Thursday, November 29, 2007
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Atlantic City near new contracts with police, fire unions Watertown Police contract settled POLICEPAY Offers New Website Features! |
From the San Jose Mercury News, November 28, 2007 By Kelly Rayburn
http://www.mercurynews.com/
Captains will take charge of area command centers; critics doubt program will foster drop in crime rates
OAKLAND -- Fresh off a key arbitration victory, Mayor Ron Dellums joined police officials Tuesday in unveiling a new policing model designed to boost geographic accountability as authorities look to reduce crime in one of the nation's most violent cities.
The policing strategy will place three police captains in charge of area commands in North and West Oakland, Central Oakland and East Oakland. It will go into effect Jan. 19.
"I think this is a major, quantum step forward," said Dellums, who has repeatedly stated in recent months that public safety is his office's top priority.
Overseeing the North-West command will be Capt. Anthony Toribio. Capt. Rick Orozco will oversee the central portion of the city while Capt. Anthony Rachal will head up the East Oakland command.
Police officials have said that the area command model would not have been possible without an arbitrator's decision earlier this month giving police Chief Wayne Tucker the authority to place patrol officers on 12-hour shifts. The Oakland Police Officers Association had opposed the shift change, hoping instead to stay on 10-hour shifts.
At an afternoon news conference Tuesday, Dellums hailed the arbitrator's decision, as well as the new policing model. He stopped just short of guaranteeing that the change in itself would reduce crime.
He said he would evaluate the success of the new policing strategy not only on crime figures but also on whether Oakland residents buy into the program, which is designed to have the same officers working the same areas of the city, interacting with the same people on a regular basis.
"I think an important thing is how well the community responds to it," he said.
Police union chief Bob Valladon criticized the change, saying the new model is comparable to the City Council's structure where seven of the eight members on council represent just one district in Oakland, not the entire city.
At council meetings, Valladon said, "You see eight people screaming and yelling at each other" over which district gets more resources.
"They're going to be fighting for resources just like the council people do," he said of the police captains.
He said he doubted the change would solve Oakland's crime woes.
"We don't know," he said. "We're not going to know for six months. I think it's a waste of everyone's time to have a press conference."
But some like what they see in the plan.
Councilmembers Jane Brunner (North Oakland), Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland) and Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) all lent their support to the change.
Quan said it would make it easier for her to seek information about crimes in her district and, in turn, to help constituents with their public-safety concerns.
As it was, she said, when seeking information about an incident, she first has to find out what shift it happened on, and who was working.
"What's different now is I'll only have to ask one captain," she said.
As the 12-hour shifts and the area command are implemented, police officials say they will put a greater police presence on the street during peak crime hours.
The department, at 719 officers, is still well short of its 803-authorized strength, however, and Assistant Chief Howard Jordan acknowledged that putting more officers on patrol during high-crime hours means there will be fewer officers on patrol at certain times of the day.
He declined to specify when, exactly, patrols would be at their thinnest. Valladon said deployment plans he'd seen show that between 15 and 20 officers will be on patrol for the entire city between 2:30 and 6 a.m.
"We're not adding officers," he said. "We have the same amount of officers."
Another issue is officer morale, after officers opposed the 12-hour shift change 427-11.
Jordan confirmed that one field training officer had resigned his position after the shift-change arbitration came down but said there were no other signs of dissension in the department.
"If there have been, it hasn't made it to my desk yet," he said.
Valladon said officers remained unhappy about working 12-hour shifts, but added, "we will work with the chief on implementing the (new shift plan). We don't have a choice."
Dellums was asked about morale and whether he expected officers to leave the department for other agencies or retire early because of it.
He said he did not.
"I think at the end of the day, the men and women who serve the city want to serve the city," he said.
Atlantic City near new contracts with police, fire unions
From the Press of Atlantic City, November 27, 2007 By DEREK HARPER
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
ATLANTIC CITY - Atlantic City's several hundred public-safety workers are getting contracts for Christmas.
A busy final week for acting Mayor William Marsh translated into memorandums of understanding and potential contracts for more than 600 police and fire employees.
The contracts generally call for 4 percent raises over the next four or five years, with modest increases for prescription medication. The terms are similar to other recent contracts settled with City Hall workers.
