Coming Soon to Chicago?

Denver is having budget problems - $50 million short last fiscal year, $200 million short next year. Most of this is due to spending on ILLEGAL aliens and falling tax revenues. 

You'll recall that Chicago was staring down the barrel of a $1 billion shortfall and Cook County an additional $200 million, mostly due to the same ILLEGAL alien handouts and falling tax revenues.

Guess how Denver is looking at balancing their budget?

• Denver city leaders are preparing to make "substantial" layoffs in order to deal with a massive budget deficit.

  In May, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the city was projecting a $50 million budget deficit this year and a $200 million budget deficit next year. Johnston said his administration must consider layoffs to help the city balance next year’s budget.

  “We will have to look at layoffs,” Johnston said. “We do not envision a scenario where it's possible to right-size this budget without that impact on personnel.”

And how is this blue-city $hithole going to accomplish these layoffs?

• City officials said it’s still too early to know how many workers will be laid off. It could depend on whether a proposed personnel rule change is adopted. The city wants to move away from a system that protects workers who have been employed by the city for a long time to a merit-based system.

  Under the current rule, senior employees can “bump” less-tenured employees to avoid being laid off. Kathy Nesbitt, executive director of Denver’s Office of Human Resources, said the current rule causes significant delays in the layoff process. “It also fails to ensure that we have the very best talent,” Nesbitt said.

  The proposed new rule aims to evaluate employees based on four key criteria: performance ratings, skills, abilities, and length of service. Nesbitt said this approach will help the city retain the most talented and capable employees while meeting budget reduction goals. It would also make it easier to lay off senior employees.

"Senior employees" are the ones at the top of the pay scale.

"Merit" means who can suck ass (or other sexual organs) the hardest.

So Contracts and seniority might mean very little - in Denver at least - very shortly. 

And you can bet Conehead and Prickwrinkle will be watching the situation very closely.

Timekeeper Letter

Seems the city is Hell-bent on violating the Contract once again (click for larger photo):

 

When you don't have the ability to hold the city to account, this is what they do to you.

Split Contract

Part of the Contract approved....part not:

• So much for the détente between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the police union that has bolstered morale among rank-and-file Chicago Police Department officers.

  It could be back to the constant bickering and legal wrangling between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police that dominated Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s single term.  

  A deeply divided City Council on Wednesday laid the groundwork for a return to those tumultuous days by rejecting an arbitrator’s ruling that would have allowed officers recommended for firings or suspensions over one year to bypass the Police Board in favor of an arbitrator who might be more sympathetic and would hold proceedings behind closed doors.

Next up:

• Wednesday’s thumbs-down vote sends the ruling back to Benn, who has made it clear that he is not about to change his mind. If he again affirms his original ruling, the Council would vote again, followed by an FOP lawsuit that the union’s president, John Catanzara, has no doubt would succeed.

  “It’s absolutely labor war at that point. … There will be a price to pay for putting his thumb on the scale to shoot this down,” Catanzara said of Johnson.

Get ready for another couple years of demoralization.

VSWO Grievance Update

It's been a week since we wrote about this (see previous posting here):

A couple of people have reached out to the guy behind it who has done most of the heavy lifting so far.

We promised a couple other example of the disparate "discipline" handed out in violation of the Contract so here are two more (click for larger versions):

• six errors for 60 days suspension:
  

• six errors for no suspension time:

And once again, the city redacted all of the supervisor names, so it appears these suspensions are being handed out by Officers against Officers. That's a No-No.

Also, there has to be consistency across the board for discipline and it has to be based on the mistake made, not whom is making the error. And the actual Rules have to be contractually agreed upon.

All contact info is in the link up top. There ought to be about 200 Officers contesting these "suspensions" and there ought to be massive payouts.

Massive VSWO Grievance

Lots of cops like overtime. Some rely on it more than others, but if the City is giving it away, making your financial situation a little bit better is a good life choice. And as with any benefit granted, seniority should get you the better assignments and better choices of hours.

So when the Department denies you opportunities to earn money, based on arbitrary, capricious and inconsistent rulings, then there needs to be push-back. You have to prove it of course....but that has now happened, to the eye-popping number of OVER 220 officers denied Special Employment over the course of only 90 days.

