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tep up all you grinders and those officers who sup- port your sisters and brothers that sync the ink. Join us to debrief on how Lodge 7 forged one of the most
momentous and striking vindications to boost morale of members and let the city and the Department know it cannot run roughshod over you officers.
On March 11, Lodge 7 triumphantly announced “Tattoo Arbitration Win!” What went into winning the grievance arbitration not only reinforces the Lodge’s relentless effort to fight the good fight, but showcases how labor attorney Pat Fioretto orchestrated a team led by Field Representa- tive Marlon Harvey and First Vice-President Ray Casiano that included a group of passionate, dedicated, all-for- one officers, including some with sleeves of ink, to assert that doing the right thing is not a lost cause.
“The city threw everything at us , but our officers tes- tified honorably and our side acted as true champions,” exclaimed Harvey who as the Field Rep assigned to the grievance sat first chair to Fioretto through the proceed- ings. “In this case, justice prevailed, and it sends a mes- sage that as long as we never give up, as long as we contin- ue, continue, continue, we will win.”
When searching for the words to surmise what trans- pired behind the arbitration hearing closed doors, Casia- no waxed poetic in a manner personifying just how much went into this battle. Searching for the right words to fully capture the emotion of the story led Casiano to engrave his own verbal tattoo.
“I can only credit Pat Fioretto for being the conductor, and the officers for being the musicians,” personified Ca- siano, who also performed as one of the testifying Lodge experts. “Pat was able to set the tempo so it all would come out. The way he shaped his questions enabled us to give our best testimony, so at the end of the day every- thing came out clearly and sounded just like the music to get us the win.”
So listen up. Here is the rest of the story:
Discovery began on May 21, 2015 when Lodge 7 Trustee and Equipment and Uniform Committee Chair Jay Ryan joined members of the sergeants and captains units for a meeting with city’s Department of Management and De- velopment. The Department informed representatives of the Chicago police unions of its intent to change its Uni- form and Property Order, U04-01, to ban the display of visible tattoos, effective June 12, 2015.
Ryan saw a draft of the policy change and made an at- tempt to offer alternatives to the ban. As a bearer of visible tattoos, he suggested an aftermarket product that is basi- cally a flesh-colored sleeve. They also talked at the meet- ing about allowing open-collar with uniforms if long- sleeves were needed to reduce potential overheating in warm weather when short sleeves would expose body ink.
“We were told they would take it into consideration and bring it to the superintendent,” Ryan revealed. “But when the order came out, it was identical to the draft.”
The May 21 inquiry also afforded Ryan a chance to ask the Department about how many complaints had been received of officers’ visible tattoos being offensive or caus- ing any consequence.
Tattoo Arbitration victory shows Lodge 7 members can win the ght when they are in the right n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
27 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ APRIL 2016