|
|
Matt
Barnard, Editor (405)
234-2235 matt@policepay.net
www.policepay.net Click on a Headline to skip to
the Article. L.A. Police commissioner
seeks voter approval for half-cent increase to hire more officers. The City of
Orlando's Mayor Tries A Smoke Screen New Port, RI Police will receive nice Christmas
present F.O.P. #3 elected
as the sole bargaining agent for the FT. Collins Police Department. Cincinnati FOP walks
on negotiations Look At The Last Issue (11/25/04) FOUR QUESTIONS TO
ANSWER BEFORE ENTERING INTO NEGOTIATIONS POLICEPAY.NET Announces Plans for a CALIFORNIA POLICEPAY.NET INDEX POLICEPAY.NET
will be launching a new website that is dedicated to We will
also publish a California POLICEPAY Index that includes all of the After
the Police will receive nice Christmas
present The back pay for active officers totals
$594,195. Another $30,000 in retroactive pay will go to municipal employees. From the Journal, Wednesday, December 1, 2004 Police
officers, who have not had a raise in more than two years, will receive
retroactive pay and a 5-percent salary hike in their Thursday paycheck, the
result of an arbitrator's award two months ago. It's no coincidence the back
pay, ranging from about $3,000 to $4,000 for a rookie to $7,000 to $8,000 for
a veteran, has excellent Yuletide timing. "We
tried to make it so they could get their checks before Christmas," said
city Finance Director Laura Sitrin. Detective
Christopher Hayes, president of Lodge 8, Fraternal Order of Police, said the
union had asked for the back pay by the holidays. He said a letter from City
Manager James C. Smith indicated that the city would honor the request. "They
made the commitment. They are making good on it," said Hayes. "I'm
sure people will be happy. It's been a long time coming. We haven't seen any
kind of raise in the last 28 months." The
last negotiated contract expired on June 30, 2002. Unable to reach agreement
after that, the two sides went to arbitration, which resulted in a 5 percent
boost in officers' base salary and retroactive pay. The city won higher
co-payments on doctor's office visits and the removal of a cap on what
officers pay for prescription drugs. Sitrin
said the back pay for active officers totals $594,195. It will cost
approximately another $133,000 to cover the officers raise for the remaining
seven months in this fiscal year, she said. Sitrin said the city set aside
$1.1 million over the last three years in anticipation of the settlement of
the disputed contract years. There
are still two years, however, that remain unresolved. The first of those,
fiscal 2004, is now before the arbitrator who settled fiscal 2003. Furthermore,
the city must still compute the retroactive pay it owes police retirees. That
is likely to come to about $300,000, Sitrin said. That money will come out of
the city's pension fund. Hayes
said this week's checks won't include any back pay for police details, which
was computed on the old salary scale. "The
city is telling us they are not going to give us any back pay on the
details," he said. Hayes
said the union will "have to trudge on" with the arbitration,
although it would prefer to settle the dispute through negotiation of a
multiyear contract. "I
would hope we could wrap something up on a more long-term basis," he
said. Referring to the four new members joining the City Council in January,
he said, "Who knows? Maybe after the first of the year we can find some
common ground with them." Sitrin
said that checks containing retroactive pay totaling about $30,000 will also
be going out on Thursday to the approximately two dozen members of the
Newport Municipal Employees Association. The union representing supervisory
personnel at City Hall won 3-percent raises through a one-year extension of
its contract. Caruso Offers to Police
commissioner seeks voter approval for half-cent increase to hire more LAPD
officers. From Rick
Caruso, the shopping-center mogul and member of the Los Angeles Police
Commission, said Tuesday he would personally finance a drive to place a
half-cent sales tax on the May ballot if the City Council refuses to put it
there. Last
month, The City of From
Wire.com, November 25, 2004
FOP walks on
negotiations From
The Enquirer, Saturday, November 20, 2004 Contract
negotiations between The
last of seven negotiating sessions ended Friday with the union "walking
away from the table in disgust," said FOP Vice President Keith Fangman. Union members will meet Monday night to talk
about what actions they might take before the previously-agreed-upon
mediation Dec. 13. The
union proposed a 6 percent pay increase each year for 2005 and 2006. A new
officer's base pay, after graduating from the police academy, is $42,192. An
officer's pay increases by 8 percent with each increase in rank. "For
the last three and a half years, since the (April 2001) riots, our officers
have been criticized, stabbed in the back and not supported," union
President Sgt. Harry Roberts said. "I want the citizens of He said
the city repeatedly clarified with the union's bargaining team that a pay cut
was not being proposed. Anything union leaders say to the contrary is a
mischaracterization and misinterpretation, he said. "We
have not made any offer whatsoever to reduce salaries for police officers,''
Young said. "I can be 100 percent clear that
the city of But
Roberts and Fangman said the city also proposed
reducing officers' overtime pay and amount officers earn when they go to
court to testify against people they arrest. Young
stressed that the city faces a $16 million deficit next year. The $2 billion
city budget, delivered to City Council Nov. 10, would eliminate 161 positions
in 2005, 76 of which could be terminations. "They
clearly know (a pay cut) wasn't the intent,'' Young said of FOP leadership. In most
recent talks between the city and other unions, members of the American
Federation of State County and Municipal Employees approved a contract that