We're going to summarize parts of an email chain we have going on right now:

• As predicted - and now confirmed with FOIA requests being granted - the suspensions doled out by the assholes at the Special Employment Section is completely arbitrary and capricious. [...] Special Employment has their own 10 page “VSWO Guidelines” that they use to levy suspension penalties for a variety of infractions.

  The first issue regarding this is that these guidelines were made up in house and are not part of or referenced in or linked to any general order, special order, or employee resource. Summary Punishment orders referencing Special Employment make no mention of the “VSWO Guidelines”

These "house rules" are not contractually negotiated and have no bearing on how things should run. Numerous exempts have attempted to work around contractually negotiated issues and end up batting close to .000.

• I FOIA requested every officer who was suspended between April 10 and July 25 (the date these “guidelines” were last amended, and the date I was suspended, respectively). I also FOIA’d who was responsible for drafting these guidelines and implementing the discipline process. I received the suspension documents of over 220 coppers and to say Special Employment plays fast and loose would be the understatement of the millennium.

  Attached are a handful of files that clearly show that discipline is completely arbitrary. I found several examples where other coppers committed the same exact sin as me, but received no penalty. When time permits, this data will be put into a spreadsheet to look for obvious patterns focusing on race, sex, and seniority. Of particular interest, notice that the Supervisor(s) and Commanding Officers identities have been redacted. Left to twist in the wind will be the minions haphazardly recommending suspensions at the initial level.

And the good news:

• I have already filed a grievance (as have a handful of others), and the FOP has indicated they will take this to class action status based on the number of officers affected (220+ in just 3 months).

If you were denied Special Employment opportunities based on these "rules," there's a good chance of you getting paid for each and every day you didn't get to work.

Here's what two of the denials looked like - signed up for 4 days by mistake - suspension zeroed out (click for larger versions):

 Again, signed up for 4 days by mistake - 30 days suspension:

The redactions are from the City and only seem to protect supervisors.

In any event, if you feel you were wrongly denied Special Employment opportunities and you want to find out how to go about rectifying this situation, keep reading:

• To that end, anyone that needs help with the grievance process, verbiage for the narrative, etc, can contact me via department email:

  glen.popiela@chicagopolice.org

  But they must do it from their department email address.

Department email is for Department business and grievances are Department business. This officer has done the lion's share of the work to make this process as simple as possible. Those familiar with recent years will recognize him as part of the Grievance Committee and one of the driving forces behind battling Groot's poison jab mandates.

BJ Plays Politics....Badly

Still the enemy of the Police:

• In a move that could lead to his first labor dispute since taking office, Mayor Brandon Johnson will seek to split up a proposed new contract with the Chicago police union into two City Council votes, an unusual bid to quash a ruling allowing private disciplinary hearings for officers.

It's not "private." It's what every other union in the City has in their contracts.

• Johnson, a progressive who clashed with FOP leadership during the mayoral race, announced a pending contract last Friday that would provide a roughly 20% raise for officers. But he also said he was “deeply disappointed” with a decision reached by a labor arbitrator to grant officers the option to have some of the most serious disciplinary cases heard by an independent third party behind closed doors rather than publicly before the Chicago Police Board.

Gee....an independent arbitrator versus a board hand-picked by the mayor and beholden to the politics of the mayor in a political town.

The City wants the Police held to an impossible standard that no one could possibly meet day-in-and-day-out, 100% of the time, expecting perfection from human beings. We agree that there should be standards, but also that Police should be granted the same Rights as any other city worker. The "oversight" coming out of four or more boards, bureaus and "accountability" groups has hamstrung the Department to the point we cannot even take the enforcement actions we did from just a decade ago without risking lawsuits, suspensions, continued employment and even prison time.

This is going to end up in court.

More on the Contract

From the Tribune:

• The city of Chicago and the union representing rank-and-file police officers have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract that would provide a roughly 20% raise for officers and allow those accused of serious misconduct to have their disciplinary cases decided behind closed doors.

