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Study
of Omaha
police, firefighter pay may affect union talks
From the WORLD-HERALD, March 16, 2007
Mayor Mike Fahey's administration fears added tensions at the
negotiating table this summer as it begins contract talks with the police and
fire unions.
That's because a law firm with a reputation for fighting unions has been
reviewing the salary and benefits of officers and firefighters without the
knowledge of the mayor, the unions and some City Council members.
The study was undertaken late last year at the request of Omaha City Council
President Dan Welch.
Fahey's chief of staff, Paul Landow, said today
that the study could erode the trust and good faith between the mayor and the
unions during the contract negotiations. Numerous issues are on the table,
including health care, pensions and salaries.
"A study like this has the potential to poison the well because everyone
will know it's tainted," Landow said. "It
does not come from a neutral, impartial organization. For that reason, it's
suspect."
Welch said the study, being conducted by Omaha law firm Berens
& Tate, will be another tool at Fahey's disposal during the negotiations.
"I'm just doing everything I can to get reliable information to the
mayor," Welch said.
The mayor oversees the police and fire contract negotiations, but the council
must approve the contracts. Although Fahey would not be obligated to use the Berens study in negotiations, Landow
said the damage is in the city's relationship with the unions.
Welch has said that getting a handle on pensions, health care costs and
salaries in the Police and Fire Departments should be a priority during
negotiations. He has said the rest of the city will suffer if "we can't
get these contracts under control."
Fahey also has said he will ask for concessions from the unions.
Councilman Jim Vokal said the city can only benefit
from having more information, as long as it is objective. He called for the
unions to wait for the findings before judging whether the study is
impartial.
"The more analyses we have done, the better," Vokal
said.
Welch said the City Council did not need to formally approve the study
because Berens & Tate is not charging Omaha for the work. The Berens study was never discussed at a council meeting.
Attorney Kelly Berens, who is overseeing the study,
said his firm specializes in employment law and labor relations, and
represents only employers.
One of the firm's founding partners is attorney John Tate, hired by Wal-Mart
in the 1960s to help the company develop strategies to keep out unions.
Police and fire union leaders also said the study calls the city's intentions
into question.
"You want to walk into negotiations knowing that both sides are being
fair and upfront with each other," said Fire Union President Mike
McDonnell. "This sure doesn't start negotiations off in a manner where
each side feels the other is being open and fair."
During contract negotiations, both Omaha
and the unions look to other cities to draw comparisons on salaries and
benefits. The final contract is generally a compromise between the
information both sides have.
The police and fire departments are already being scrutinized as part of a
$275,000 efficiency study by a California-
based consulting company. That study was approved by the City Council last
year.
Fahey also initially opposed that study, citing the cost and the possibility
that the outcome would be predetermined.
Berens said Welch approached him late last year to
inquire about the cost of a study that compared Omaha police and fire compensation with
what's offered in other cities and in the private sector in Omaha. Berens
said he then offered to do the study for free because he didn't want a perception that he was paid to come up
with results favorable to the city.
The study will look at several factors, including salary, health insurance,
retirement benefits and vacation time, he said. "We're taking a broad
view," Berens said. "We want to know how
police and firefighters are being paid compared to the population as a
whole."
Berens said his study won't "pick and
choose" comparison cities to skew the results to favor either the city
or the unions. He expects the study to be completed within weeks.
Omaha Police Union President Aaron Hanson said he wasn't sure what to make of
the free Berens study but wondered if it was
necessary, as the California
study is under way.
A third study also is being done. Fahey has begun his own efficiency review
of the Police and Fire Departments, using city officials and academics.
"How many studies are we going to end up having?" Hanson asked.
Councilmen Frank Brown and Garry Gernandt said they
were not aware of the Berens study until Thursday.
"It's one thing to go to a law firm as an individual, but when you do
that acting as the City Council president and you don't inform the other
council members, it sends a bad message," Brown said.
Councilmen Franklin Thompson and Chuck Sigerson
said that Welch had mentioned to them that he was looking into having a study
done at no cost to taxpayers but that they did not know the details.
"If someone is willing to do pro bono work for the city, it's hard to
see a problem with that," Sigerson said.
"But if I see any bias in the report, I'm going to have a problem with
it."
