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Fed Up With Negotiations Failure? Are
you wondering why you are failing even though you are doing all the things
the "big boys" do or following the advice of the negotiations
"experts?" The answer is easy. They are wrong - plain and simple.
Alright,
that's "kickin' their butts." The only
problem is - it does not work. If it did, New York
and Philadelphia would be the highest paid departments in the country.
In
case you did not recognize this method, it is the trendy "interest
based" or "win-win" method. It is actually good stuff. The
only problem is that it usually fails for police associations. It is too
tempting for the city to "jump ship" and retreat to positional
bargaining after you "drop your pants." When you finally end up in
arbitration, the city has every document, idea and concept that you have, but
you have little or nothing from them. Under the "expert method,"
negotiations are nothing but a deposition of you by the city. Incumbent unseated as PANO fills top job Reinstated
supervisor taking reins of group From
Times-Picayune, May 25, 2006 The Police Association of New Orleans picked a new president Tuesday in an election in which less than a third of the group's officer membership cast a ballot. Lt. Michael Glasser, of the 6th Police District, was elected by a razor-thin margin over eight-year incumbent Lt. David Benelli, commander of the sex crimes unit.
Benelli, who has been an officeholder on the PANO board for 25 years, said he will remain an active
member of the group. "I will help Lt. Glasser
however I can," Benelli said. Glasser, a 24-year veteran, won by fewer than 10 votes, Benelli said. Benelli believes
the PANO election carried some of the same
overtones as the recent City Council elections, with officers voting for
change out of frustration over the slow pace of recovery within the
department. Police headquarters and several district stations remain shuttered
nearly nine months after Katrina, forcing many officers to work from
temporary trailers. "People
are angry and disgruntled and sometimes they come home and they want to kick
the dog. Well, I'm the dog," Benelli said.
"But sometimes fresh ideas and new leadership can be a good thing."
Glasser became a highly respected street cop after
working for years in the narcotics squad. As a supervisor, though, his career
hit a rough patch in 2004 when he and four other members of the 1st District
were fired after being accused of doctoring crime statistics by downgrading
complaints. Glasser and the other accused officers were reinstated
in May 2005 as part of a settlement offered by the city when lengthy Civil Service
hearings began exposing weaknesses in the department's case against the
officers. Two
other PANO board members were re-elected Tuesday.
First Vice-President Brian Wininger, of the 1st
District, was unopposed and 2nd Vice-President Mark Mornay,
of the Office of Compliance, beat back a challenger. Even
though the city doesn't formally recognize PANO as
a union, the group represents the interest of about 1,000 police officers on
issues ranging from pay raises to disciplinary cases. PANO
officers are elected to four-year terms.
City
Council Considers Proposed Budget From
NBC13.com, May 25, 2006 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Local public safety employees took their
salary fight to the City Council on Wednesday evening, when the city held a
public hearing to discuss the mayor's proposed budget for 2007. The
mayor's $315 million budget for 2007 has no provisions in it for raises for
Birmingham police and firefighters. "What
we're asking is a very fair proposal that will still not put Birmingham
police officers in the top seven, eight in the region. So, we don't think
we're asking for too much," said Allen Treadaway,
president of the Fraternal Order of Police. The
public safety workers are asking for a net 10 percent salary increase over
the next three years for senior employees, a pay increase safety
administrators said would help to retain the most valuable personnel. "We've
been working on this resolution. Without it, we'll just fall further and
further behind, and we'll continue to lose key personnel to other
cities," said Marlin Willis, first vice president of Local 117. The
City Council listened to the pleas during the hearing, but has not made a
final decision about the pay increases. The
council also heard from other groups, such as environmental organizations and
the cultural alliance, who were also looking for budget increases. The
City Council is expected to make a final decision on the budget plan by June
20. FOP
wants better offer Indianapolis
- The Fraternal Order of Police says the mayor's offer of an average pay
raise of five percent doesn't go far enough. They say that officers
with more experience should get bigger raises. The mayor's office
disagrees, saying this is their best and final offer. "The
city said that they offered us true parity. What they've offered is parity
and base salary only. There's still an awful lot of
issues that if you looked at both contracts, you would see that true parity
doesn't really exist if we take this base salary offer," said one
officer. "Essentially
what they're asing for is more than parity.