  Chicago Police Department officers and detectives would receive a 5% pay hike in both 2024 and 2025, and cost-of-living raises — likely between 3% and 5% — in 2026 and 2027. What’s more, each of the more than 10,000 active duty CPD officers in the FOP would receive a one-time $2,500 retention bonus, regardless of how long they’ve worked for the department, according to City Hall sources and an internal union email provided to the Tribune.

And here's the concern many have voiced:

• The most controversial element of the contract appears to be a provision that Benn awarded to the union allowing officers to opt to have disciplinary cases decided by an arbitrator out of public view instead of by the city’s Police Board.

  Johnson’s office said in its statement that the city was “deeply disappointed in the arbitrator’s decision to claw back transparency,” and that the administration “remains committed to moving forward with any avenue available to keep the police disciplinary process transparent” and would focus “on implementing accountability measures within the Chicago Police Department, supporting police offices and a robust community safety agenda.”

The usual anti-police progressive turds are already saying they disagree with the arbitrator's recommendations, though it's unclear if they have enough support to derail the entire package.

Arbitration "Mostly Win"

This is merely a summary. The full results are probably at the FOP site, or soon will be:

The raises are almost double what had been previously negotiated? D2A for numerous testable ranks, comparable specialization stipends similar to what CFD gets. Comp Time sellbacks.

All good....even great news.

It looks like the paternity leave is a dead issue for now and the annual retention bonus has become a one-time payment in 2024. Unmentioned in this graphic, any word on oversight compromises, loses or wins. We'll have to see what the final decision reads shortly.

So far, we'd call this a "mostly win." Nice job.

Contract Rumor

Here's one of the main reasons we started the blog - rumors:

• Little known fact: a few weeks ago, the union actually signed a tentative agreement on a completed contract with city hall and hasn’t told any of the membership a thing of what’s in it. In our bylaws, the lodge has to put out any tentative agreement to the unit reps for an advisory vote to the board, and John has said openly he’s not going to do that. Why do you think that is?? And there isn’t a special meeting to explain terms. Why do you think that is?
  
  What’s in it?
  - A duration extension (July 2017 to June 2027).
  - more p days
  - baby furlo days are a full tour
  - increased raises for 24, 25
  - $$ for training certs
  - much more
  
  What’s not in it? No one knows... Why don’t we know? Because John has been refusing to discuss it (the excuse he gave was “we’re waiting for snelling to get in the door first because what the city told us to do.” 6 years and 3 months expired, and not a peep except “we can’t say what’s in it yet, but trust us!”

We certainly hope the Unit Reps would be consulted and given the barest outlines to gauge the reaction from the membership. Otherwise, the rank-and-file is going a wee bit pissed off and unwilling to support the Board going forward.

Contract in ..... 2023?

From an e-mailer of ours:

• LL had a high level meeting this week. The topics of discussion on the sheets were:
  
  - CPD contract cost
  
  - Covid-19 relief Bill/no local assistance
  
  
  
  Biden promised basically every big city mayor, governor and large county executive big money to shore up pensions, ward off layoffs and the like. As of the meeting, that isn’t happening any longer. That money was to be used in conjunction with shifting allocated budget money to pay for contract raises, retro, hiring, etc.
  
  
  
  The money given to the firefighters for retro was $95 million. CPD retro would be easily twice that, somewhere between $250-$280 million. Several people including LL discussed the very real possibility of negotiating smaller letters of agreement and memorandums of understanding with the FOP and pushing off the contract entirely until AFTER the Mayoral election. Meaning no contract until summer 2023... 6 full years at the earliest.
  
  
  
  Some spoke openly against it, knowing that changes to discipline would be pushed out, but it would save a quarter of a billion in retro costs (assuming the Union doesn’t shrink retro levels in exchange for other benefits like increased furlough days). But the theory goes, if Biden can get more democrats elected to Congress, a democrat can stay governor here in IL and LL can be re-elected, she will have all the leverage.
  
  
  
  Also brought up was the fact that the FF contract would need to be negotiated again soon, that’s been pushed out until after the election.

The supervisors' contract will be up then, too, along with a bunch of other unions. In fact, CTU is up in 2024, and they'll threaten to strike a year early if they think they can get Groot to kiss their asses again.