The contracts come little more than a year after an arbitrator settled long-expired police and fire contracts with four percent raises and early retirement incentives that led to a mass exodus of public-safety employees.
The contracts take an item off incoming Mayor Scott K. Evans's heavily burdened plate. Evans is a firefighter taking an 11½-month leave to serve as mayor in the wake of ex-Mayor Bob Levy's resignation. If he had to settle the firefighters contract, it would have likely raised eyebrows no matter how it went.
They can also be seen as a political coup for Marsh, who is running next year to serve the final 13½ months of resigned Mayor Bob Levy's term.
"We got labor peace for four years and it's all within budget," City Council President Marsh said Wednesday shortly before City Council named Evans as mayor. At that Nov. 21 special council meeting, Atlantic City Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 24 President David Davidson thanked Marsh, telling him the officers appreciated his professionalism. He promised to "reciprocate the honor and respect shown to us."
But these contracts may attract the ire of city residents, coming a week or so before city property owners learn their new, expectedly higher property assessments from the overdue citywide revaluation.
Last week city Business Administrator Domenic Cappella also questioned the value of the contracts.
He figured a rough estimate of these and other contracts Marsh negotiated in his six-week mayoral stint would collectively saddle the city with between $34 million and $40 million in additional payroll expenses.
City Revenue and Finance Director Jack Potts did not return a call Monday seeking comment on the contracts. He previously declined comment on the contracts.
Public-safety unions said the relatively brief, productive negotiations were appreciated compared to years of arbitration.
Fire Capt. Angelo DeMaio Jr. said the city and the firefighters negotiated for "a couple of hours" before reaching common ground for its four-year deal. DeMaio is president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 198 in Atlantic City, which represents almost 250 firefighters. The contracts "sends a message that's optimistic: if you sit down and talk, then you can get things done."
Davidson, whose PBA Local 24 negotiates on behalf of almost 360 city police officers, sergeants and lieutenants, said he has worked for the city for 26 years. He could not remember a police contract ratified before the old one expired.
"This is unseen, and anybody I've talked to, they've never seen it before," he said.
He said the union and city ratified the police's five-year deal after meeting twice for a total of about 60 minutes following no meetings with the Levy administration. He said, "When you are able to negotiate and talk in good faith, a lot can be accomplished in a short time."
City Police Capt. Joseph Fair Jr. heads the bargaining unit that negotiates on behalf of other captains. As of Oct. 15 there were six.
"We felt it was a good deal for the citizens and for us to have five years," Fair said. "Now we don't have to worry about these issues, like we did before, with the four years of tension and animosity."
City Council is expected to give final city approval to the contracts at its Wednesday meeting.
Police and fire officials are expected to ratify them in voting that will take place between the last week of November and the first week of December.
Davidson said city police officers overwhelmingly ratified their contracts in a pair of meetings last week. He said about 200 people voted yes while one person voted no.
A City Council resolution says the superior officers' contract takes effect Jan. 1, 2008. But Fair said he was uncertain when it would be ratified. He said they are written to fall halfway between the rank-and-file contracts and the contracts negotiated for the city's three deputy chiefs. Those were last negotiated in December 2004.
Aside from the raises, the police and fire contracts increase the co-payment cost of generic drugs from $5 to $10. Name brand drug prescriptions will increase from $10 to $15.
Fair also said the city will again give police captains' sick days.
He said those were taken out of previous contracts. Officers will receive 15 a year. Those promoted before January 2006 will be able to accumulate them, while those promoted after that date will be capped at 45.
City officials and others have for years raised concerns about city public safety officials retiring and cashing in months of sick and vacation days worth tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars that were accumulated through years of public employment.
Terminal leave for state workers is capped at $15,000, but no such legislation exists in Atlantic City.
City Council is also expected to approve paying a collective $366,802 in terminal leave to retiring firefighters Junious W. Felder, Alfred P. Sacco and Gregory C. Roberts.
Watertown Police contract settled
From the Town Times, November 29, 2007 By: Tom Burns
www.towntimesnews.com
Receive 3.5 percent raises first, second and fourth years, 3.25 in third and fifth
Following negotiations, the police union and town officials agreed to a new contract which was described as fair by both parties involved. In the first, second, and fourth years of the contract police employees will earn a 3.5 percent increase in pay. During the third and fifth years of the contract, a 3.25 percent raise will be given to police employees.
