10-22-2014 PLEASE SHARE AND LIKE News Update October 16, 2014 News and commentary impacting police, deputies, corrections, fire, emergency services and public employees throughout the United States. I have provided a synopsis with key points highlighted. In some articles I have added commentary. You can access the full article by clicking on the link. I am posting daily police, fire and public employee labor news on Twitter @RonDeLord PLEASE CIRCULATE THE BLOG TO LABOR & MANAGEMENT Synopsis of the News --- L.A. County supervisors act to resolve impasse over labor panel Los Angeles County government leaders fired another round Tuesday in a yearlong battle with unions over the makeup of a key commission that decides labor disputes that can affect thousands of public employees. The three-member Employee Relations Commission has been stalemated for months because management and labor representatives cant agree on who to appoint. Elected county supervisors gave initial approval Tuesday to a proposal that would eliminate the need for both sides to agree on the panelists, and potentially allow the county board to name a working majority of members. Under the plan, if management and labor fail to agree on a third candidate within 90 days of a seat opening up, each side can submit nominees and the supervisors would select one to fill the position. The action, which was immediately attacked by the head of a coalition of employee unions as illegal, is the latest twist in a long-running battle over the commission. About a year ago, the entire panel quit over changes in the contract for hearing officers. Afterward, the county board approved an appointment process under which labor and management would each name a member and the third seat would go to a person both sides approved. Previously, labor and management had to agree on all three members, a system preferred by employee unions. latimes/local/countygovernment/la-me-employee-relations-20141015-story.html Read more. --- Stothert touts report on public safety pension system The City of Omaha is on track to pay off its deficit in the fire and police pension in two decades — half the time originally estimated, Mayor Jean Stothert said Wednesday. Stothert held a press conference to highlight a report commissioned by the fire and police pension board that estimates the public safety pension system will be solvent in about 21 years. “It’s good for the taxpayers, for police and fire employees and for our bond rating,” Stothert said. Bond raters want to see a plan to pay off a shortfall within 30 years, Stothert said, and this puts the public safety pension within that range. Board member Aaron Hanson said he was “excited and happy” about the new report, but “not totally surprised.” “We took some pretty unprecedented steps” in changing the pension formula, he said. The mayor’s attention has turned to the civilian union, and the sides are in negotiations about changes to those employees’ pensions. Lately she has come under scrutiny from fiscally conservative groups that say the city should push unions away from a traditional pension plan toward one that operates more like a 401(k). The Platte Institute, a Nebraska think tank that co-sponsored the event, also has said an 8 percent return is unrealistic, so the city’s projections underestimate the actual pension shortfall and the time needed to pay it off. omaha/news/metro/stothert-touts-report-on-public-safety-pension-system/article_4466ee04-54a5-11e4-a026-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm Read more. --- Police, fire would pay WRS, be able to ask for raises in 2016, 2017 RACINE — Firefighters and police officers would contribute to their state pensions and forego guaranteed wage increases under tentative union contracts backed 3-0 Tuesday by the Finance and Personnel Committee. Under the three-year agreements — negotiated last week during 11th-hour meetings — all firefighters and police officers would start contributing to their Wisconsin Retirement System accounts starting next year. The officers and firefighters would not get any wage increases in 2015 in exchange for those contributions, but in 2016 and 2017 they would have the right to ask the city for raises through a wage reopener provision. The wage reopener provision would essentially require the city and whatever union is asking for a wage increase to go back to the bargaining table, where they would only be able to negotiate wages for the year in question, explained Deputy City Attorney Scott Letteney. Each union looking for a wage increase would have to come up with proposed cost savings that could be used to come up with the funds to provide for an across-the-board raise, Letteney said Tuesday. Perhaps the biggest benefit of the tentative agreements is something they don’t mention — high health-insurance deductibles the unions had been facing prior to last week’s City Council meeting. Under the contracts slated for City Council consideration next Tuesday, Oct. 21, police officers and firefighters would have the same health care plan as other city employees. Although recent conflicts between the