gives them a 2 percent raise in each of the next three years. That union
represents about 40 percent of the city's workforce, including employees
responsible for trash pickup and street cleaning. Even
before police talks started Oct. 27, officers and city officials said it was
possible negotiations should go straight to fact-finding. Young
insisted the city had no spare money, but Roberts said the union's research
found plenty. The
contract expires next month. Fact-finding, should it be needed, is to start
Jan. 14. F.O.P. #3 elected as the sole
bargaining agent for the FT. Collins Police Department. The
American Arbitration Association has certified that the Fraternal Order
of Police Lodge #3 (F.O.P.) has been elected as the sole bargaining agent for the FT. Collins Police Department. The
American Arbitration Association conducted an election at the direction
of the City of FT. Collins to determine if the F.O.P. should be bargaining agent. The Director of Human Resources
Rick De La Castro and members of F.O.P. Lodge #3, monitored the results of
the election. The City
provided the mailing list for members of the bargaining unit to the American
Arbitration Association for them to conduct the election. One
hundred and twenty five (125) valid ballots were returned, with one hundred
and nine (109) ballots voting for the F.O.P. to be the Bargaining Agent. The
F.O.P. looks forward to a productive working relationship with the City
of Questions
to Lodge #3 970-204-0256 fop3@frii.com Thank
You Scott
E. Goff President Lodge #3 FOUR QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE
ENTERING INTO NEGOTIATIONS From Policepay.net September 30, 2000. An examination of the four most important questions that
must be answered before beginning negotiations with a city or county
government. The presentation advocates
an explicit approach, rather than a comparison of opposing theories. One axiom that applies to
almost all endeavors is that "there is no substitute for
preparation." To be unprepared is
to take the first step toward defeat.
Often this lesson is lost on committee members in charge of
negotiations. If your standard of
living is on the line, it is unwise to be "flying by the seat of your
pants." Sadly, this is the course
of choice for most. Preparation gives
you the ability to overcome the obstacles presented during your encounter
with your counter-parts at the negotiating table. Before you begin the
negotiation process, even before you begin developing your proposals, there
are four questions that must be asked, answered and documented: [1] What
is it that you want? [2] Why
should it be given to you? [3] What will it cost? [4] How
will it be funded? These
are relatively simple questions, especially number one. You were probably anticipating something
more profound. Actually, these are
four very profound questions. Because
the answers to these questions appear to be obvious, most bargaining units
have not seriously pondered or answered any of these, not even number
one. I know, you think you have done
this. But, do your answers look like
these: [1] We want a 25% increase in base pay, step
differentials increased from 3% to 5%, an extra week of paid leave, and a
laundry list of silly items. [2] We are underpaid and overworked. We have this "home baked" survey
that shows us to be the lowest paid major city, west of the [3]
Base pay times 25%, plus step pay times 67% and nothing for the extra leave
time. The cost of our laundry list is
de minimus. [4]
Everyone knows the city is loaded.
Just spend some of those millions in the bank. Few
bargaining units will admit to this indictment. But, everywhere I go, I ask these same four
questions. Almost without exception, I
get the same answers that I listed above.
By the end of this writing you should know how to properly answer
these questions. What Is It You Want? Several
years ago there was a movie named The
Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything. Most proposals submitted for
consideration by police and fire bargaining units could be titled like that
movie. You never really expect to get
the watch and everything. What you
really want is the girl. This brings
us to the topic of "The Throwaway Proposals". Throwaways are proposals that you have no
intention of securing, but you submit them for the purpose of using them as
"sacrificial lambs" at some key juncture of negotiations. Everybody knows about "Win Win". If your
pad your proposal with throwaways items, you can "APPEAR" to be
engaging in Win Win negotiations. You get everything you want, and the city
gets your throwaways. The only problem
with this tactic is that you have to get the city's negotiators to swallow "stupidity
pills" before each negotiation session.
Do you really believe they are that stupid. Your throwaways stand out at the first
reading of your proposal - almost as some form of retributive justice. I have
seen bargaining units that secured their throwaways and not one of their real
proposals. First of
all, throwaways do not work, unless you are dealing with complete
idiots. Not only do they not work,
they destroy your credibility and insult the other side, not exactly the
things you should do. Get rid of
throwaways. Stick to serious
proposals. Okay,
you are wondering what you should propose.
First, your proposals must be serious and reasonable. The chances of you securing a 50% pay
increase in one year are virtually zero, unless there are some really unusual
circumstances. It does not matter that
a 50% increase is needed to bring you up to the lowest paid city of all
comparable cities. If there is no
chance of getting 50%, do not ask for it.
Forget the " (1) The
best you think you could possibly obtain. (2) What
you really expect to obtain. (3) The
lowest that you would agree to. Your
initial proposal should be the highest amount that you think is
obtainable. This amount should be
determined in non-emotional setting. A
lodge or local meeting is not the place.