FOP Responds to Comment

For clarification, this WAS NOT a post. It was a comment where anyone (including Groot's people) can post:

• A Message From the President
  
  There was a post on the blog overnight that was 100% untrue. Every fact and every word was incorrect. It's unfortunate that a member would post such nonsense in an effort to cause chaos at the Lodge.
  
  We will update with FACTS as we have them
  
  President John Catanzara Jr.
  Chicago Lodge 7
  Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge #7
  

It was quite the active comment thread on the "1,100" post from yesterday, just below this one.

An Interesting Twist

Vallas to negotiate?

• Vanquished mayoral challenger Paul Vallas turned up at police contract talks this week as a consultant to the Fraternal Order of Police at loggerheads with Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

  FOP President John Catanzara said the mere presence of Vallas — a former city budget director, revenue director and Chicago Public Schools CEO — has already produced a “palpable shift” in the tone of previously contentious negotiations.

  The negotiating session Thursday focused exclusively on the FOP’s counteroffer of 17% over four years — with all but 3% of it retroactive — for Chicago Police officers who continue to live in the city and half that amount for officers free to move to the suburbs.

  There was no talk of the mayor’s 17 pages of demands that included 40 disciplinary reforms, including getting rid of sworn affidavits and paving the way for anonymous complaints against police officers, the FOP president said.

  “There was a palpable shift in conversation that dealt specifically with financial issues and our counteroffer. For us. In a good way. They clearly focused on the financial issues that we are seeking to get solved in the negotiations. The other part was left off the table for yesterday,” Catanzara said.
  

Vallas has been a vocal supporter of cops lately. And we had supported him for Governor years ago against Blago. 

Let's see how this plays out. Vallas consistently polls much higher than the Groot and might be setting himself us for another mayoral run.

Residency Proposal

Boom! Shots fired at the inbred midget from Massillon:

• The Fraternal Order of Police is demanding a 17% pay raise over four years — and half that amount for officers who are allowed to live outside the city — in a financial-only deal that includes none of the 40 disciplinary reforms demanded by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

  Last week, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara stormed out of negotiations after Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s team offered his members the same 10% pay raise over four years awarded to Chicago firefighters in exchange for higher health care contributions, but tacked on 17 pages including 40 disciplinary reforms.

  Catanzara was so insulted by the city’s offer and the conditions Lightfoot attached to it, he vowed to make a financial-only counter-offer and demand an up-or-down vote by the City Council.

  Now, Catanzara has a new offer — minus the demand for an up-or-down Council vote.

  His new offer would give a choice to Chicago police officers who have long chafed at the city’s residency rule: Take the full 17% — with all but 3% retroactive — and continue to live in the city. Or, accept half that amount and be free to move to the suburbs.

And he used a lot of charged language throwing the gauntlet at Groot:

• “We want to be treated the same as the sergeants,” Catanzara said, noting that union settled on the financial aspect before ending up in arbitration over disciplinary changes.

  “When do we get our life back? If they want to treat us like rented mules, well then, start paying us like rented mules. We’re not gonna sit there and just be slaves.”

  Catanzara said the city’s chief labor negotiator Jim Franczek told him he could not go to the City Council and argue for a financial-only package that did not also include disciplinary changes in response to the demand for police reform in Chicago and across the nation that followed the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

  “Which was baloney. He was too afraid to do it. ... They don’t want to get yelled at by the aldermen. Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. They always try to take the easiest path thinking like there’s no other options. Well, we’re not rolling over and playing dead anymore,” he said.
  

Catanzara is correct in that the sergeants got a financial package separate from the rest of the Contract. And (our opinion) it's a good move to throw residency on the table at this point. The State Law regarding residency only applies to cities over one million - meaning only Chicago. So negotiate it.

Groot hates cops and our representation. The feeling is mutual. So why insist on keeping us here? Groot is about to run into the buzzsaw of reality regarding hiring that is hitting every jurisdiction nationwide - no one is taking the job, and Groot killing the city has made it that less desirable. Might as well take the shot.

Laughable "Offer"

It's as bad as imagined:

• Chicago Police officers have waited more than three years for a new contract and the retroactive pay raise that comes with it.
  