Everywhere the Mayor went, when he talked to police officers, to IPD officers, they said, 'We want parity. We want pay
parity with the sheriff's department.' That's what we've given them,"
said Steve Campbell, Deputy Mayor. Despite
the disagreement, there is optimism something
will work out. Police are currently working under an expired contract,
but both sides return to the negotiating table later this week. Police
union, city to begin talks From THE NEWS-TIMES, May
25, 2006 DANBURY – The city and its police department
union will begin negotiating in June about changes Chief Al Baker has
proposed to improve the department. The Common Council reviewed Baker's proposal and
approved the changes, but that is only one step in the process. Now the union and city have to negotiate pay
raises to union members who have more work because of the restructuring. In a separate union/city event, the two parties
negotiated away a lawsuit the union filed against the city in April over the
collective bargaining decision reached on March 15. The city and union gave something to each of them
in the compromise. The union members will get roughly half of their insurance
payment back that they paid for coverage during the three-year contract
negotiation. The union wanted all of it returned. That meant the city got to keep the other half of
the money. The union asked that heart and hypertension victims
be treated the same way as other people who suffer disabilities, and in the
compromise, the union won this issue. "It was in the best interest of the city and
union to move this forward," said Finance Director Dena Diorio. "Everybody was able to get a little
something," said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.
"This compromise saved the union and city money." In regards to the department reorganization, the
union, Local 891, Council 15 of AFSCME, wants to make sure its members are
paid for any extra work. "We have to sit down and talk it over,"
said Mike Farrell, union president. "We have to make it work for
everyone." Farrell said one problem the officers see is the
new structure reduced the number of captains at the department from six to four.
He said before this change each of the three patrol shifts had its own
captain. Now one captain is in charge of the three shifts. The city didn't fire anyone to make this change.
Capt. Terry Shanahan was promoted to deputy chief and Capt. Arthur Sullo retired in 2005. "What this does is plateau out
promotions," Farrell said. Boughton
said that while there are two fewer captains, which is the rank just below
deputy chief, there are now three new sergeant positions. "They'll have more work and they'll deserve
more money," Boughton said. "We'll
negotiate how much." Boughton
and Farrell said they expect the negotiations to start in June. Deputies,
county still at an impasse From The Union
Democrat, May 24, 2006 Despite
an offered 27 percent pay increase over three years, Tuolumne County Deputy
Sheriff's Association members are still stuck on a "zipper clause."
Under
terms of the existing but now expired contract, this clause requires
department leaders to bargain with the Deputy Sheriff's Association on any
department procedure changes. The
DSA wants the zipper clause to stay. Acting
Sheriff Lee Sanford and the last two sheriffs — Dick Rogers and Dick Nutting — felt hampered by it, Sanford said. The
current contract expired in December. The 121-member Deputy Sheriff's
Association is the largest bargaining unit in the county, which has more than
1,300 employees represented by a number of unions and associations. Since
early last fall, the DSA and Tuolumne County
representatives have been negotiating a new contract. The association in
March rejected the county's offer of a 22-percent pay increase over three
years and the talks went to an impasse. County
negotiators last week raised the pay hike to 27 percent over three years and spelled
out exactly what monetary benefits could not be touched even without the
zipper clause. Tuolumne
County Human Resources Director Eric Larsen said nine monetary issues — among
them pay, taking work vehicles home at night and retirement benefits — could
not be specifically changed over the course of the proposed contract. "We
feel we've given the kitchen sink to buy back the zipper clause," Larsen
said. But
association members list about 30 economic matters that should not be
touched, DSA President Ken Diaz said. Among
items members don't want department managers to tamper with are working
hours, loans the county can give employees, tuition reimbursement and
disability benefits, Diaz said. No
new talks have been set and the next step may be a lawsuit to decide on
binding or non-binding arbitration. The
DSA has said the pay-and-benefit hike is not an
issue, even though the raises offered would keep Tuolumne County deputies
below the average pay of officers in 13 similarly sized counties and below
what the Sonora Police Department pays its officers. Diaz
said the association bargaining team of five employees has rejected the
latest pay increase offer because it still leaves the members vulnerable if
the zipper clause is eliminated. Diaz
said there are no plans to take the offer to the entire membership for a
vote. "We
have a representation of the entire membership on the bargaining team. If it
doesn't pass us, it won't pass the membership," Diaz said. In
the meantime deputies, dispatchers and others still come to work each day. "But
morale is bad, really bad right now," said Cpl. Jerry McCaig, vice president of the DSA.
