PAX Centurion - September / October 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • September/October 2013 • Page 7 Secretary’s Thoughts: Patrick M. Rose, BPPA Secretary A picture has been painted by the city administration, local media and the regular haters that we all make $100,000 plus a year and have no right asking for more, AN ABSOLUTE LIE! I just don’t know any other way to articulate it. The city mouthpieces continue to lie about EVERY aspect of our pay, about EVERY aspect of how many hours we are forced to work and what our pay is REALLY worth. See Secretary on page 39 O ctober 18, 2013 is the end of my 41 st year working full time for the U.S.Government, the Commonwealth or the City of Boston. Some would accuse me of spending my life on the public ‘teat’, hopefully others would recognize the fact that I’ve dedicated my adult working life to serving and protecting my fellow citizens and family. Some of us jump into life with abandon and attempt to ‘score’whatever they can for themselves, some jump from job to job and fall into whatever pays the bills, some manage to scratch out a living doing what they love, while others believe they are called, called to perform a duty. That duty may be educating our young, treating the ill etc, or in my case serving in uniform. Whether it was a military uniform on active duty serving through two wars or a reservist and guardsman at the ready to go. Working in the oldest prison in the country or search- ing out those miscreants that attempted to escape justice, or for the last twenty years serving as a Boston Police Patrolman. The bottom line is that I believe that I, (like many of you), had a calling. With that calling came a code of conduct, an expected behavioral pattern if you will. I have always attempted to live up to those expectations, I have always attempted to live my life as an honorable man of integrity. If and when I fell, I always picked myself up, brushed my- self off, apologized, corrected my actions and continued as a truthful, honorable man with integrity. There were and are rules. Rules that govern life, rules that govern society, there are rules that even govern war. Sadly I’ve recently realized after 59 years of life and 41 years of dedicating my life in service to my Country, State and City, there are NO RULES in politics! That’s right, I said it, there are no rules in politics.You see, you can enter into agreements with other parties and even if those agreements are governed by laws, the politicians can just ignore the rules with no consequence. Some politicians will stand in public and with the assistance of a subservient media, (who are pushing their own agenda instead of reporting the truth), and simply stretch the truth, ignore the law or make it up as it goes to suit their political needs. Politicians who sign agreements, (or pledge in writing such as Mayoral wannabe John Connolly), stating they will support legally mediated disagreements can simply say; never mind, I changed my mind, the winds are blowing a different way than they were inApril.Yes my friends and fellow police officers, ladies and gentlemen that have dedicated their lives to serving and protecting society, that followed and enforced society’s rules, that have been honorable and served with integrity there are NO Rules in politics or for some politicians. In my last article back in June, I publicly asked the CityAdminis- tration to step up and show the world how the city really feels about its’ Police Officers and Public Safety personnel. Well, I guess the City and certain politicians did just that, it just isn’t what I expected. Talk about naïveté, I actually believed that in the end, the City labor team and others for that matter, would step up and end this charade, grant us a fair contract and move on. But no, not only didn’t they ‘Man Up’, they did just the opposite, they fought us every step of the way. Fact, the City labor management team declared impasse first, the City labor team requested arbitration first. The City labor team nominated the cur- rent arbitrator, the union only agreed after all of our nominees were dismissed, again by the City team. They are the ones that dragged bargaining and arbitration out so long that theArbitrator was granted the authority to settle two, three year contracts. They are the ones that NEVER moved from an offer of 0, 1, 2, 3, 3, & 3 for 12% over six years. Then during arbitration they tried a little sweetener by also of- fering an education package that would have benefitted 35% or 40% of our membership claiming it equaled 19%, wow thanks! Over the past few years, some of these same people even supported the state house in reducing our pay of up to 12.5%. They are the ones who managed to push the entireArbitration process into the middle of a Mayoral race so it would be used as a third rail topic by the media. They are ones that stand up in the media and make state- ments to the public to enrage them having them believe we are greedy pigs at the trough. Each and everyone of you that have attempted to inflame the public against your public safety personnel should be ashamed, you should be forced to publicly admit it has been your ‘modus operandi’ to drag your feet and force these negotiations into arbitration, but no, that won’t happen, because Politics has No Rules. Over the past several weeks the BPPA and you, the membership have been dragged through the proverbial mud.Your union, and you the membership, have been portrayed as money-hungry, overpaid pigs that don’t deserve to be paid never mind receive a well deserved raise or a decent pay check that would allow you and your respective families to enjoy a tiny bit of life together. A picture has been painted by some within the city administration, local media and the regular haters that we all make $100,000 plus a year and have no right asking for more, ANABSOLUTE LIE! I just don’t know any other way to articulate it. The city mouthpieces continue to lie about EVERY aspect of our pay, about EVERY aspect of how many hours we are forced to work and what our pay is REALLY worth. These outright LIES are printed in big bold letters on the front pages of every local newspaper and are spewed along with their hatred of us by many within the local media circus. If and when any truth is reported at all, it will be buried deep within the story in the pages of these rags or as a side note within a verbal report by the minions that claim to REPORT the news. All I can recommend, is to try and not let any of this crap get to you. After all we are human beings and not the pigs certain people or media outlets would have one believe. Continue to act in the professional manner in which you always have. Hold your There are NO RULES in politics!