The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Strained relations persist in S and T camps By JUSTIN BERTON At the closing moments of a council meeting last month, city manager Robert LaSala announced that his office would be hiring mediators for the aftermath of the upcoming election to smooth the tension between City Hall and the public safety department. "Like any family," LaSala said, "we all have issues that we feel strongly about." Those issues, in the form of a labor dispute that has spawned Measures S and T, have created an unprecedented amount of ill will between the city's public safety officers and city administrators. On Nov. 4, Sunnyvale residents will play the temporary role of the family counselor to decide the future of labor negotiations between the two sides. If voters pass the officers' Measure T, labor disputes between the union and city hall could be settled by an outside arbitrator whose decision would be final. As it stands now, an advisory arbitrator can settle disputes between the two sides, but that ruling is ultimately upheld or overturned by the City Council--an unfair advantage for the city, officers say. In response to the officer's measure, City Council members voted to put up their own. If voters pass Measure S, any decision made by an outside arbitrator--granted Measure T passes--could be ratified or overturned by a vote from the residents. Now, after six months of stumping that has included a string of often heated debates, the two sides are settling in for the final week of campaigning with little love lost. Kelly Fitzgerald, president of the officer's union, characterized the relationship between the city hall and the officer's union as "hostile, very hostile." "Regardless of the outcome of the election," Fitzgerald said, "City Council and city staff's actions have sent a clear message on how they feel about the public safety officers. For the union members to forgive and forget will be very difficult, if not impossible." What impact the bad blood will have on residents, if any, remains to be seen. Fitzgerald said the officers' loss of faith in city administration has caused a drop in morale that "makes it more difficult for people to go the extra mile, even though that's been a hallmark of this department, and the city." Mayor Jim Roberts, who has led the Measure S campaign--and been at the forefront of the officers' ire--said he doesn't believe the working relationship was strained, but he did note that tempers have heightened. "The mistake they are making here," Roberts said, "is they are taking it personally. They are not able to separate the idea from the individual, and maybe that is where the hostility is coming from." Roberts added, "It's very disheartening to hear a person who wears a gun say that they are hostile. If they are mad at us, they are going to take it out someone else." For its part, the officers' union largely views at least four of the councilmembers as traitors. Councilmembers Jack Walker, Julia Miller, Manuel Valerio and Pat Vorreiter all signed agreements with local labor organizers before taking office that pledged their support for binding arbitration--thereby winning endorsements. When all but councilmembers Stan Kawczynski and Fred Fowler voted to put the accompanying Measure S on the ballot, the officers' union viewed the action as a slap in the face. "Did I change my mind?" councilmember Pat Vorreiter asked at a debate two weeks ago. "Yes. But do I think [Measure S] is in the best interest for the entire community of Sunnyvale? Absolutely." Vorreiter and other councilmembers have argued that if an outside arbitrator were to rule on labor contracts, the power to control over the city's budget would be taken out of the hands of locally elected officials. Roberts has routinely called binding arbitration "undemocratic" and fears it would force cuts to city services such as parks and libraries. Officers call the claims unrealistic and have maintained time and again what they want is fairness at the bargaining table. All of which will be left for the residents to decide. Unlike other campaigns where one side wins and the other side walks away, Sunnyvale's public safety officers and city officials will continue to work together long after Nov. 4. In the meantime, LaSala's office is pursuing the mediators in what he termed as a proactive measure, as opposed to "conflict resolution." "When this is over," LaSala said in conclusion to his announcement, "hopefully, we can still be a family." [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 28, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.