"We're 20 percent below the median on the county's salary survey with
other counties and if they eliminate the zipper clause the county could
undermine our last contract gains." McCaig said four or five deputies and a sergeant are
now seeking work elsewhere, and that 17 employees — investigators, and patrol
and jail deputies — have left the department since 2004, all because of poor
pay and benefits, McCaig said. McCaig said six applicants recently applied for five
open patrol deputy jobs, but only two were qualified and hired. "When
I applied in the early ‘90s, I was one of 73 applicants," McCaig said. Both
sides also are awaiting the outcome of the June 6 election, when voters
choose a new sheriff and decide on a sales tax proposal, Measure P, that would provide more funding for law enforcement and
fire protection. Four
sheriff's employees — Jim Earll, Rick D'Hondt, Jim Mele and Tom Memmer — are campaigning to be the next sheriff. "The
raise the county is offering will be difficult. All other departments are
experiencing major cutbacks," said Larsen. "It will be easier if
Measure P passes."
Unions
might take pay cut From
the Times-Herald, May 24, 2006 But
interim City Manager John Thompson seemed hopeful Tuesday he may have the
solution. He told the Vallejo City Council he's asking the city's employee
unions to take the equivalent of a $4 million pay cut. Otherwise,
he'll have to cut the money from the city's new budget for the fiscal year
starting July 1 - which would likely affect city services. "Again,
it's our hope we don't have to do that, that we can get that $4 million in
savings with some cooperation of the employee groups," Thompson told the
council. If
he can pull if off, that'll be a feat for the veteran City Hall chief. His
predecessor, former City Manager Roger Kemp, last year apparently failed at
reopening the labor pacts before he was pressured to resign. Thompson
was reluctant to give details of how $4 million in cuts would affect the
public. The exercise wouldn't be pleasant, he said. "We
didn't want to put the whole organization through a lot of trauma on cuts
that may not even be necessary," Thompson said. City
officials reopened expensive labor union contracts in 2003 and 2005,
postponing owed pay raises. It's now time for the unions to collect. But it's money the city seems to lack. For
instance, the police and firefighter unions are owed a 6 percent raise in
fiscal 2007-08, and 8.5 percent hike the following year, Finance Director
Robert Stout said. The
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2376 is owed 4 percent
and 3 percent raises for those years, Stout said. The city also owes 3
percent raises for both years to remaining represented employees, he said. On
top of that, the bargaining groups are owed increases of as much as 27
percent in retirement contributions, he said. The annual cost to the city of
providing health benefits to retirees is going up an average of about $12,400
each year, he added. The
bulk of the city's budget is devoted to the police and firefighter unions. The
public safety union presidents - Assistant Fire Chief Kurt Henke and police
Sgt. Steve Gordon - couldn't immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday.
If
the unions don't budge, city officials will likely make cuts that may affect
city services. Under
Thompson's spending plan, he proposes reducing the city's public safety
budgets to the tune of $1.6 million from the fire department and $1.5 million
from police. The rest of the cuts would be from departments like public
works. Thompson
proposed cuts including eliminating vacant positions and spending less on
supplies and equipment like replacing vehicles. |
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