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UPCOMING
POLICEPAY.NET SEMINAR’S CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS - May
1st Los Angeles Area CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS -
May 3rd San Francisco Area
(Click on service name for information and
pricing) From the Times Until now, county deputies had to work 25 years before becoming
eligible for retirement. Both the deputies' union and Sheriff Jim Campbell hailed the
20-year agreement, the major feature in a new four-year contract that was
approved by county legislators Monday. Deputy Kevin Dennis, president of the Albany County Deputy
Sheriff's Police Benevolent Association for the past eight years, was in the
legislature chamber to watch the unanimous vote. "We've been wanting to do this since 2003," he said.
"We began negotiating with the county, then it fell apart, and we went
to arbitration and got a nice pay raise out of that." "This year, our No. 1 item was the retirement, and the
county was serious," he said. "It seems it was the item that they
wanted to talk about." The two sides negotiated roughly a year, Dennis said. "We
went to the table last summer and asked for the 20, and it took state
retirement a few months to give the county the cost estimate." Campbell, who's been sheriff since 1990, retiring as a first
sergeant with the State Police after 20 years, said, "Most of the area
police departments have had the 20-year retirement for years." CAMPBELL "The beauty of this retirement plan is that every
year in addition to the 20 that they stay, it adds 1/60th of their salary to
their potential pension," Campbell said. "If someone stayed for
30-plus years, they would get 75 percent of their salary rather than the 50
percent at 20 years, which is half pay." The new contract was ratified by a 93 percent vote in early
February by the 72 members of the local, which is affiliated with the Police
Conference of New York, Dennis said. Under terms of the contract, which runs from Jan. 1, 2006,
through Dec. 31, 2009, deputies forgo pay hikes in 2006 and 2007. They
receive a $1,500-across-the-board increase in base pay effective Jan. 1,
2008, and a 3 percent salary increase effective Jan. 1, 2009. Dennis, who is assigned to A first-year deputy now earns between $38,000 and $40,000, and
at top pay, five years, the salary is close to $50,000 and will increase by
the end of the current contract, he said. When he took over the union's leadership about eight years ago,
top pay averaged about $31,000. Mediation
next in police dispute From the Republican, March 12, 2007 The Springfield Police Supervisors Association, which represents
68 sergeants, lieutenants and captains, is the last union in the city without
a contract. The control board has petitioned the state Joint Labor
Management Committee to assign a mediator acceptable to both sides. "We are happy almost all the contracts are settled but
won't be satisfied until all are settled," said Philip Puccia, executive director of the Finance Control Board.
"We want nothing more than to settle the contract with the police
supervisors." The control board has contracts with 27 of 28 unions including
long-term settlements with the teachers, patrolmen and firefighters. Marshall T. Moriarty, a lawyer representing the police
supervisors, said the union was harder hit by a city-imposed wage freeze in
2003 than other unions, because the contract at the time was back-loaded with
raises that were lost to the freeze. In negotiating a new contract, those
financial losses must be addressed, he said. Puccia said the
control board has reached similar agreements with all unions. "My offer to meet with them at any time and any place
stands," Puccia said. Unless a settlement is reached before July 1, a sergeant with 10
years experience will earn $1,048 per week, just $48 more than a patrolman
with the same years of experience, Moriarty said. While both sides have agreed to mediation, the union believes
the loss of wages under the wage freeze should be dealt with separately,
Moriarty said. The union still has a grievance, court case and unfair labor
charge moving forward, he said. The union's last contract was from July 1, 2001 to June 30,
2004, but the raises were stretched out over a 54-month period to assist the
city in its fiscal problems, Moriarty said. The wage freeze began June 30,
2003, blocking the back-loaded raised, he said. The patrolmen's union ratified a seven-year contract in August,
with retroactive pay increases for 2003 to 2005 and annual raises of 2.5
percent from 2006 through 2012. "We think there has been a fair pattern for both the city
and the employees," Puccia said. Police union
rejects From the Hearald Tribune, March 14,
2007
Top cop IDs
budget cuts From the Dana, a Dana, who did not give her last name, said she had called police
10 times but had seen no change. A police clerk explained to Dana that the
department is short staffed, is swamped with calls, but that someone would
try to respond soon. If the department is swamped with calls now, it might become
deluged if $2 million in budget cuts proposed Tuesday by Police Chief Robert Nichelini are made to shore up the city's $7.5 million
deficit. "Police staffing will approximate pre-1995 levels when
violence and street-corner drug dealing were rampant and the murder rate was
five times greater," Nichelini said in a memo
Tuesday. "Staffing will be reduced in the detective division and most
non-violent crimes will not be investigated or resolved." Tuesday marked the first picture Nichelini
has offered of how the potential cuts sought by City Manager Joe Tanner could
affect the police force. Fire Chief Donald Parker announced proposed cuts for
his department last week, including the possibility of laying
