Page 18 - October 2021

One small victory:
City agrees to limit RDO cancellations
I am pleased to announce that the City and Lodge 7 have entered into an historic agreement, albeit on a trial basis, involving the cancellation of RDOs over certain holidays. I am sure it did not go unnoticed that this year, for the Labor Day hol- iday weekend, not all RDOs were canceled.
Recall that Lodge 7 and the PBPA filed separate class-action grievances over the City’s decision to cancel all RDOs inside
the 28-day police period, depriving police officers of their collectively bargained days off as well as forcing many police officers to work 12 to 14 consecutive days, often on 12-hour shifts, without any reprieve.
The parties agreed to consolidate the grievances and had se- lected arbitrator George Roumell to conduct a multiday hear- ing, beginning on July 20, 2021. On the eve of the hearing, the City, realizing the serious safety concerns being raised, sug- gested that Arbitrator Roumell preside over a mediation of the grievance instead of an arbitration, which led to the first hear- ing day becoming a mediation session. After nearly 12 hours of negotiations, with the guidance of Arbitrator Roumell, the parties settled the matter and entered into an MOU.
In essence, the general terms are as follows:
• Between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2022, prior to the
commencement of a new 28-day police period, the Depart-
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ment will send an Anticipatory Notice apprising all police officers of any anticipated deployment needs for the up- coming holiday.
As part of the Anticipatory Notice, police officers will be of- fered the opportunity to volunteer to work on days during
the scheduled deployment on which they are not sched- uled to work (an RDO or furlough). In the event of a need for additional manpower for the deployment, the Department will first utilize the police officers who
volunteered.
•Then, no less than 14 days in advance of the sched-
uled deployment, the Department will send to all police officers (via email and AMC message) an Effective Notice, containing the anticipated length of the deployment, no- tice of whether RDOs will be canceled, identification of which units will be subject to the deployment and notice of whether 12-hour workdays will be implemented. (This will ensure more than the haphazard one-or two-day notice that the Department provides police officers currently.)
If the number of police officers who volunteered during the Anticipatory Notice period is insufficient, the Department may cancel RDOs. However, if RDOs are canceled, the City agreed to make all reasonable efforts to maintain the nor- mal schedule (8 1/2 hours or 10 hours) of RDO-canceled officers and assign them only as needed. Significantly, the
PAT FIORETTO
18 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ OCTOBER 2021
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