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POLICEPAY.NET
NEGOTIATION TRAINING JULY 26-27 -
City and FOP
Haggle Over Contract From KAKE News, February 10, 2007 Wichita Police have been working without a contract since
December. Despite a new offer from the city, it looks like the cop contract
battle is far from over. For two months, members of the Fraternal Order of Police have
been hitting the streets with picket signs. The big issue is pay. Police say
the city is refusing to come up with a legitimate pay proposal. They say the
city's latest proposal on Friday's was no different. While the latest offer modified some the minor details of the
deal, the hang-up is still on the amount of pay. The FOP says they've dropped
their request of a six percent raise to 5.5 percent. That's still two to
three percent more than the city is offering. After almost 15 offers and counter offers, the FOP says they are
done with negotiating. That may leave them no other choice than to go with a
mediator. The mediator would conduct a study to compare FOP President Chester Pinkston says while there is feelings of
uncertainty for officers working without a contract, they won't sign until
they get the deal they want. Pinkston says they need to go back to the table
and talk about the proposal. Until then, he says negotiations are at a standstill. KAKE News
contacted several city officials for this story. They say they agreed the
only place they will talk about the contract is at the negotiating table with
the fop. However, they say they are still optimistic that a resolution will
be reached and they are not at an impasse. Police talks
suspended; pension change weighed Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Attorney Michael Aguirre said
Wednesday that the program, called the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or
DROP, is too expensive to remain open to new enrollment. Mark Sullivan, who sits on the Police Officers Association's
board of directors, said negotiations had been suspended for at least a week
so union officials could meet Wednesday with members. Talks could resume as early as Feb. 21 if union members believe
that negotiations can still be productive and the mayor is acting in good
faith, he said. Many police officers were upset the mayor told a talk show host
that the union had been informed of his plans for DROP when it hadn't. “We feel fairly confident that (city officials) recognize that a
mistake was made at the mayor's level,” Sullivan said. Sanders apologized yesterday, but called for contract talks to
continue. “We don't think it does anyone any good to stay away from the
table,” the mayor said. “We have fairly substantive issues to talk about.” Aguirre said the Feb. 21 meeting already is scheduled, and that
negotiations are “not in our understanding, suspended.” Police officers have clashed with the city in the last few
rounds of labor talks, leading to imposed contracts that have angered union
members. The department is short nearly 200 officers. City employees have been furious with Aguirre for his attempts
to exert control over the pension system and cut back benefits granted in
1996 and 2002. One of the options added for employees was the chance to defer
retirement by up to five years while having their pension funds deposited
into a special account. They receive paychecks at the same time. A pension expert said this week the program has cost the city
more than $70 million, though union officials have cited a 2005 report in
which DROP was said to have saved taxpayers $45 million. Police union
seeks higher pay for detectives From The Advocate, February 15, 2007 Council Expects Crime Fighting Plan But Gets Pay Raise Proposal A long awaited special council meeting on the Jackson Police
Department's crime plan instead turned into a police pay raise proposal. A plan that caught city leaders off guard and raised concerns
about the recently passed budget. Crimes like this weekend's bold convenience store shooting
and robbery prompted Monday a special meeting was held to hear in-depth strategies,
instead the chamber was filled with law officers supporting a pay raise. Ward Seven Councilwoman Margaret Barrett Simon said, "This is not exactly what I had expected
when I came here. I thought the chief was making a presentation to
us." Chief Shirlene Anderson said the
department is losing officers because of low pay and benefits. Precinct four Commander Steve Sansom
presented the proposal to the council. Cmdr. Sansom said,
"We have officers that come in this department and stay here just
long enough to get that certification out of our academy and some of them
quit the day they graduate from that academy and go to other
departments." The department is proposing a $3.6 million dollar plan to
recruit and retain officers with an average salary increase of $7,300.00 and
paid medical. It would be funded through an increase in traffic, parking,
court services and other fees. It would also raise the hotel/motel occupancy tax from $0.75 to
$5.00. Council members Barrett Simon, Bluntson,
Crisler, McLemore and Tillman were present during
the discussions. They all said they support raises but have concerns about
the funding process. Ward Six Councilman Marshand Crisler said, "I hope
we just didn't bring everybody down here just to say we want to give yall a pay raise. I hope there's a plan. A real
plan." Councilwoman Barrett Simon asked,
"Are you requesting anything of us today that you failed to
request of us a month ago when we approved the budget?" Ward Two Councilman Dr. Les McLemore said, "We're waiting for the administration to bring
the recommendation forward. It didn't occur during the budgetary cycle. We
provided an across the board raise for everybody." Chief Anderson said if the council approved the plan it would go
into effect in October. No action was taken on the proposal. Police
officers receive raise From the Del Rio Police Department officers got a 20 percent pay raise
from city council Tuesday night, following appeals from the police chief and
the president of the police officers association. Police,
Firefighters pension in $350M deficit From The The El Paso Police and Firefighters Pension Fund is facing a
long-term deficit of $350 million and fixing it is going to cost taxpayers
about $200 million. City officials say the tentative plan is to raise the money by
selling $100 million in pension obligation bonds sometime this summer and the
another $100 million in 2009. Deputy City Manager Bill Studer plans
on briefing City Council members on the proposed pension changes and the
