|
Mayor’s Appeal
Bold Move Or Waste Of Tax Money?
Mayor Rick Mystrom has stepped out on a limb with his decision
to appeal an arbitrator’s ruling awarding about $4 million
to Anchorage police officers.
Arbitrator Janet Gaunt made the award in October, about a
year after ruling that the city had violated the officers’
contract when the mayor ordered them to five eight-hour days
a week from four 10s without
bargaining.
The mayor’s pitch has been simple: Police don’t
deserve extra pay for working a 40-hour week, and the taxpayers
don’t deserve a $4 million burden to pay it.
If that were the whole issue, the mayor would be on the side
of the angels and the police would be looking for a graceful
way to concede.
But that’s not the case.
After a long wrangle, the city and the Anchorage Police Department
Employee’s Association agreed to binding arbitration over
the contract dispute. The police union won. The city lost. Part
of the price of
losing is to pay some form of compensation for violating the
contract. The arbitrator decided it would be fair to pay police
officers four hours a week for having to work on what would have
been their day off.
Union president Rob Heun said money isn’t the issue.
Enforcing the labor contract is the issue. The city can’t
expect to invoke the taxpayer defense in order to get away with
violating a labor agreement.
Mayor Mystrom has twice nixed union settlement offers of comp
time rather than pay, but said he’s still willing to negotiate.
Sgt. Heun said he’s still willing to negotiate, too.
But he didn’t read the decision to appeal as a sign of progress.
“It’s disheartening,” he said.
If the city loses, taxpayers could be disheartened to the
tune of much more than $4 million, with legal fees and interest.
The political game becomes where to lay the blame.
No need to play that sorry game. The police union is willing
to settle for less than $4 million. Mayor Mystrom should take
them up on it.
|