Welch is being supported by Councilmen Vokal and
Jim Suttle, who said they knew of the study and
think the city can benefit from the information.
Wyoming police get three-year agreement
From COMMUNITY PRESS, March 20, 2007
WYOMING - Wyoming City Council
approved new three-year labor agreements for police employees March 19 giving
clerks, officers and sergeants bigger paychecks.
Police officers will receive a 3.8 percent raise this year, a
3.5 percent raise in 2008 and a 3.5 percent raise in 2009, according to the
new agreement between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Labor Council
Inc.
Salaries of police clerks will be increased 2 percent this year,
1.5 percent next year and 1 percent in 2009.
The agreement raises sergeants' salaries by 4 percent this year,
3.6 percent next year and 3.8 percent in 2009, according to the agreement.
With the raises, however, comes an increase in the employees'
share of COBRA health insurance costs.
This year, police department employees will pay 5 percent of the
benefit. Next year, they'll be required to pay 7 percent, and in 2009,
employees will pay 8 percent.
City Manager Bob Harrison at the March 19 meeting outlined a few
other major changes in the agreement.
Probationary periods for new employees have increased to one
year upon completion of training, rather than one year, including training.
Supervisors at the department before the new agreement had to
prove gross misconduct when disciplining an employee, an "extremely
difficult definition under the law," Harrison
said.
But now, supervisors have to prove misconduct when an employee
needs disciplined.
Harrison said the
agreement is within this year's budget.
Police department employees will receive the pay increase
retroactive to Jan. 1.
Carol Stream
OKs 3-year police contract
From the Daily Herald, March 20, 2007
Better late than never.
Carol Stream trustees passed a new three-year pact with its police union
Monday, more than 10 months after its old contract expired.
The new contract provides for raises of about 5.5
percent for the first year and 4.25 percent each of the next two years.
The starting salary for a first-year officer
under the new contract — which is retroactive to May 1, 2006 — is $48,241. By
the third year of the contract, May 2008, the starting salary will grow to
$52,429, and officers with six years on the force will earn $75,623.
According to documents obtained through the
Freedom of Information Act, the village spent more than $31,000 in lawyers’
fees between last May and December to negotiate the new contract, which was
approved on March 8 by the police department’s union local.
By comparison, the police department’s last union
contract, passed in August 2001, took only about three months to negotiate.
Assistant Village Manager
Robert Mellor said the union has yet to sign the paperwork ratifying the
agreement but doesn’t foresee any difficulties in finalizing the deal.
Among the key provisions of the new contract:
•The police chief has increased authority to
discipline officers and recommend discharge to the village manager. Under the
old contract, the village’s police and fire commission had the final say
concerning firings, Mellor said. Under the terms of the agreement, however,
the board would only be able to review appeals brought by officers who were disciplined
or discharged.
•Officers will now receive overtime pay for court
appearances equal to 1¨ times their hourly rate rather than regular pay. The
annual stipend for court standby pay also increases to 20 hours for day shift
officers and 40 hours for all other patrol officers.
•The distance officers are allowed to live away
from Carol Stream increases to 20 miles.
•The agreement decreases the minimum amount of
sick leave hours an officer needs to earn to receive as retirement bonus to
912.
City boosts
pay for police with military experience
From The LA Times, March 21, 2007
Providing new incentives to recruit and retain police officers,
the City Council agreed Tuesday to offer advanced-step hiring for those with
military experience, adding as much as $7,400 a year to their salaries.
The city also agreed to provide hazard pay for tactical flight
officers who ride in helicopters and assist police officers on the ground.
The city's cost will be $517,000 a year, including pensions, or about $18,400
for each of the 28 tactical flight officers.
"We want to let the public know we are concerned about the recruitment
efforts of the Los Angeles Police Department," Councilman Dennis Zine said.
Deputies ask
board for fair wage, new contract
From The Californian, March 13, 2007
The Kern County Board of Supervisors' chambers was filled with a
sea of red Tuesday.
Even babies in the audience were wearing red.
"Pay your deputies. Your life depends on it," was
embossed in white on each red shirt.
More than 40 Kern
County sheriff's
deputies, dispatchers and their supporters pushed for a new contract with the
county.
"What you see behind me is a group of deputy sheriffs.
