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< Training
Class Schedule for 2006 > June 28 – How
To Lobby and Politic June 29 – What
You Should Do Before Negotiations August 9 - How
To Lobby and Politic August 10 –
What To Do At The Negotiating Table September 20 -
How To Lobby and Politic September 21 –
How To Conduct Your Own Interest Arbitration Click here for more
information and to register – Class size is limited to 30!
NEW DALLAS/FORT WORTH METRO WAGE SURVEY POLICEPAY
has just released a new wage survey for the eight largest cities in the
Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area.
The survey uses the latest model developed by POLICEPAY. The new model calculates the value of
pension plans and retiree health insurance.
This is the most comprehensive model that we have ever used. The Dallas/Fort Worth survey shows Plano to
be the best paid department in the survey.
Arlington is at the bottom. You
can see the entire survey and documentation by clicking the link at the top
of the POLICEPAY.NET homepage. In
addition, you can learn how you can obtain this same type of survey for your
agency Members of
LAPD Union Back Contract The deal would raise officers' pay
10.25% over three years. City officials hope it will set a precedent in talks
with other unions. From the LA Times, May 11, 2006 The president of the union
representing Los Angeles police officers said Wednesday it appears that
members have overwhelmingly ratified a new contract that would raise their
pay 10.25% over the next three years. Bob Baker, president of the Police
Protective League, said a sampling of the more than 3,000 ballots cast during
four days of voting indicates the contract was approved by about 70% of the
members. The voting concluded Tuesday night.
Members voted 4-1 in favor of the contract, which
also calls for officers to pick up health care co-pays they didn't have
before and to pay more for prescriptions. Though the union declined to provide
specifics, an estimated 75 percent of the union's approximately 540 members
voted. City Council is expected to vote on the proposed
contract at its next meeting May 23. Councilmen were briefed on the pact in
executive session Tuesday. "I think it's a better package than going to
fact-finding," said Dan Wagner, TPPA vice
president. The TPPA is the first
of the city's four safety force unions to approve a proposed contract. The
unions representing police and fire command officers and rank-and-file have
been working without a contract since Jan. 1. The city is negotiating with
two other unions as well. In their last contracts, the safety forces
accepted an 18-month wage freeze followed by two annual 2 percent raises and
a 1 percent lump-sum payment last year. Police officers and firefighters not
in command positions are paid about $51,000 a year. The raise in the proposed TPPA
contract is the same as that approved in September by the city's largest
union, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
Local 7. This year's raise - 1.5 percent - was built into
the city budget, which was approved in March. The officers would gross about
$300 in back pay to be issued in checks June 1. They would get a 2 percent
raise next year and a 3 percent raise in 2008. Assuming other city unions adopt the same wage
agreement, the cost to the city would be about $23 million over three years.
The city could see savings of about $1.4 million a year if union members pick
up co-pays and more prescription costs, said Bob Reinbolt,
Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's chief of staff. The proposed TPPA
contract mirrors other agreements the city has, Mr. Reinbolt
said. Perhaps the biggest gain for police in the
proposed contract is the city's pension contribution. Though there would be
no additional pension contribution this year, there would be a 2.25 percent
increase next year and a 1.5 percent increase in 2008. By the end of the contract, the city would be
picking up the officers' entire 10 percent pension contribution required by
the state, Mr. Wagner said. They would have the same zero percent pension
contribution Local 7 members received in negotiations in the 1990s. "Those additional pension pickups will be
realized in paychecks. There'll be additional savings in paychecks," Mr.
Wagner said. "If there weren't pension pickups, we would have gone to
fact-finding." In regard to health care, officers would have to
pay a $10 office visit co-pay beginning in January and $65 for an emergency
room visit, which would be waived if they are admitted. They now have no
co-pays. The contract would go from a two-tier to a
three-tier system for prescriptions, with officers paying $6, $15, or $30 for
prescriptions versus $2 or $8 under their old contract. The city would also
increase its vision contribution for each officer by $5 per month, Mr. Wagner
said. Arbitration
plan headed to ballot FIRE AND POLICE UNIONS PROPOSED
MEASURE From Mercury News, May 10, 2006 The Santa Clara City Council approved
a request from the city's police and fire unions to put a measure on the
November ballot that would allow a neutral arbitrator to make labor decisions
during an impasse. Voting 5-2, council members said the
measure would allow voters to make the decision and that it also would save
the city money. Union officials had offered to pay
the roughly $100,000 in required election costs if the city placed the
so-called ``binding arbitration'' initiative on the ballot. If the city
hadn't done so, the union would have continued gathering the necessary 6,500
signatures and the city probably would have had to foot the election bill. Union officials said they initiated
the arbitration idea because, although they understand why police officers
and firefighters aren't allowed to strike, they say that strips them of
power. They said it's unfair for city leaders to ``force'' a contract on them
during an impasse and that a neutral party, as a last resort, should be
making the decision instead. Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins,
executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, said that for a union to
work, ``people have to have some sense of power.'' She said binding
arbitration would provide that power. The city manager, and the police and
fire chiefs, said the measure if passed would take local control away from
the city council and put it in the hands of an arbitrator who is not
accountable to the public. Elected officials should be
responsible for deciding how to spend the city's money, City Manager Jennifer
Sparacino said. Council members Jamie McLeod and Will
Kennedy opposed the proposal. Kennedy said he was concerned that voters would
think the council was supporting the initiative. And he said the $100,000
wasn't much compared to the cost to the city if salaries were to rise
significantly. Ketra Oberlander of Santa Clara noted that
the arbitrators unlike council members and city leaders don't live in Santa Clara, nor do
most of the city's police officers and firefighters. ``I want to maintain
local control,'' she said. Raises to bring workers' pay up to
standards From The Arizona Republic, May 10, 2006 Every Chandler employee will see a
fatter paycheck after July 1, thanks to a City Council vote that brings
workers' salaries up to standards in other Valley municipalities.
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