Officers to lose some Benefits

[Evan]

City of Fairbanks, Ak Police Officers under the Mayors proposed budget plan will lose their yearly uniform allowance, cola, and longevity pay for officers have also been red lined out of the budget. Officer losing the longevity pay stand to see a loss of 10% in their over all monthly pay. The good Mayor (newly elected) said that the allowances may be reinstated next year. He (the mayor) stated that the budget is down due to low tourists season, low motel/hotel tax, and also loss of passengers to the 9/11 shut down of two days. But left in tact the proposed overtime money. What a POS!!
The allowances are provided for by contract with the City and the Officers union.

[JKT]

Sounds all too familiar....

Three years ago, we were receiving $8 per month for each year of service. For me, at that time, I was drawing $98 per month (break in service, or it would have been more).

The County Government, in their ^%&^%^&(*&(*& wisdom, decided to cut expenses and rolled that into our salary, but cut off the longevity pay.

Then they found out that, by some quirk of law, that they couldn't completely do away with longevity, but they could reduce the monthly rate and pay it once per year.

So, now we get $5 per year of service per month, paid ANUALLY, once per year at the end of the fiscal year. Problem is, they started eveyone over two years ago, with everyone that has been continuously employed now gets a whopping $60 per year. This year I got $120.

Whooooopppeeeee.

I would rather have the $98 per month back. (actually, it would be $114 per month)

To add insult to injury, our wonderful Commissioners Court granted us a whopping 3.5% MERIT raise this year.

We lost the 'cost of living' race so long ago, it ain't even worth thinking about.

(I think the total raises I've seen in the past 10 years has totaled 10%. Maybe.

Oh, well, I'm not in it for the money (obviously)

Almost forgot: we are "at will" employees, so there is no collective bargaining or union to get involved.

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: JKT ]

[Zamboni]

Be happy with your 3.5%. In the last two years we've gotten 2.5% and seen our insurance benefits decline.

[tcsd1236]

Back a few years ago when the last contract was approved, we lost our shift differential, longevity, half our uniform allowance,holiday pay, and had COLA's of 0,0,1,1,2 and 2 % as I recall. But the older guys were "whoppee" for the contract because they got 20 year retirement out of the deal. I was the only one to vote "no" in the first vote, and caught a lot of heat for my vote. They kept saying that we'd get it back.
Now we are in contract negotiations again and the only thing we got back was shift differential, which came back in on its own per the last contract. We are about 12K behind every other agency in the county thanks to the last contract, and with the4 money as tight as it is, we aren't going to close the gap. A lot of those guys who wanted the 20 year retirement have stuck around in spite of getting it.
Enough rambling about me; I just wanted to let you know that others "feel your pain". Just out of curiosity, how do they expect you to equip yourself without a clothing allowance? If they aren't buying it, they can't dictate what you wear or use.

[Villanti]

Sorry to hear about this bro!!!! Get your Unoin involved quick. Attack him where it hurts.....in the public opinion department. Have friends and family write letters. Send him letters yourself. God bless...Take care

[FLLawdog]

We just went through our contract vote here. Yup, we took it straight up the poop shoot again.

Last year county council upped starting wages by 10% but gave the rest of us 5-7%. This was to help attract better candidates from surrounding agencies. Their final words to a room full of Deputies and their supporters..."I hope you understand why we did this, but don't worry, we'll take care of you next year".

Well....this year rolled around and what happened? 5% all the way around, INCLUDING starting wages again. What does that mean? My six years experience is worth a whopping $.60 an hour more than someone who gets hired today.

On top of that, our benefits went up by about 7% and prescription and other costs doubled.

I keep telling myself that I'm not doing it for the money, and I'm not, but it's really hard to maintain a proper frame of mind and continue to be motivated when you get this "support" from council. We're represented by the FOP, and they've given it an honest try. Our Sheriff and other admins have no say in the matter and can't negotiate for us. Our Sheriff did speak before council last year, which felt good, but didn't do d*** for us.

Why do I stick around...

Oh, I didn't even mention the fact that we've lost three Deputies to other agencies in the past month and we're losing two more by next month. By then, who knows how many we'll lose. I guess that higher starting pay will come in handy after all, huh?

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: FLLawdog ]

[WHC166]

We don't get a clothing alowance nor longevity pay anyways. Also our cost of living increase is about 1.5% a year if we get it....

[Evan]

Yes Alaska does allow for binding arbitration, mediation, collective bargaining and any other type of negotiations that one can think of. However, there is no penalty for either side is they should decline or turn down proposals after being voted, agreed, or negotiated. Alaska State Law does not allow public safety officers/officials from going on strike. Case in point, the Fairbanks City Firefighters have been working without a contract for the past nine yrs. They have been through state and federal arbitrators and the city has turned down all the firefighters proposals, which starts the process all over again. At least the police have it better than the fire dept. sad to say.

[SpecOpsWarrior]

You know I hate to say this but all of this is our own fault!

Admin types and elected officials that do this to us know they can do it because cops like you and me say "we dont do it for the money, we do it because we love it"!

I'm just as guilty as anyone else, hell I even said it in my initial job interview. I know the chief that I was interviewing with probably thought "grab the vaseline, we got us a good one here!"

If we all started maxing out our sick days and started doing work slow downs this B.S. about cutting COLA increases, medical and retirement benefits and uniform allowances would stop! If every cop in the nation joined a PBA or FOP and started demanding liveable wages and fair treatment I can guarantee this $hit about running over the cops would change!