PAX Centurion - January / February 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • January/February 2013 • Page 3 President’s Report: Thomas J. Nee, BPPA President The view from here Arbitration proceedings begin A rbitration proceedings between the City of Boston and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association will begin on January 28 th . The contract between the City and the BPPA has been expired since July 1 st , 2010. Several other dates have been scheduled for February and March, 2013. The BPPA bargaining committee cautions that members should not have high expectations in light of the current political climate and the economic uncertainty. The arbitrator will have 60 days to render a decision after the hearings are concluded, and then theCity council will have 30 days to approve funding for the contract, whatever the decision. In all probability, any resolution will stretch into May/ June of 2013. The BPPA bargaining committee thanks you for your patience and understanding. By James Carnell, Pax Editor H appy NewYear! And as we begin this new calendar year the BPPA is still busy trying to reconcile many of the pressing issues still unresolved from last year. Specifically, a new collective bargaining agreement. It’s been some thirty months since our last agreement expired and it seems the only way it’s going to get done is through the Joint Labor Management Committee and an Interest Arbitrator, which is not the preferred choice of the BPPA, it’s the only choice. I want to begin by saying thank you to our membership for your words of encouragement, understanding, patience and support for the Bargaining Committee. Since the announcement of this course of action several months ago, I’ve heard from and observed many con- versations by members about the time table and probable outcome. Let me emphatically state; that the proceedings that we are about to undertake are lengthy, challenging, sometimes political and above all else very difficult when predicting an outcome! The current schedule of Interest Arbitration commences on Janu- ary 28, 2013 and if everything goes according to schedule the last hearing date is in the end of April 2013. That schedule can be met if everything goes perfectly, but I’ve experienced and learned, not to enjoy that type of expectation. Upon the conclusion of the formal hearing process inApril, there are usually 30 days granted for “post hearing” briefs then 30 days for a decision from the interest Arbitrator which is supposed to be final and binding on the parties after funding by the (no membership vote) Boston City Council. There is no secret in the desired outcome of these proceedings; the central theme in the BPPA’s dispute with the City of Boston is pensionable pay parity between the police and fire public safety groups. Seemingly every time we met with the City Bargaining team we exhausted ourselves trying to discuss and explore a financial package that could reconcile the outstanding differences in pensionable income. What the City of- fered in response; over a six year period would not even reconcile the loss of education pay and health care increases over the past couple of years. I’m not a rocket scientist, but I do know that’s not going to be embraced by the membership and is not worthy of their consider- ation. We’ve seen the City’s books; the ability to pay is not a good argument. Wage parity between Police and Fire who work in the same municipality is a well-established principle of the Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC) and is a fundamental principle of fairness. In a bargaining session between the BPPA and City of Boston prior to our petition to the JLMC to take jurisdiction of the collective bargaining process the City stated that they considered our base pay, details and overtime our wage compensation package. In my opinion, that is not only unfair, it’s unreasonable. Our intention and hope is to convince the arbitrator that the principle of fundamental fairness in pensionable pay parity continues to apply in the final judgment of this case. To the membership, as I indicated earlier, please don’t expect this process to conclude anytime soon. Interest Arbitration is an arduous, unpredictable crap shoot. It’s lengthy, time consuming and a frustrat- ing procedure that in the end does “not” allow for a membership vote of acceptance. That state law requires that it be sent to the City Council for the approval of funding. Until then we will continue to commit our every effort to reconcil- ing this issue fairly and justly. Please continue to be safe out there and keep each other’s back, these days, seems that’s all we can rely on. S itting around the kitchen table the other night, my wife and I were trying to figure out why we were damn near broke. I mean, I work 80 hours or more a week, between details, overtime and whatever else I can get. My wife works a full week as a teacher’s aide. We should be part of that “middle class” that all the phony politicians talk about supporting at election time. But we ALL seem to be falling farther and farther behind. Then it occurred to me: We haven’t had a raise in 3 years, and we’re $16,000 behind firefighters of equal seniority. We haven’t had a detail rate increase in about eight years, and we’re behind most police departments (no specialty rate, no weekend rate, no holiday or licensed premise rate, etc.). Governor Patrick took $7,000 (from some officers, muchmore, depending on degree/rank, etc.) fromme and all otherswho bought into the “Quinn bill” several years ago by simply not funding a collectively-bargained benefit, even as he plays the “friend of labor” routine in front of adoring crowds of political benefactors. The price of gas and food is through the roof, and so is everything else, including health insurance (Hey, wasn’t that supposed to be “free” under the new “affordable care bill passed by Congress? Apparently, medicines and prescriptions are “free” for everybody except those who work for a liv- ing. Ever see aMasshealth/EBT card-user get asked for a co-payment at the emergency room or the doctor’s office?Me neither.) College tuition rates and fees are outrageous, and the kids can’t findwork in their chosen fields, so they all live at home.Your payroll tax just increased from4.2% Why we’re broke… By James Carnell, Pax Editor See Broke on page 11