Page 34 - September Issue

LODGE 7
Through The Years
■ BY DAN CAMPANA
From ‘begging’ to bargaining
All the benefits enjoyed in this modern era of contract rights, including arbitration and a grievance process, grew out of a time when multiple organizations represented Chicago’s finest and the city – including Mayor Richard J. Daley for two decades – held all the power to decide what the police would get.
“We called it collective begging,” said John Dineen, who served as Lodge president from 1972 to 1992, after serving as treasurer.
Dineen described how during his days with the United Chicago Police Association that representatives from different groups of city employees would line up on the 5th Floor at City Hall to make their case for raises. The theory, Dineen quipped, was that Daley would wake up that morning, write a number on a piece of paper and then put it in his pocket. After listening to what a particular group had to say, Daley would hand the piece of paper to the city treasurer and say, “Here’s what they’re going to get,” Dineen said.
“We had always looked forward to having a voice in our future,” Dineen offered.
The first home of Chicago Lodge 7 was the old District 7 building on Maxwell Street, which
housed Area 4 Detectives.
That opportunity wouldn’t fully materialize until Mayor Jane Byrne took office in 1979, three years after Daley died. Dineen said Byrne promised she would rec- ognize police and fire unions and would sign contracts with them. Several groups, includ- ing FOP Lodge 7, would vie in an election for the right to represent the city’s police force.
as a right to arbitration. Lodge 7 officials dug into building the first
member. “Now, the patrol starts at $56,000.” In an interesting full-circle moment of Chicago history, Dineen was part of negotia- tions with Richard M. Daley, who took office
“She said she would bargain with the win- ner,” recalled Dineen, who spent the majority of his career in organized crime intelligence.
Gone would be the day when an officer could work in a particular district on a certain shift on Monday and be moved to a different district and shift on Tuesday. Watch com- manders now had rules to abide by when it came to handling officers day to day as part of a culture change that stretched from top to bottom.
Dineen said of contract talks involving the second Daley administration. “I don’t think any mayor wanted to give away City Hall. We had to keep selling ourselves.”
The first vote narrowed the field to two options – no representation finished first, the FOP came in second. Shortly before the sec- ond vote, the Chicago Police Department superintendent picked up a large raise, which apparently mobilized the rank-and- file to agree on what needed to be done.
Dineen knows how the job and world of law enforcement has changed over the years, especially in the area of educational back- ground.
The FOP contract was the first ever signed by the city with any of its employees, Dineen said.
“When I went on the job it was a high school diploma or GED equivalent,” said Dineen, who lived and worked in the Fillmore neighborhood. “Now you’ve got to have a minimum of two years of college. It’s a different police force that way today.”
“The next day we had a 10,000-member bargaining unit,” Dineen explained. “We got 90-percent of the vote.”
“It was only a one-year deal,” he added. “The day after we signed it, we went back in for our first raise and seniority rights.”
Dineen, whose son and a grandson are police officers, believes the education of offi- cers about the FOP’s role is equally impor- tant.
The FOP officially came into recognition in August 1981.
The first three contracts essentially estab- lished all the ground rules that exist today. Current contract negotiations typically involve compensation as the key issue, according to Dineen.
This all happened as the state legislature in Springfield considered a collective bargaining law for public employees, howev- er police and fire representatives were against it because it lacked impasse regulation, such
“At the time, 1981, we were making $10,000,” he said of the average salary for a
“The guys today just assume it (the con- tract) was always there,” he said. “We try to instill in them that they have to protect their rights.”
contract anyway. The city’s 1982 budget had already been established, which meant Dineen and others “knew what our pittance would be,” but the inaugural deal formalized vacation, uniform and schedule provisions.
in 1989 and served 22 years. “It was interesting. It was enjoyable,”
34 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2015