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PSOA and the city nearing end of dispute
By KELLY WILKINSON
After working without a contract for the past 23 months, the city and Public Safety Officers Association last week moved one step closer to an agreement.
The PSOA board presented a contract to its members at a meeting last Thursday, asking them for approval.
Kelly Fitzgerald, PSOA president, said he expects the contract to go through.
"We don't send anything out to our membership unless we think that it's a fair contract and can recommend it," he said, adding that this is the first contract to be presented to the organization during the disputes.
"Based on the feedback we got from [PSOA members], we'll take it to a vote and will probably accept it," he said.
The final version of the contract came out of negotiations between the city and PSOA representatives at a March 23 meeting. The two sides had been in the process of selecting an arbitrator. If PSOA members accept the contract, that process will become defunct.
Dave Nieto, director of human resources for the city, said the decision to accept or reject the contract is now in the hands of the PSOA membership.
"We're not getting into any details at this point, because there are still some issues that need to be resolved," Nieto said.
The main sticking point between the PSOA and City Council has been binding arbitration. And while Fitzgerald said that the contract does not include binding arbitration, it does include interest arbitration--a close second, Fitzgerald said.
"That allows for an arbitrator to come in [and] make a binding decision," Fitzgerald said. The difference is, if councilmembers are not satisfied with the arbitrator's decision, they could appeal it to a judge. The PSOA would not have that capability.
Fitzgerald said that interest arbitration is not what the PSOA had initially hoped for, but it is better than the type of arbitration the union currently has. Now if councilmembers don't agree with an arbitrator's decision, they can vote not to accept it.
"The new arbitration system, if accepted, only affects contract disputes, not negotiations." Fitzgerald said. "All we've wanted the entire time is a fair and impartial third person to arbitrate. And if we don't like that decision, we're still willing to stick by it."
The city is not commenting on the terms of the contract.
The PSOA and the city have been involved in a protracted battle over PSOA contracts, which Fitzgerald said will not be entirely over if the contract is accepted and passed.
"This doesn't mean that we will forgive and forget," he said of the expected approval. "It does relieve some tension, and if it goes through we'll probably celebrate for five minutes, but there are still some issues that need to be worked out."
"More still needs to happen to change the perception that it's us versus them," he continued, referring to the perception that city management and PSOA top brass have been allied against rank and file public safety officers. "We still need a partnership where there's some more trust and faith, which we haven't had in a while."
Although not commenting further on specifics of the contract, Fitzgerald said it included other benefits, such as "financial incentives." He expects the PSOA results within the next two weeks, at which point the contract will return to the city for ratification.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