If both sides put the required effort into their computations, each
side will have about the same numbers, only in reverse order. Normally, neither side will use this
approach, but will be pushing ridiculous proposals. Even if you wise up to this waste of time,
there is no reason to think that the city will change also. Most cities will begin with "low
ball" proposals. This can
actually work to your benefit. If you
focus on the other side's proposal and that proposal in not reasonable, the
other side is in a position of weakness.
Never advance an unreasonable proposal. In
addition to being reasonable, your proposal must be understandable and easy
to implement. If it requires an
attorney to translate or a team of accountants to implement, you might as
well toss it into the ash can. Your
proposal must be concise, clear, simple and understandable by the average
person. Keep it simple. The
number of proposals should be few, maybe 4 or 5. Most bargaining units will have 25
proposals, 5 serious ones, 5 throwaways, 10 outright goofy ones and 5
"sock it to the chief" proposals.
We have already discussed throwaways.
Goofy proposals include small inconsequential items, items that are
not germane to collective bargaining (more police cars) and items that should
be negotiated within the department.
As for the "sock it to the chief" proposals, you must decide
if your purpose is to obtain benefits for your membership or lobe salvos at
the chief. Forget about the
chief. If he did everything your
membership thought he should, he would be the ex-chief. Do not include every item proposed by your
membership. Submit only the 5 most
important proposals. Why Should It Be Given To You? The
answer to this question is not necessarily what you will say to the city, but
it is the raw truth. You first need to
be honest with yourself. Your appeal
to the city may not be based on factual data, but on subjective data. However, once you have the city ready to
agree to an agreement, you had better be in the position to provide the
factual data to validate that agreement. If you do not have that data, you
are going to be hard pressed to give cover to the city officials that have agreed
to the proposal. This data usually
manifests itself in the form of a wage survey. The two points that I want to make now is
that the survey must be prepared with due diligence and it must be
credible. If you are not willing to
commit the required time resources to prepare the survey properly, you should
hire the work done. A poorly prepared
survey is worse than no survey at all.
Do not cook the numbers in your survey or select only cities that
advance your case. Credibility is
worth more than the data itself. I
would rather have weak numbers with perceived high credibility, than strong
numbers and low credibility. A Gomer Pyle with high credibility is more effective, than
an Einstein with low credibility.
Commit the required resources needed to have a credible wage survey. What Will It Cost? This
is the one step that most bargaining units skip. Many will leave this to the city's director
of finance - a dumb move. The
computation of the cost of your proposals is a complicated process. As with the wage survey, if you do not have
the expertise or the commitment to do this correctly, you should hire it
done. Most bargaining units lose a lot
on this very point. Accepting the
city's numbers is foolish. Making a
half-hearted effort is even worse. At
least when you use the city's computations, you do not lose credibility. The next question, how will it be funded,
cannot be answered without knowing what the proposal will cost. You should cost all three numbers - best
possible, expected, and lowest acceptable.
Do not skip this question. Know
what your proposals will cost. How Will It Be Funded? No
matter how meritorious your proposal, it will require money to fund it. This procedure involves analyzing the
annual audits and budgets of the city.
Few bargaining units have the in-house expertise to perform this
function. Hiring and outside expert is
normally the only option. Eventually,
this answer to this question will be the go or no go of your proposals. Many people think that if the money can be
found, they can get the pay increase.
Actually, it is the reverse. If
the money cannot be found, the pay increase cannot be obtained. Just the city having the ability to pay for
an increase is not a reason for giving a pay increase. The money is just one of those necessary
evils. If you do not know the answer
to this question, the city will, almost without exception, claim that funds
are not available. Know how your proposals
can be fund before you submit them. How To Properly Answer The Four Questions The
first question, What Is It That You Want?, should
also be number one and number five.
Because once you have answered the other three questions, you may
realize that your proposals are not appropriate. This is the reason for doing all of the
work for all four questions before the start of negotiations. You do not want to divulge all of the
information up front, but you certainly need to know "who's on
first". The
one thing that keeps most bargaining units from properly answering these four
questions is the perceived cost. This
is an example of false economies.
Assume that a bargaining unit has 200 members with an average salary
of $40,000 per year. If the cost of
doing all of this preliminary work is $20,000, the cost per man is $100. This translates into .0025 of salary for
one year. Over the life of a
three-year contract, it is .00083, less than one-tenth of one-percent. The net bargaining gain per man needed to
cover the cost of the work on a three-year contract is $33.33. Do you buy your work shoes at Wal-Martâ? You could save money if you did. If you expect to succeed at negotiations, you must be
willing to put substantial efforts and money into the preparation. Normally, I become involved with bargaining
units late in the negotiation process - just before arbitration and
fact-finding. _____________________________________________________ |
||||
|
|
Copyright ã POLICEPAY.NET,
Inc. 2004 All Rights Reserved |
||||
The POLICEPAY Journal
Published
by:
POLICEPAY.NET,
Inc.
(405)
234-2235