Negotiations Begin

And already the mayor's media mouthpiece has called the FOP's negotiating position a "demand." How very unbiased that is:

• Chicago Police officers are demanding a 12 percent pay raise over two years, a reduction in health-care contributions and a $3,000-a-year residency stipend to compensate them for being forced to live and send their kids to school in the city.

After the first installment of our tax bill hit, a stipend doesn't sound bad. It's a pie-in-the-sky demand, but it sounds good. 12% sounds good, too. Especially after the FOP failed to send the required letter last year for timely negotiations meaning we've all been working the last eight months (and four more to go) with zero-chance of retro pay. Rahm isn't going to part with money any time soon.

• The Fraternal Order of Police also wants to cut in half — from 20 percent to 10 percent — the share of promotions based on merit and change the name from “merit” — which, they claim, makes a political process sound apolitical — to “management” or “administrative” promotions.

A good idea that ought to be applied across the board.

• To prevent the steady stream of retirements from further depleting the ranks, the union wants Supt. Garry McCarthy to establish “minimum staffing levels” and forward them to the union on a quarterly basis.

The best idea so far. Stop messing with everyone's time off. And if you can find someone to work a day for you, make it happen in a timely manner instead of this under-72-hour rush to the finish line we have currently.

• The Police Department equivalent of clunkers — squad cars and other vehicles with more than 90,000 miles on the odometer — would be mandatorily retired from patrol, under the union’s proposal. The FOP proposal also states that the city “must provide adequate heating, hot water, air-conditioning and sanitary facilities.”

That would kill two-thirds of the fleet in short order. Foot patrols might be exactly what McNutJob wants. How about all cars over 90,000 miles are given to the exempts and anything left over is saved for administrative staff and HQ dollies? Smell and all.

As to the "adequate heating, hot water, air-conditioning and sanitary facilities," the City would have to close at least five stations overnight and another three within three years. And Homan Square would be condemned.

Here comes more of Fran Spielman's bias:

• Costly income supplements that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been urged to eliminate would increase under the union’s plan — to $3,620 a year in 2014 for duty availability pay and $2,100 for the annual uniform allowance.  

And although this will never see the light of day because Rahm doesn't want it to and the media is in Rahm's pocket, those "costly" items were accepted in lieu of pay raises decades ago. We sacrificed extensively for the City to save them, literally, what would have been BILLIONS of dollars in salary and pension obligations - a pension that is threatened by Rahm at this very moment. If our predecessors had known what Rahm was doing today, they may have demanded the pay raises up front instead of what they got.

• In 2005, an arbitrator gave police a 15.5 percent pay raise over four years in exchange for a 33 percent increase in officers’ contributions to health insurance.
  
  The FOP now wants to reduce those contributions — from 1.29 percent to 1 percent of an officer’s paycheck for single coverage and from 2.47 percent to 2 percent for families. But the union is offering an incentive plan to help the city reduce its sick pay costs.
  
  Police officers who stay off the medical rolls would get a $1,500 bonus for two years without sick time not related to on-duty injuries, $4,000 for five straight years and $5,000 for 10 years without taking medical leave.
  

Interesting. Rahm isn't going to go for the insurance givebacks, but a bonus for not using the medical instead of the City's current desire to eliminate it once and for all - very interesting. But that math isn't going to fly.

Wage compression and time-due sellback are on the table. And a few things that will be the subject of more than a few comments:

• A generous [emphasis added to show Fran's ball-licking bias - SCC] sick leave policy that allows officers to take up to 365 days off every two years would be changed to include full pay and benefits for 12 months over a four-year period.
  
  City Hall wants the right to order hair tests as well as urine tests. Supplementary employment would have to be cleared with the city in writing, capped at 20 hours a week and cut off within four hours of the start of an officer’s tour of duty.
  
  The city would be free to use disciplinary information in “not sustained” files alleging criminal conduct, excessive force or verbal abuse in future disciplinary proceedings against an officer for a period of seven years after the alleged incident.
  
  Effective July 1, sustained files “shall be maintained for the duration of an officer’s career and may be used against the officer for any appropriate purpose,” the city’s proposal states.
  

The Medical issue is going to be a battle - or it better be. How about cracking down on the abusers? We all know who they are. The city call already order hair tests. Supplementary employment shouldn't be a concern unless it interferes with your regular job - show us cause. And using "not sustained" files? They're fucking nuts. You can't introduce previous convictions at someone's trial lest it bias a jury. You can only bring that up at sentencing. The city not only wants to bring up your "sustained" cases, they want to bring up unproven, baseless accusations that may not even have a signed affidavit.

Hold on boys and girls.