MEETING REMINDER

Our December 2009 FOP meeting will be held on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at Our Lady of the Rosary School Cafeteria, located at 1342 Moss St.  Entrance and parking is available off Esplanade.

Dinner will be served at 6:30PM, and the meeting will begin at 7:00PM.  Chef John Schluter will be serving pork roast with roasted root vegetables along with green beans and a salad.  The dessert will be cherries jubilee.  As always, liquid refreshment will be available throughout the evening. 

This is our annual Christmas meeting.  All members are encouraged to invite a guest to dinner.  Our FOP Chorus will be singing Christmas carols and Santa Walter Powers will have gifts for the ladies.

COVER ARTICLE ADDENDUM

Stephanie Landry, Director on NOPD Personnel, requests that the following information concerning Injured on Duty and Workers' Compensation be shared with our members:

Whenever a police officer is injured while responding to an emergency call (Code 2), that information should be included in the First Report of Injury.  The Fraternal Order of Police will be petitioning the Civil Service Commission to include the "while responding to an emergency call" language in the I.O.D. standard at the Commission's December meeting.

Police supervisors are reminded that the First Report of Injury form must be delivered to the NOPD Personnel Division within 72 hours of the incident.  Many police injuries are initially misclassified because the First Report of Injury is not available to Personnel and Civil Service in a timely manner.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING WORKS!!!

The following is a collection of news articles concerning collective bargaining for public safety officers that have appeared in our nation's newspapers during the past weeks:

From the Mesa, AZ East Mesa Tribune (11/19/2009)

MESA ARIZONA APPROVES MEET AND CONFER

    For the first time in city history, Mesa will enter into negotiations with the police and firefighter unions.  The Mesa City Council earlier this week approved a resolution, known as "meet and confer", that paves the     way for formal negotiations between the sides.

    Monday's vote, passed unanimously, was designed to show residents the city is maintaining strong working relationships with sworn police officers and firefighters to better allow an open dialogue involving working     conditions, wages, benefits, and mediation, according to the agreement.

    "Our employees view it as a very positive step for sworn public-safety positions", said Dennis Kavanaugh, chairman of the council's public safety committee.  "It's a natural evolution.  Our management and employee relationships are going to be governed in a manner as almost every other Arizona city and will provide a more productive work atmosphere and gives them more ownership in their decisions.

    The Fraternal Order of Police Mesa Lodge 9, the Mesa Police Association and the United Mesa Firefighters worked together to garner council support, Kavanaugh and FOP President Bryan Soller said.

    "This is a historical moment,"  Soller said of the council's vote.  "This gives us a voice at the table and is long overdue.  It will keep checks and balances on both sides, and we're going to insure the watchdogging of decisions that would effect us."

     Issues union representatives plan to discuss in the future include restoring a 2% pay cut, restoring health care benefits for city retirees that were suspended, and reinstituting merit raises, Soller said.

    Mesa's FOP represents roughly 560 members, Soller said.  The Mesa Police Association represents about 500.  Some officers have dual memberships.

    Fabian Cota, president of the Mesa Police Association, did not return several phone calls from the Tribune seeking comment.

    The public safety employee groups will be limited to two unions, one representing firefighters and one representing police officers.

    It hasn't been decided which police union would represent its employees, but under the resolution, the two rival police unions would have to go through a petition process to get an election ballot.  From there, the winning group would get the majority of votes and ultimately be certified by the city.

From the Marion County, IN Indianapolis Star (12/04/2009)

    POLICE UNION WINS DISPUTE WITH CITY OVER HEALTH INSURANCE

    The city will have to pay health insurance for all spouses of police officers and firefighters under a ruling issued this week by a Marion Superior Court Judge.

    Judge Cynthia Ayers sided with the local Fraternal Order of Police in a dispute over a new policy in the city's health insurance plan.  The change excludes from city health coverage worker's spouses who can get at least 50% of their premiums covered through their own employers.

    The police union argued that the change violates its collective bargaining contract, which is effective until the end of 2010.  City officials said the change was designed to save about $6 million a year in costs.

    In a ruling last month, Ayers agreed with the city that the FOP would have to go through the grievance process to settle the dispute.  FOP President William Owensby then filed a formal grievance on behalf of the officers and an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant agreed with the grievance.

    Based on that action, Ayers determined the grievance process had been followed and ordered that the insurance plan's spousal exclusion should not apply to the city's officers and firefighters.

    The city plans to appeal the decision.

From the Shaker Heights, IL Sun Star Courier (12/03/2009)

    Shaker Heights and police union agree to 3-year contract

    The Shaker Heights City Council has approved a new contract with Lodge 23 of the Fraternal Order of Police that will freeze wages in 2010 and likely guarantee no layoffs over the next three years.

    The concession agreement, ratified by the union late last month, will replace the final year of the existing three-year contract, forgoing what would have been a 3% pay hike in 2010 and saving the city $139,000, said city finance director Bob Baxter.

    "Our police union played a very constructive role to avoid layoffs but also to help our financial situation," Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leiken said after the council unanimously approved the contract on Nov. 23rd  "The union acted not only to secure police staffing but to assure safety, security and financial well-being for the citizens of Shaker Heights."

    After the wage freeze in 2010, the remaining two years have a 1% wage increase in 2011, followed by a 2% pay hike in 2012.

    The city and the union agreed to reopen the existing contract and began negotiating session Nov. 5, culminating in a tentative agreement five days later, followed by the union membership voting to approve the tentative agreement Nov. 18.

    Police have also agreed to accept the same health benefits program as non-bargaining unit employees, with higher deductibles and co-pays, although an increase in monthly family health care premiums from the current $65 per month won't kick in until the third year of the contract in 2012, when the rates go to $73 a month.

    Leiken commended the police chief and FOP officials for negotiating the package, which will "save the city significant costs now, and even moreso in the future."

    Under the new contract, base pay will hold in 2010 to $68,171 for officers with four years on the force, and $85,519 for lieutenants, increasing to $70,229 and $88,102 respectively, in 2012.

    City officials aren't ruling out further negotiations with other bargaining units, including firefighters, who saw several positions in their ranks eliminated earlier this year.

    "We do expect to speak to other unions," Leiken said.