These people have been working forced overtime for well over a year,"
said Sheriff Donny Youngblood. "They're here today to ask for a fair
wage and I'm here to support them."
Youngblood said the five members of the Board of Supervisors are
committed to helping deputies out.
But deputies and sheriff's dispatchers were skeptical. A
dispatcher played a 911 tape of a woman's screams and pleading voice.
"Will that be you? Will that be your family?" she
asked supervisors.
Deputies have been offered an 8 percent raise, an attorney for
the union said, but new deputies would be asked to pay for part of their
retirement benefits under the county's proposal -- something that current
deputies don't do.
Juan Bravo, a patrol deputy in Wasco, said he and his fellow
deputies want a fair deal.
"I'm not asking for truckloads of money to be dropped off
on my driveway," he said.
Deputy Scott Wall said his pay should be better than that of a
safer job.
"I made $300 more a week working for Frito Lay packing
chips," he said.
Supervisors did respond.
County leaders have acknowledged wages are generally too low to attract
and keep workers. But they warn retirement costs eat up money needed to raise
wages.
Also Tuesday, supervisors approved pay increases for the top
officers in the Sheriff's Department.
They gave Kern County Sheriff's Command Association members a three-year
contract that will give an immediate 4 percent raise retroactive to July 8,
2006.
Group members also will get a 10 percent raise starting on their
next paycheck, a 4 percent raise in July and another 4 percent raise in July
2008. The total cost of the increases that will take effect this year would
be $190,000. Benefits in coming years would increase that cost.
Other top sheriff's officers -- including Undersheriff
Marty Williamson and the county's three chief deputies -- will get a 20
percent raise effective on Saturday. The cost is estimated to be $37,000.
County's union contract talks face problems
From The Capital, March 15, 2007
Contract negotiations between the county and its public safety
unions are headed for an impasse.
Union officials representing county police officers, police
sergeants, firefighters and correctional officers were still negotiating
today - the legal deadline for an impasse - and some feared their
disagreements would have to be settled by an independent arbitrator.
"We don't want to go. The county doesn't want to go. But, so far, it
seems inevitable," said O'Brien Atkinson, president of the county's
Fraternal Order of Police. He declined to comment about what was holding up a
contract agreement.
"A lot will depend on what happens (today)," said John Singleton,
an attorney representing the county police sergeant's association in the
negotiations.
The county currently is negotiating with all 10 of its unions, but Personnel
Officer Andrea Fulton declined to comment about those talks.
"I can't discuss what is going on," she said. "We treat those
as confidential."
This could be the first time the county goes to binding arbitration for a
labor contract. County voters passed charter amendments in 2002 permitting
arbitration when labor talks stall.
Union members lobbied for years for the change, saying binding arbitration
would restore trust in the negotiation process.
"Without binding arbitration, it wasn't collective bargaining, it was
collective begging," Mr. Singleton said yesterday. He said arbitration
isn't ideal - "You don't want someone else writing your contract" -
but he believes it puts the unions on a better footing to negotiate.
The administration opposed the charter amendments, saying they would give a
person who was not elected the power to spend taxpayers' money.
No one has stepped away from the negotiating table yet, but if the county and
a union hasn't reached a tentative agreement by
tonight the two entities are technically at an impasse and need to start
looking for an arbitrator.
The county and unions won't exchange final offers until April 1, Mr. Atkinson
said, and arbitration won't begin until April 5. The arbitrator will have 30
days to reach a decision - meaning it could come five days after the county's
budget is printed and published.
Despite the looming deadline, Bob Stevens, president of the county's fire
union, and Clifford Thrasher, president of the county's correctional officer
union, shied away from the impasse word. Both said they were still actively
negotiating with the county.
Mr. Thrasher noted that contract negotiations take a lot of work.
"It's not an easy road," he said.
He added the election of County Executive John R. Leopold probably made
negotiations even harder this year.
"The way the politics changed in the county, we kind of expected
it," he said.
Likewise, Mr. Singleton - who has two sessions scheduled next week - said
it's hard for the sergeants to negotiate a raise when "a county
executive that's out to slash everything he can" is represented across
the table.
Not all of the county's unions are in the same boat though.
Mike Akers, president of the county's American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees union, said they have a tentative agreement with the
county and are in the process of putting it before their membership.
"We're happy with how things went at the table," he said.
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