city and the police and fire unions focused primarily on Firefighters Local 321 and the Racine Police Association, the contracts recommended for approval Tuesday include agreements with two other groups: the Staff Officers Association of the Racine Police Association, and the Staff Officers Association of the Racine Fire Department. journaltimes/news/local/police-fire-would-pay-wrs-be-able-to-ask-for/article_920413c2-1edd-5819-b6a0-590ae9f5e9df.html Read more. --- San Bernardino police union: Truce over The police officer association’s nearly yearlong truce with the city is over, the union’s attorney said Wednesday in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. And so it’s asking for two actions — one to move along a case they say is languishing in court, the other as a “counterpunch” against a city they allege “pulled the rug out” in the disputed breakdown of a tentative contract agreement. Noting that the city’s bankruptcy case is now in its third year and has cost city taxpayers more than $6.5 million, attorney Ron Oliner writes that the city has “steadfastly refused” to answer when it would present a plan of adjustment, the plan to exit bankruptcy. And so the court should order a deadline by which the city must present that plan, he says. And he says two motions that have been dormant for months while negotiations progressed and then culminated in August in a tentative agreement — the union’s request to lift a stay that otherwise prevents it from suing the city, and the city’s motion to reject the union’s existing contract as the judge already allowed them to do to firefighters — should be revived now that the deal between the city and union is gone. The union’s motion points to rising crime as the number of police dwindled — from 32 homicides in 2009 to 46 in 2013, with 30 so far this year — and says officers want “the stability that comes with a fair contract.” Oliner also refers to opposition to Measure Q — the ballot measure that would end the guarantee that police and firefighters be paid the average of 10 other cities’ pay — as “the only way the SBPOA can protect itself and the City.” sbsun/government-and-politics/20141014/san-bernardino-police-union-truce-over Read more. --- City Hall, sergeants union to negotiate amid rising tension NEW YORK, NY - Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has boasted of his success in settling contracts with the majority of his workforce, has hit a roadblock with law-enforcement unions, many of which are angry over the prospect of one year of flat salaries as well as the recent controversy surrounding a top aide to the first lady. Today, de Blasios chief labor negotiator, Bob Linn, is scheduled to meet with one of City Halls harshest critics—Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mulllins. Mullins said he has low expectations for the negotiating session. Were not optimistic, to be quite honest with you, he told Capital in a recent interview. Were kind of looking at it, in a lot of ways, as an anti-police relationship right now. Mullins said part of his frustration stems from the mayors steadfast defense of Rachel Noerdlinger, his wifes chief of staff, in the face of recent reports about her boyfriends lengthy criminal history, his online posts calling police officers pigs, and her sons tweets disparaging police and white people. Mullins said he also opposes the pattern of raises City Hall has offered to other unions, which include at least one year of flat salaries offset by a one-time, $1,000 bonus. The United Federation of Teachers, District Council 37 and several other unions have accepted the offer, which de Blasio said will set the pattern for other unions. Those contracts offer 10-percent raises over seven years, despite the 18 months of flat wages. You cant have a bargaining session where your opening first 18 months are zeroes, Mullins said. capitalnewyork/article/city-hall/2014/10/8554469/city-hall-sergeants-union-negotiate-amid-rising-tension Read more. --- Deputy union touts injunction on Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller MONTEREY, CA - Weighing in on what is already a contentious Monterey County sheriffs contest, a federal judge on Tuesday issued an order that assures the right of Monterey County sheriffs deputies to weigh in on the race. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh entered a preliminary injunction Tuesday barring the county and Sheriff Scott Miller from enforcing parts of a personnel code that a union for rank-and-file personnel said prevented members from exercising their free speech rights on the election. The order, which was agreed to by both sides in an ongoing suit between the county and the Monterey County Deputy Sheriffs Association, also prevents Miller from campaigning while in uniform, which is prohibited by state law. Running his first reelection campaign, Miller is competing against deputy Steve Bernal, who has the endorsement of the Deputy Sheriffs Association. In September, the union filed suit against Miller and the county alleging ambiguous work rules violated their free speech rights and prevented them