So the more we read and hear about the 10-hour day, the less we think the full story is being told. We've talked to people who like it, aside from the start times. We've talked to people who hate it, especially the start times. We have comments popping up about what people have said at the FOP meeting:
The FOP is usually silent about the whole process. This leads to questions, speculations, rumors. And a few of these rumors have reached our ears via e-mail. Like what exactly is the relationship between Dean Angelo and Don O'Neil, the now-civilian head of Management and Labor Affairs? Did they really grow up neighbors?
In the meantime, it's time for a serious discussion about the 10-hour day. And the way to do that is knowing what you're discussing. We made this (click for a larger version):
That is the current, recent past and piloted schedules as near as we can determine them. We ran it through one entire cycle of days off
- The far right column is hours worked in a calendar week;
- the week listed as "R" is a "repeat" of the first week so you can compare;
- the bottom right corner is an average of hours worked in a single week
From our standpoint, the 4-2 (top) was far preferable over the 6-2 (middle) schedule in that you went from 14 days off in a 49 days period to 14 days off in a 42 day cycle. This despite the slight increase of two hours a week on average. The big deal was eliminating the sixth-day and the associated burnout. The sixth-day was brutal. We don't recall if there was an actual study, but the stories of increased traffic crashes, CR's initiated, and assorted other mishaps were prevalent throughout the Department.
The 10-hour pilot seems to have an advantage in RDOs (21/42) over the 4-2 (14/42), but there are three weeks in a row where you're working 52.5 hours - 10 hours over the current average and 3 hours over the old 6-day work week that was so brutal in the first place.
It's going to come down to two things - start times and percentages.
- currently, the start times aren't so hot, but McCarthy isn't in the mood to take any input from mere Chicago coppers. We posted the rumor a few days ago that the Chief of Patrol was told to get on board or get out. God forbid someone who spent their career here have any insight.
- percentage-wise, it's going to be approximately 40-60 split between days and nights. McCarthy (and Rahm) want to eliminate an entire watch. That's going to reduce the available numbers for each watch. Example:
- 100 cops in district - 40 on days, 60 on nights
- cut 32% of the manpower and you have:
- 68 cops in district - 27 on days, 33 on nights - give or take
- expand or contract as totals dictate
Day people are going to be battling for start times (
which the city won't let you bid - otherwise, how will they fuck with you to keep you in line?) and the night watch is going to be picking up the busiest times plus they have to work all of the midnight watch. That's going to take a lot of adjusting.
If you're a southsider working north or vice versa, you aren't going to want to be attending branch court on your day off - you're going to be wanting to recover from that 52 hours week and travel time. Furlough just got a little shorter (
unless you bid your day off correctly, a longshot given that furlough-by-watch is cutting a lot of options).
A lot of things that need to be addressed. Pardon us for having an opinion, but we're trying to give everyone a bit of our thoughts here. One would hope that the FOP and PBPA would be having near monthly meetings to hash out hiccups in the schedule seeing as how it's going to be here sooner than you think.
UPDATE: Someone is claiming that we actually work four-52.5 hour weeks in a row. Not by the calendar week, which runs Sunday through Saturday. However, that fourth week of 5 days in a row does overlap onto the fifth week, which is kind of a fourth working session of 52.5 hours before the short weeks kick in. This is one of those, "while technically correct, it isn't quite as it seems." We can only do so much, and we grant that the reader has a valid point.
We're just going by the raw numbers to get some discussion started since the FOP seems incapable of it.
UPDATE: We have deleted a grand total of TWO comments so far. One was claiming something about this is a 6 day schedule (it isn't), and a second that claimed this isn't the 10-hour schedule without citing anything as an example. We've read the order. You can read it, too, with all the associated start times and day-off-groups. It's online and you can get it at home. If we misinterpreted some portion of it, please politely point it out. Frothing at the mouth loons won't be taken seriously.