off five firefighters. Tanner declined to comment on specific cuts in Nichelini's proposal, saying he had not fully reviewed
them. But, he said, "I knew they'd be catastrophic. I knew they'd be
horrible." Tanner said the city owes police and firefighters a combined
$4.25 million in raises beginning in July. He said he is not optimistic
either union will agree to give up the increases, but the city will try to
negotiate. Police union president Steve Gordon could not be immediately
reached for comment Tuesday on Nichelini's proposed
cuts. But he recently warned that any cuts in sworn staff could lead to
arbitration because the union's contract with the city mandates a minimum of
145 officers. Nichelini said the
department has lost 18 sworn officers and 10 civilian positions in the last
three years. Tanner said the threat of arbitration "really doesn't
matter" because To keep "core functions" of patrol and traffic
services, Nichelini has proposed closing the
department's Community Services Division, which investigates neighborhood
complaints about drugs, abandoned cars and prostitution. Nichelini said he
would close the division's three substations and cut the division's six sworn
officer positions and one clerk position. The move, which includes salaries
and a lease, will save the city around $1.3 million, Nichelini
said. To cut the other $700,000, Nichelini
would eliminate a second clerk position, pull an officer from the detective
bureau and cut a crime analyst, among other measures. Nichelini said it is
too early to tell how many actual layoffs the cuts could cause. However, the cuts are less severe than the 12 to 15 officers the
union had feared if the chief just trimmed staff. Councilmember Gerald Davis said the possible cuts are "not
a pleasant thing at all." "I hate to see it happening [but] if you haven't
got the money to pay for it what choice do we have?" Mayor Tony Intintoli Jr. and other
council members declined to discuss Nichelini's
proposal, saying they will wait until a cost-reduction plan is formalized. Also Tuesday, the City Council voted 5 to 2 to pay an additional
$750,000 in firefighter overtime that Parker says he is obligated to budget
for minimum staffing requirements in the fire union contract. Councilmembers Stephanie Gomes and Tony Pearsall repeated
dissenting votes they placed last week, when they said the city could ill
afford more red ink. Councilmember Gary Cloutier, a
candidate for mayor, said his vote "does not mean I approve of the
overtime spending." He said he hopes that when the public safety
contracts expire in three years that police and fire "will get salaries
in line with compensation in other cities." Police
contract OKs drug tests From the Post Star, March 15, 2007
Deal addresses understaffing by putting more officers on the
streets From THE NEWS-TIMES, March 10, 2007 The new agreement, which extends the union's current contract to
June 30, 2009, increases manpower on the streets by replacing officers
working as dispatchers with civilian employees. Union president Michael Farrell said one of the union's
long-standing complaints over nearly three decades has been low staffing.
Once fully in place, the agreement adds five more patrol cars to the streets
during the busiest shift. "We are understaffed, and the city recognized that,"
Farrell said. "We are giving up dispatching. It's a big trade off, but
we need more officers." Of the 150 union members, 128 voted -- 115 voted yes, 13 voted
no. Mayor Mark Boughton called the
agreement "historic." "This does things that people have been talking about for
years. It puts more officers on the street," he said. The staffing changes, however, are not immediate. The pact
hinges on building a new police headquarters, which is expected to be
complete by spring 2009. The minimum number of patrol cars on the streets over three
shifts will increase by two once the agreement is signed, and once the new
headquarters is complete, the total number of patrol cars over three shifts will
go from 23 to 35. Other changes include wages and pensions. Starting July 1,
ranking officers will receive a 5 percent increase over the next three years
in addition to general wage increases of 3 percent each year for the next two
years. Non-rank officers will receive the general wage increase. For pensions, police hired after 1983 are eligible to collect a
pension at age 55 or after 25 years of service. The amount officers receive
is 2 percent of their pay for each year of service. Now, officers who meet
the requirements for a pension will receive 1 percent more of their pay for
the last five years of their service. Also, some changes were made to disability pensions, which will
give the city more oversight of those receiving the benefit. Negotiations began in June after Police Chief Al Baker unveiled
a reorganization plan for the 150-member department. The plan was approved by
the Common Council last spring and needed approval by the union. The negotiations were over the impact of the reorganization,
which not only called for an increased civilian corps but also eliminated
some high-ranking positions. The negotiation process was amicable, a contrast to previous
negotiations that finally resulted in a labor agreement last year, replacing
a contract that expired in June 2003. During that process, union members twice rejected preliminary
agreements hammered out between union leaders and the city officials, but
when the contract was finally submitted to binding arbitration, arbitrators
sided with the city on most issues. "It was a lot of turmoil, but both sides met in the middle
on this. Overall, we are happy," Farrell said. Boughton agreed. "I think we have put the last round behind us. (Mike
Farrell) has put stability in the union. I think we have a good working
relationship," he said. |
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