impact on the city's finances Tuesday. Before Sept. 1, he said, the city plans to convert $99.5 million
in short-term debt to longer-term general obligation bonds and to sell $75
million in bonds to pay for routine infrastructure improvements, repairs
stemming from the August 2006 flooding and for voter-approved,
quality-of-life projects. What happens to tax bills will depend on a lot of things and
cannot be predicted just yet, he said. "We don't know how much the tax roll will grow, how much
new construction we'll see or how we'll phase the debt in," Studer said. "But we will try to make the impact on
the tax rate as gradual as we can." The current city tax rate to cover all debt payments is about 19
cents per $100, which amounted to $190 in taxes on a house with a taxable
value of $100,000 on last fall's tax statement. By policy, Studer said, the city's
debt service rate cannot exceed 25 cents per $100 valuation. That would come
to $250 on a house with a taxable $100,000 value but, Studer
said, any calculations should include the city's new $5,000 homestead
exemption and the $30,000 for the elderly and disabled. If the elements of the proposed pension fix are approved by the
city's 1,100 police officers and 810 firefighters in an election, it will
result in the creation of a second tier of retirement benefits for future
public safety employees, who will no longer receive automatic cost of living
increases. Officers and firefighters will also have to work 25 years
instead of 20 for a full pension and won't be able to take it until they are
50 years old, instead of 45. Current police officers will have to contribute 13.9 percent a 2
percent increase of their pay into the retirement system. And widows of
retired officers or firefighters in the second tier will not receive 100
percent of the deceased spouse's pension as they do today but 75 percent. "While it's a $360 million problem, through this process
we're not going to the taxpayers for $360 million," Police Commander
Robert Feidner, a member of the police and fire
pension board, said. "The police officers and firefighters are making
concessions that address 50 percent of the problem." The police and fire pension plan supports 1,350 retirees and has
$715 million in assets. Feidner said the
pension problem, which is now growing by $76,000 a day, was first found in
the mid-1990s, and he credits the current city administration for its
willingness to address the issue. "When the problem was originally discovered, it was in the
$40- to-$60 million range," Feidner said.
"Over the years, no one took the bull by the horns. They said, It's your
problem, you deal with it.' "It's like the little snowball at the top of the mountain.
Every day, it got bigger and bigger. This administration got very proactive
and recognized it for what it is and began having meaningful
discussions." Officer Bobby Holguin, the president of the El Paso Municipal
Police Officers Association, said the terms of the settlement will be hard on
future officers but fixing the problem now is important. "In the year since the city, pension board, fire and police
began negotiating, the deficit has gone up almost $100 million," he
said. "Once the fund gets upside-down, it starts snowballing because
you're paying out of principal instead of contributions and investment earnings. "If we wait until next year, the deficit could double.
We've got to stop the bleeding. It's not going away." "We had 81 officers leave for various reasons in 2006 and
90 in 2005," he said. "I have talked to officers about this. "They don't like the changes, but the way it's put to them
is it's something they are going to have to do to keep their pension system
sound." Firefighters now pay more than police into the pension system,
15.25 percent of their salary, and that will not change. Pilo Tejeda, a 76-year-old retired firefighter, said he is not
happy with the pension board members because of the mistakes they have made
in dealings with retirees. But he approves of the steps being proposed to correct the
pension deficit. Widows of retirees, he said, shouldn't get 100 percent of their
spouse's pension, and public safety employees shouldn't be able to retire
with full benefits at 45 with 20 years. "They need to get rid of all that," he said.
"Forty-five is too young to retire, and the guys need to put in at least
25 years like we did." Tejeda said if he
dies before his wife, she will only receive a third of his current pension
because that's what the plan allowed when he became a firefighter. When Tejeda retired in 1981, he began
receiving a pension of $1,100 a month. With cost-of-living increases, it has
grown to $1,900 a month. The pension plan for the city's 4,000 non-uniformed employees is
also facing a $97 million liability. There are plans to remedy that with a 1 percent increase in
employee contributions and a 1.4 percent increase in the city's contribution
to the plan, said Robert Ashe, the city's pension administrator. CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS POLICEPAY provides
complete contract negotiations for your bargaining unit. We will:
Our fee will be a fixed
amount that is agreed to up front. The
fee will include all costs, even travel and hotels. There will be no surprises. We offer options with no up front
payment. You can make equal monthly
payments. If your contract is 36
months, you will make 36 monthly payments. During the term of the
contract, we will:
If we are not able to
reach an agreement with your city, we will provide arbitration services at no
additional cost. We intend to get an
agreement. Our approach to contract
negotiations is different than what you are probably used to. We engage in non-confrontational
negotiations that rely on developing relationships. However, we do not use so called “win-win”
negotiation. It’s a loser for
you. There will be no unfair labor
practice complaints filed by us or lawsuits and grievances. If that is what you are wanting you need to
call the usual knucklehead lawyers that have been screwing up police
negotiations for years. Intimidation
and blustering are not in our arsenal. If you prefer to
negotiate yourself we can provide any of the services listed above, with the
same payment plans, only at lower rate.
If this is the way you want to go, you need to attend one of our
negotiation seminars. The upcoming
seminars are listed on our website. For more information,
give us a call at (405) 234-2235, or contact POLICEPAY.NET Your
Ultimate Solution For Contract Negotiations |
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