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Major Victory
City must bargain with Lodge concerning consent decree matters
On Feb. 26, Arbitrator George Roumell issued his opinion and award in two grievances involving the City’s unilateral action of changing the
start times of the three watches for patrol
units and changing the six-day-off groups to three-day-off groups for police officers in the Sixth District — resulting in a major blow to the City. The significance of the award goes beyond these two grievances.
Some background: On Dec. 20, 2019, Lodge 7 sought an injunction to prevent the City from unilaterally im- plementing changes to start times and day-off groups. Lodge 7 learned in late November that Bureau Patrol Chief Fred Waller issued a directive titled “Modified Roll Call Procedures.” Effec- tive Jan. 9, the start times for all police officers (except in 005) would be changed for all three watches permanently (“to allow for continuous coverage”) and 006 would have day-off groups reduced from six to three.
As a result, although Lodge 7 did not obtain injunctive relief, on Jan. 21 the Illinois Appellate Court did order the City to ar- bitrate the underlying disputes within 30 days. Accordingly, a hearing took place on Feb. 11 and 13. This expedited process highlights the importance of the underlying issue.
In his thorough award (issued in record timing), Arbitrator Roumell spent a considerable amount of time detailing the
parties’ bargaining relationship, past practice and specific lan- guage contained in the current and predecessor collective bargaining agreements. As an experienced arbitrator, he realized the importance of the collective bargaining pro- cess as well as the obligations contained in the Illinois Labor Relations Act — which not only encourages but, more importantly, requires good faith bargaining over
mandatory subjects of bargaining.
Arbitrator Roumell acknowledged that the parties’ “agree-
ment must be construed based on the instrument as a whole, and not from a single word or phrase.” He ultimately conclud- ed that the City made a variety of assignments “based upon the two hours plus or minus provision from the designated start times,” as allowed under the “negotiated contract language as it now stands.” He therefore denied the grievance dealing with the start time changes.
However, Arbitrator Roumell did find a binding practice to exist between the parties in terms of any changes to day-off groups. Specifically, he concluded:
The fact is for 11 years on the 4-2 schedule both the Depart- ment and the Lodge had accepted the practice of having six-day-off groups which was a condition of employment; that the existence of the 6-2 schedule was not merely a present way utilized by management but rather was the prescribed way by mutual agreement as revealed by the
PAT FIORETTO
14 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2020