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President’s Report: Second Stories
Right now, it looks like about 100 members who are in no- pay status as of the end of December. And with retro checks going out, I can see even more members doing so with money not being necessarily an issue.
I want to thank all members and everybody else who donated to our Hold the Line Hero’s Fund that has provided financial support for these brave members. You can read more about this, including the $50,000 donation Willie Wilson made to the cause, on page 38.
Now the goal is to work on the mediation with the City that be- gan on Dec. 27. We will see if we can resolve the issues before going to formal arbitration. I don’t know if the mediation is going to be a very fruitful endeavor, but we shall see.
I think the members have shown through the way they have stood up that we will not give in. We felt the City’s policy was over- zealous from the beginning. It didn’t take into any consideration at any point what we put forth as a law enforcement group with the PBPA that represents the sergeants and lieutenants.
It pretty much was a take-it-or-leave-it policy, which is not re- ally anybody’s idea of what negotiations are supposed to be. So I think the testing by all members, regardless of whatever number per times a week it ends up being, is what we are willing to accept.
We just need to lose so much focus on the vaccination, like that’s the be-all-end-all, and focus on the testing. The testing is what’s going to tell you if you’re contagious or not. That is what’s going to tell you to stay the hell home, whether you’re a police officer, a firefighter or the average citizen.
Mediation is going to try and come to an agreement. Arbitration is going to focus on the contract provisions that the City violated.
And if so, that interest arbitration is going to go to specific provi- sions within the policy that the City will then be obligated to ne- gotiate. Whatever the policy ends up being, that will be the policy.
And that’s really all you want. You want to be able to negotiate the policy. So it’s something that’ll work, not something that’s just being shoved down your throat. And we’ve said that from the be- ginning. We’ve just wanted a fair shake. We wanted to negotiate, not be dictated to, but that’s not been the case. That’s just a sad reality, and it’s not unique to us.
As we get into January, the biggest focus will be getting phase 2 of the contract either complete or off to arbitration.
Sadly, the City has decided that the COVID policy leaves no time to work on the contract. We repeatedly asked for dates to negoti- ate, and they played games. They didn’t have dates available for the COVID arbitration, so we’re assuming that they don’t have dates to meet to negotiate phase 2, which is just nonsense because our contract is specific to us. The COVID policy involves three other at- torneys and three other unions.
So, that’s been a B.S. excuse by the City from the start. We’ve had
to wait until January to get the ball rolling, but there’s going to be nowhere for them to hide. We’re going to have to get it done, be- cause every day that goes by is another dollar out of our members’ pockets with the important financial components that are part of phase 2.
We are working for additional pay for those working in specialty units, among other compensation needs. Phase 2 will either be ne- gotiated and signed and sealed, or go off to arbitration for a deci- sion down the road. If that’s the way they want it, so be it.
And then we have the results of the new sergeants’ exam, which is creating a whole new thunderstorm and potentially the filing of an unfair labor practice. The Department has to give part 2 of the exam to members who are in the military.
But they just put out a list for promotion and it’s not complete. It’s not fair to the members who have not yet taken part 2 of the
test. It’s not a big number, but it’s still not fair to that number. This list should not have been developed until everybody completed part 2 and it was scored and ranked accordingly.
So it’s just one stupid, ill-conceived idea after another coming out of 35th and Michigan about how they’re running this Depart- ment.
Holding the line
Contract Phase 2
Another Department debacle
PRESIDENT’S REPORT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
even be entertaining a serious run for reelection, to me is a pipe dream. And if I’m wrong, I’d love to see her publicly say so. But I don’t see that happening.
So I’m not even really using her as a litmus test, so to speak. This is all about a City that is experiencing record violence, a pandemic that has been mismanaged from the get-go, the busi- ness community being treated as a second-class citizen, wheth- er it’s with crime, shoplifting and violence or taxing, just being
run into the ground. There are so many things that the tax base in the City has been subjected to needlessly. It keeps getting worse. Just when you think she’s hit bottom, she keeps going lower. She certainly has a big shovel.
The only fear is that, if my run for mayor is successful, I’m going to be handed the keys to a jalopy that doesn’t run. That’s sadly the reality. But it doesn’t faze me. Somebody has to stop the madness being allowed in the City and the state, and that is what our political action will be all about.
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