Page 14 - JULY 2016 Newsletter

The file destruction saga continues
As a follow-up to last month’s article, two re- cent events have occurred which have had an impact on both section 8.4 of the Lodge’s Col- lective Bargaining Agreement and Judge Fly- nn’s issuance of his stays in which he prohibit- ed the city from releasing certain information pursuant to various Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
On June 16, we presented oral argu- ments to a three-member panel of the First Dis- trict of the Illinois Appellate Court. The panel was
was required to maintain the status quo between the par- ties so that the parties could have the underlying griev- ances adjudicated by the mutually-selected arbitrator, pursuant to the parties’ contract.
At the hearing, the city argued that Flynn erred when he issued the stays, primarily claiming that the Lodge did not have a likelihood of success on the merits of the grievances. The Chicago Tribune, draped in the American flag, raised the political climate and cur- rent events in the city as a basis for why 50 years’ worth of documents must be released to the pub- lic immediately, without regard to what might be contained in the documents. Both arguments, however, missed the central point and Flynn’s prop-
erly articulated rationale.
There is a strong public policy in the state of Illinois fa-
voring arbitration, and the maintenance of the status quo pending arbitration. Indeed, in the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, which governs the employer-employee re- lationship in the public sector, legislators specifically ar- ticulate the following position:
“It is the public policy of the State of Illinois that, where the right of employees to strike is prohibited by law, it is necessary to afford an alternate, expeditious, equitable
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
PAT
PAT
FIORETTO
FIORETTO
comprised of Justices Mary K. Rochford, Mathias
Delort and Shelvin L.M. Hall. The city and the Chi-
cago Tribune appealed decisions by Flynn in which
he entered preliminary injunctions in aid of arbitration precluding the city from releasing information more than four years old contained in lists regarding police officers, as well as the underlying CR files, themselves, generated by the city, pursuant to several requests that had been made under FOIA. The requests asked for information dating back to 1967, without regard to whether the allega- tions stemmed from allegations of on-duty misconduct.
Flynn stayed the release of thousands of documents, dating back nearly 50 years, pending Arbitrator George Roumell’s final award. Flynn properly determined that he
FOP
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14 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2016