Miami Beach

August 28, 08

The Boys Are Blue

Miami Beach Police Union Reluctantly Accepts Higher Pay

By Ben Torter

Anyone who deals with kids knows that what you give to one, you better give to the other.

Apparently, the same rule holds true when negotiating contracts with unions — and if you don’t, invariably someone is going to pout.

Upset over certain aspects of a contract with the city of Miami Beach, which it claims aren’t as good as the contract firefighters received, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) filed a “me too” request with the city, in an attempt to get a bigger piece of the pie.

The police went before the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee on Aug. 21 to argue their case. Commissioners gave in on a few points, but the police still aren’t happy.

Nonetheless, FOP President Bobby Jenkins said that in light of tight city budgets his members will have to settle.

“You take what you can get and be happy with it,” Jenkins said.

The “me too” clause is worked into city collective bargaining agreements for cases where a city union first scheduled for negotiations feels it didn’t get as good of a deal as a union that bargained after it. However, the police request wasn’t received with open arms by committee members — or the mayor.

Although Mayor Matti Herrera Bower isn’t a member of the finance committee, she attended the meeting, and was very vocal. Bower was not endorsed by either the police or fire unions last year when she ran for her current two-year mayoral term.

“They’re like little kids,” Bower said during the meeting. “That’s why it’s called ‘me too.’”

The current FOP contract with the city was ratified on Sept. 6, 2006. Of the 276 members who voted, 242 were in favor of the contract and 34 were opposed to it. The fire union’s contract was then negotiated, and the two contracts went into effect at the same time. Both are set to expire on Sept. 30, 2009, with negotiations reopening early next year — at a time city budgets are expected to shrink and an election will determine the seats of the mayor and three commissioners.

City Manager Jorge Gonzalez explained that in 2006 he entered into an agreement with the FOP first, and then negotiated a contract with the fire department. The police think that certain aspects of the fire contract are better.

 “Now they want [those perks] too,” Gonzalez said. Police union representatives presented city officials with a list of additions for their contracts.

Gonzalez praised the police for a concession made in negotiation of the department’s health trust contract, which had already refunded the city $300,000 — an amount that could be as high as $450,000 by the end of the year.

“They didn’t have to do that,” Gonzalez said.

City commissioners and committee members Saul Gross, Ed Tobin, Deede Weithorn, and Richard Steinberg, had the final say on what the police union would or wouldn’t receive. They agreed to give union officers extra pay to be on call for special events, and a quality of life increase, effective Sept. 30, that would provide eligible police employees an additional $375 annually. Both increases are contingent upon the FOP dropping contract arbitration it has against the city.

Jenkins agreed to the stipulation.

“Next year we open up contract negotiations,” Jenkins said. “So let the fire go first.”

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com