Watertown Police Union Local 541 representative Sergeant Mark Raimo of the Watertown Police Department, described the contract as a "fair deal," adding "we weren't exactly happy with it, but if it ended up going to arbitration we would have had to agree to it anyway."
From the town's perspective, Town Manager Chuck Frigon said he was "very pleased" that the town and police union had come to an agreement. Moreover, Mr. Frigon described the police union's approach as "very professional," deeming the negotiations preceding the agreement as "very productive."
The terms of the contract do not pertain to Police Chief John Gavallas, because he contract was negotiated under the agreement for non-union department heads, finalized with the Town Council prior in the year.
All told, the agreement will pertain to 38 police employees. Amongst the 38 employees who will be affected under the new contract terms are the sergeants, lieutenants and detectives on the force, as well as officers.
One point of contention for the police union was the change in disability compensation for officers. Under prior terms, if an officer was hurt on a job he/she would be able to earn a pension for life. Under fresh terms, if an officer is hurt on the job and is able to return to work another job, the pension will be reduced accordingly to the salary earned at the new job.
Another change adversely affecting the contract terms of the police union is the medical premium.
POLICEPAY Offers New Website Features
From POLICEPAY.NET, Inc., November 9, 2007
http://www.policepay.net
We have changed the POLICEPAY website. April 1, 2007, we went to a subscription only service for our database. A free subscription was offered for limited data. A paid subscription had all of the data that we have presented for the last seven years. One year ago, we stopped accepting paid subscriptions. On November 15th, the last paid subscription expires.
Starting today, we will offer the following data for free:
- Contracts we have on file, regardless of the size of the city
- All white papers and articles written by POLICEPAY
- The POLICEPAY Journal will continue to be free.
If you have a current subscription, it will still be good until January 1, 2008. At that time we will take down all of the other data on the website. We will no longer post wage scales and summaries of benefits. It is just too time consuming and expensive. We did not have enough subscriptions to cover the cost. If you want any of these items, call us for a price quote for the cost for us to prepare them.
We will only post the latest contracts that we have. If you need an older contract, you will need to call us. We do have many old contracts. If your contract is not listed and you would like us to post it, send an electronic version to charles@policepay.net. If there is a newer version of your contract than the one we have posted, you can send that also.
The contract downloads require a code, which you get online, and that is good for 36 hours. If you need to download it after that time, you will need to get a new code. You can download as many contracts, as many times, as you wish.
We are in the process of adding all of the contracts for cities not in our top 200 list. We have many for smaller agencies and departments that are not city police departments. It will take some time to get all of them on-line. If you do not see what you are looking for, keep checking back, or call us. We might be able to expedite the one you want.
POLICEPAY.NET, Inc. is a consulting firm that has been assisting in public safety contract negotiations for more than twenty years. Wea re not a labor union or a municipal league. We do not replace these organizations or compete with them. We only concentrate on one narrow niche - contract negotiations. By restricting ourselves to this single activity, we have been able to become market leaders for new and innovative approaches to contract negotiations. POLICEPAY.NET offers three levels of service. First, we provide state of the art research that covers market prices, costing, and finances. Second, we teach and assist you in your relationship with the other side, the public, and the decision makers in your community. We teach you how to deal with the expectations of your constituents as well. The third level of service includes us serving as your negotiator throughout the entire process. If you have questions about our negotiation methods or how we can be of assistance to your union, please don't hesitate to call Matt or Ron at (405) 701-8616. |
The Police Negotiator's Handbookby Ronald J. York The Police Negotiator’s Handbook, written by Ronald J. York, provides a straight-forward approach to achieving success during labor negotiations with municipal governments. Upon reading this handbook, you will find that Mr. York’s logical approach to contract negotiations will allow you to set the stage for victory at the negotiating table. The table of contents of this handbook is a step-by-step guide to the negotiations process, with the remainder of the book describing these steps and providing a path to follow throughout the process. If you plan to be involved with negotiating a labor agreement for police officers, deputy sheriffs, or even state troopers, don’t make a move until you’ve finished reading this book. A POLICEPAY.NET, Inc. publication, this handbook includes some of the material presented at POLICEPAY’s live training events. Also included in the back of this handbook is a POLICEPAY.NET discount card, good for discounts off POLICEPAY.NET services and training events. |