from speaking out against Miller while off-duty. They also accused Miller of using his office to campaign, citing instances where Miller used photographs of himself in uniform for campaign material. montereyherald/localnews/ci_26727326/deputy-union-touts-monterey-county-sheriff-scott-miller Read more. --- Cities Are Eliminating the Healthcare Benefits Once Promised to Retirees When Kenneth Blair joined the Detroit police force decades ago at age 19, he thought he was signing up for a steady job—and pension and health-care benefits for life. The fate of his pension is still up in the air as Detroit’s bankruptcy makes its way through the courts. But Blair’s health benefits as he would have known them are already gone. Blair died in 2004 after serving on the police force for 30 years, and his benefits were transferred to his wife Cynthia. She received a pension check and was enrolled in the same medical plan offered to current employees of the city of Detroit. For $125 a month, Blair could see almost any doctor she wanted; for $25 more, she got full dental and vision coverage. But then the city of Detroit decided it wanted to get out of the business of offering retirees healthcare. Public-employee unions were unable to prevent the change. So in December of last year, Blair and thousands of other retirees got a letter informing them that anyone under 65 “would need to obtain their own health insurance coverage” as of March 1 of this year. It recommended that they check out the health-care exchanges set up under Obamacare. “Health insurance doesn’t have the same degree of protection that the pension plans do,” said Robert Clark, an economics professor at North Carolina State University. Employers have a legal obligation to continue paying pensions, although bankruptcy can change that. But most legal experts would agree that employers can do away or dramatically change health insurance for retirees—even if they had promised it for life. Last year, for instance, Chicago announced that it was phasing out health-care benefits for people who retired after August 23, 1989. And Sheboygan County, Wisconsin also voted last year to stop allowing county retirees to use the county’s health-insurance plan, instead shifting them onto the health-care exchanges. “We had to make a decision about what we could afford, and we’re obligated to fund pensions by law, but not health-care benefits, said Bill Nowling, a spokesman for Detroits emergency manager, Kevyn Orr. “I know it sounds crass, but we can’t afford it.” theatlantic/business/archive/2014/10/cities-are-eliminating-the-healthcare-benefits-once-promised-to-retirees/381375/?single_page=true Read more. COMMENTARY: This is a long well written article. If you are faced with losing or reduced retiree health insurance it is worth the read. --- Fort Smith Leaders To Discuss Fire, Police Pensions ARKANSAS - Fort Smith leaders are expected to meet with state legislators Tuesday to talk about fire/police pension funding and an anticipated shortfall beginning in 2019. At the Fort Smith Board of Directors study session, state legislators and David Clark, executive director of the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System, are scheduled to attend and speak. The city’s retirement pensions are in part funded by 1 mill each. In a memo to city leaders, Finance Director Kara Bushkuhl states that projections reflect the current funding sources will not be sufficient to make the required contributions for the plan beginning in 2019. “The primary concern the city faces is providing for the expected shortfalls in the contribution fund to continue to meet the city’s obligations,” she wrote. Projections from the Finance Department show a negative fund balance of more than $2 million in 2019, and a $10 million-plus shortfall by 2022. City Administrator Ray Gosack has said the looming “statewide train wreck” related to underfunded pensions will likely require a solution from the state Legislature. One of the city’s legislative priorities for the 2015 session of the Arkansas General Assembly seeks a solution to the “unfunded liabilities for police and fire pension plans.” swtimes/news/fort-smith-leaders-discuss-fire-police-pensions Read more. --- Layoff notices issued to senior Miami-Dade Police employees DORAL, Fla. (WSVN) -- Layoff notices have been issued to senior Miami-Dade Police Department employees, despite Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménezs promises and public statements that no employees would be laid off in the fiscal year. More than 250 county employees from different departments received a notice informing them that their positions have been eliminated. A third of those employees will have positions in different government agencies, but others are not so lucky. According to PBA President John Rivera, the layoffs are a move by Giménez to push the unions hand to agree on a new health plan, a concession administrators are asking for as negotiations have already stalled for months, despite the mayor agreeing to no pay cuts. I think its retaliatory, said Rivera. Rivera called the elimination of jobs a