harold Boldt, said he understood the only amount over
the initial 3 percent was 1.5 percent, and if he’d heard 6 percent, he would
have at the time it was being discussed raised the issue. Parity
pay was approved by Arkansas-side voters more than a decade ago and it gives
the Texarkana, Ark., police officers and firefighters the same rate of pay
Texarkana, Texas, police officers and firefighters earn. It was to be funded
by an increase in the Texarkana, Ark., city sales tax. A
meeting of the parity pay committee was called shortly after the
misunderstanding arose last month, where it was decided to give an additional
1.5 percent, for a total of 6 percent. “They’re
supposed to get a little extra on this check to make up (for the other 1.5
percent not given on the first paycheck of the year),” said Ward 5 Director
Weldon Johnson. The
additional 1.5 percent will cost the city $94,500 out of its general fund
balances. But
the city is still 3 percent behind from January 2005, when the city didn’t
give the full parity raise the Texas-side officers received for fiscal year
2004-2005. However,
the 6 percent raise the Arkansas-side officers are now getting brings them to
salary base pay parity with what Texas-side officers are making. City
Manager Charles Nickerson acknowledged the city still owes civil service some
parity pay, but with the lack of cash flow and low fund balance, it would be
fiscally irresponsible to pay that now. Mayor
Horace Shipp agreed. “We’re
not squeaking that (what is still owed) under the table,” he said, adding,
“At the appropriate time, we will approach that 2005 deficiency.” Shipp
said that appropriate time will not be until the city is more financially
stable and is bringing in more revenues. Both
chiefs, Police Chief Bob Harrison and Fire Chief Bobby Honea said they
understood what was taking place. Harrison
said it was the decision of the Police Association to accept the current
offer of 6 percent and work out an agreement for the future to regain that
lost parity. Honea
noted the fire department had already come to an agreement, worked out with
the parity pay committee, with the city on how that unpaid parity would be
met in the future after the city has escapes its financial crisis. BAL HARBOUR City, police union agree on new two-year
contract From The Miami Herald, February 8, 2006 Police officers in Bal Harbour have reached a
two-year contract agreement with the village, allowing for stepped raises and
pension benefits, while neighboring Bay Harbor Islands is nearing a deal. Under the contract between Bal Harbour and the Police
Benevolent Association which was approved at a recent Village Council
meeting, the starting annual salary for a Bal Harbour police officer will be
$47,058, with maximum salary of $60,346 after 18 years of service. Officers
working the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift will be paid an additional 3 percent. Every year, Bal Harbour's police officers will
receive a cost-of-living adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index for
South Florida. This year's adjustment would amount to a 4
percent raise. The officers will also receive a 2 ½ percent pay increase
after eight years of service, and a 1 percent increase after 16, 17 and 18
years of service. The contract also includes a pension-type program
which Bal Harbour Police Chief Tom Hunker explained will allow officers to
stay on the job up to five years after they reach retirement age and accrue
retirement benefits. The village police force has 30 sworn officers. The contract approval comes after more than a
year of negotiations between Hunker and the PBA. ''It's a lengthy process, I'm glad it's over,''
Hunker said. The contract will get its final reading at the
Council's Feb. 21 meeting. In neighboring Bay Harbor Islands, the town is
also close to reaching an agreement with the PBA, said Bay Harbor Islands
Police Chief John Ross. ''Our contract has been tentatively agreed to,
but it has to be ratified by the PBA bargaining unit and then passed by the
Town Council,'' Ross said. 2006
POLICEPAY Index Just Released! * Austin, Texas is highest paid police department
out of 200 largest cities in United States * New Orleans is still the lowest paid department
* 'Old South' is lowest paid region * New York City police officers remain toward
bottom of the list, ranked 157th out of 200 From PRN Newswire, January 31, 2006 OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- POLICEPAY.NET has
released the 2006 POLICEPAY Index, ranking the 200 largest cities in the
United States based upon police compensation. This index uses a total
compensation methodology that breaks down an officer's pay and benefits over
a 30-year career into a per hour rate that allows each location to be
accurately compared. Produced by Ronald J. York, President of POLICEPAY.NET and a
well-known accountant and labor negotiator, this index provides an accurate representation
of police wages and benefits across the country. Over the years, our index
has become widely used by government agencies and police unions for
determining market values, individual police recruits looking for a
department to apply to, and reporters covering stories regarding police wages
and benefits. The full 2006 POLICEPAY Index is available at no charge for
download at http://www.policepay.net/
, or can be requested by email at editor@policepay.net, or by fax at (405)
234-2245. Custom data reports are also available for members of the media
upon request to compare individual types of compensation. POLICEPAY.NET is the nation's leading collective bargaining
consultant for police associations. We have been serving associations all
across the nation since 1987 providing collective bargaining services. In
addition to services for individual police unions, we also own and maintain
the Web site http://www.policepay.net/
, the leading resource for police compensation data available anywhere. CONTACT: Charles Wonsey POLICEPAY.NET, Inc. (405) 234-2235 FAX:
(405) 234-2245 charles@policepay.net http://www.policepay.net/
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