  The first substantive offer they got from Mayor Lori Lightfoot was hardly worth the wait, according to their fiery union president.
  
  Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said he stormed away from Tuesday’s long-awaited negotiating session after the mayor’s team offered his members the same 10% pay raise over four years already awarded to Chicago firefighters in exchange for higher health care contributions — but tacked on 17 pages, including 40 disciplinary reforms.

Groot's mouthpiece - scumbag lawyer Mike Frisch - wants a complete surrender by the FOP to every contractual protection negotiated over the decades, because at this point, the "leadership" of the city (democrats one and all) needs to destroy the Department on the altar of political correctness to preserve their corrupt rule.

Go read it all.

Arbitration Coming

There was some sort of an "offer" from the City regarding the Contract yesterday. We don't have the specifics yet, but it's as horrible as you can imagine and pretty much a slap in the face to a Department that has been worked to exhaustion this year, and shit on for three.

Rumor is 10% for four years (meaning it's almost expired) and back-loaded to minimize retro pay. Also, the gutting of disciplinary protections across the board.

The FOP is correctly outraged and disappointed. Expect more info shortly.

Power Test Not Scheduled?

The Annual Power Test is one of those things hammered out in negotiations. It provides an incentive for coppers to get and stay in shape, thereby reducing health costs overall. It is contained in a Memoranda of Understanding in the Police Contract on Pages 99 and 100.

We haven't seen any efforts to conduct this Contractually obligated incentive, though we've seen a rumor that it's going to be held virtually and everyone passes this year.

Actually, we just made up that rumor, but it still seems that Groot is determined to violate each and every section of the Contract by the time she hits the midpoint of her failed term of office.

Some Good Ideas

This is from waaaaay back on 30 June:

• Workers in several industries in Chicago will have new rights that protect them from sudden changes to their work schedule. The Fair Workweek Ordinance was passed unanimously by the Chicago City Council last summer and takes effect Wednesday. Other cities, including New York, Seattle and Philadelphia, have adopted similar plans.

And what would these changes be?

• The ordinance requires employers to give advanced notice of work schedules and to pay employees additional wages for sudden schedule changes.
• Employees must be given at least a 10-day notice of their new schedule. The time period for the notice will extend to 14 days in two years.
• Workers will receive one hour of additional pay for every change made with less than the 10-day notice, regardless of how many hours they may or may not have lost.
• Workers will receive 50% of their base pay for every hour lost if changes are made less than 24 hours before a shift starts.
• Workers also will be given the “right to decline” any additional hours added to their schedule with less than the 10-day notice.
• The law also grants a “right to rest,” allowing employees to decline work hours that are less than 10 hours after the end of their previous shift. If an employee chooses to work those hours, he or she will receive time and a quarter for the shift.

Of course, none of this covers city employees, but it would certainly be a good starting point in future negotiations to prevent the outright abuses of the Groot.

CFD Contract Ratified

According to a couple of CFD readers, 2,500 votes were tabulated. We don't have the breakdown of for/against, but we're sure someone will post it shortly.

Pay close attention, because the FOP is bound to get a similar deal.

How does their voting percentage stack up against CPD's usual woeful showing?

PBPA Contract Moves Forward

This is important because it sets the stage for further FOP negotiations:

• A City Council committee on Wednesday ratified an arbitrator’s ruling with police supervisors amid claims that the modest disciplinary changes made don’t “rise to the moment” created by the death of George Floyd.
  
  Mayor Lori Lightfoot spent three hours testifying before the arbitrator and has portrayed his ruling as a big victory that ends the 40-year ban on anonymous complaints and will lay the groundwork for similar disciplinary changes with the larger and more militant Fraternal Order of Police.
  
  But BPI Executive Director Cara Hendrickson and University of Chicago law professor Craig Futterman rained on the mayor’s parade before Wednesday’s unanimous vote by the City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development.

And again, we don't know what medicinal herb Fran has been smoking but "the 40-year ban on anonymous complaints" is an absolute lie. The Sworn Affidavit bill is probably around eight or ten years old at most and was passed by the State Legislature. There's no way this provision goes forward without a lawsuit.

Hold the line FOP. We're behind you.

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was three complete years without a Contract.

Cake and pizza later.