move of terrorism. I think he is a terrorist, he said. I think if you look at the way terrorists threaten people, If you dont do this, Im gonna do this, thats exactly what hes doing to us here. In August, Giménez announced, No sworn police officers would be losing their jobs in the next fiscal year. That is still the case today. No sworn police officers will be losing their jobs. Carrera said there is no difference between employees. We save lives, in a different capacity, but were saving officers lives, she said. The PBA said they will take legal action to help save the jobs. Rivera said he will not commit to an Oct. 17 meeting between the union and mayors staff intended to move negotiations forward. wsvn/story/26750609/layoff-notices-issued-to-senior-miami-dade-police-employees Read more. --- San Jose City Leaders Call Police Quitting Threats A ‘Scare Tactic’ During Mayoral Race SAN JOSE (CBS SF) — A story KPIX 5 broke last week has people in San Jose talking about next month’s mayoral election. CEO of the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Matt Mahood said he was shocked and disgusted after seeing a KPIX 5 story last week where reporter Kiet Do approached the union president to confirm rumors that around 200 police officers would quit if Sam Liccardo were elected mayor. “These types of scare tactics coming from the POA, are disturbing,” Mahood said. Mayor Chuck Reed, who is a strong Liccardo supporter, says it’s election year theatrics. “The police union makes pretty bold statements all the time, because we’re in the middle of a political campaign,” Reed said. “And they’re doing everything they can to undermine the department, and predicting bad things is just part of what they do.” Over the past few years, about 400 officers have either been laid off, gone to other departments, or retired. Many left because of pay cuts, or cuts to retirement benefits from pension reform. The Chamber of Commerce says the police union played a major role in the exodus. Police union president Jim Unland has no regrets, and doubled down on his prediction, now saying 200 is on the low end of the range. “To think that my job as the POA president is to sell their failed policies, that’s just crazy,” Unland said. “And now we’re issuing a new warning. If you continue eight more years of this, more officers are gonna leave. It’s just what’s gonna happen. It’s not a threat, it’s not an intimidation, it’s just a warning that this is the consequence to continuing these policies.” Liccardo says he’s focused on solutions, like reinstating officer pay, while the union is fear-mongering. sanfrancisco.cbslocal/2014/10/10/san-jose-city-leaders-call-police-quitting-threats-a-scare-tactic-during-mayoral-race/ Read more. --- Facing Federal Review, Baltimore Plans to Curb Police Brutality Baltimores mayor and police commissioner outlined Tuesday a sweeping plan to reduce police brutality, including the possibility of equipping officers with body cameras, while reiterating that they are committed to restoring public trust in the agency. We didnt create these problems, but as leadership in charge today, its our obligation to do everything that we can to fix the breach between the community and police, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said about the 41-page report outlining their plans. The report was released as the U.S. Department of Justice prepares for a months-long review of brutality allegations. The report, called Preventing Harm, says Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts wants to increase staff in the internal affairs division, which handles allegations of misconduct, and study the body camera issue. Batts also wants to negotiate with the police union to get wider authority to quickly punish rogue cops. Batts and other police leaders have been reforming the internal discipline process so that bad actors are punished and bad cops are fired, the report says. The best way to prevent abuse is to train on its use, circumscribe it with rules, and enforce the rules. When bad actors have impunity, the good cops become demoralized and the bad ones are emboldened. Among the biggest obstacles is a 40-year-old state law that guarantees certain legal protections for officers. For example, all internal discipline goes through a review board. Batts said that if the board finds an officer innocent of misconduct, he has no power to impose punishment. Batts said the law prevents him from taking swift action when officers commit egregious misconduct. He noted a recent incident in which a surveillance video showed a Baltimore officer repeatedly striking a man at a bus shelter. The officer has been suspended with pay. Police leaders cannot suspend an officer without pay until he is charged with a felony. That needs to change, Batts said. The citys contract with the police union calls for back pay if suspended officers are later exonerated. The Fraternal Order of Police declined to comment on the report. governing/topics/public-justice-safety/mct-baltimore-police-reform.html Read more. ---
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 15:07:27 +0000