Fact-finder offers suggestion on pact

If the union rejects the proposals, the dispute will go to binding arbitration.
By KANTELE FRANKO
VINDICATOR staff writer
STRUTHERS -- A fact-finder agreed with the city part of the time and with the police union part of the time.
The fact finder heard arguments from the city and the Fraternal Order of Police about the three-year contract that would be retroactive to Sept. 1, 2005. He issued his report containing nonbinding recommendations about several unresolved topics, including wages and layoff procedures. It's not clear when he issued the report.
The union proposed an annual 3.5 percent wage increase for the duration of the contract, but arbitrator Robert G. Stein recommended a one-time, first-year lump sum payment equivalent to 2.5 percent of the salary, followed by a 2.5 percent increase in each of the following two years.
The lump sum would equal an average of $950 for each officer, Mayor Dan Mamula said.
The city had proposed a five-year step plan through which a first-year officer would receive 80 percent of the salary of a full-time officer. The officer's salary then would increase incrementally until reaching the full-time rate in his fifth year.
In his wage recommendation, Stein wrote that a struggling local economy and reductions in state aid help to explain why the city offered wage increases below common averages.
But for other recommendations, proposals to reduce monetary and other benefits are not justifiable in light of the low wage increases, he added.
Holiday pay
Stein recommended against the city's position to reduce holiday pay from 2.25 time to 1.5 time and against its proposal to change compensation for off-duty court appearance in a way that reduced monetary benefits in such situations.
Union representatives proposed that employees have the option of taking overtime pay compensation for court time, rather than automatically receiving compensatory time.
Another point of strong contention was layoff procedure, which requires that the city lay off all civilian dispatchers before laying off police officers, the mayor said. Under the recommendation, new contract language would separate dispatchers, who have organized their own union, from police officers, he said.
Stein's recommendation provides for the negotiation of a new layoff provision that clarifies procedures and provides protection for employees based on seniority.
The deadline for acceptance or rejection of the recommendations was Monday.
The mayor said the city accepted the recommendations.
Union representatives could not be reached to comment. If the union rejects the recommendations, the dispute will go binding arbitration.