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"Houston, we have a problem"

Waukegan city counsel Alderman's Time 05-22-06

John Balen Aderman 2nd Ward

In the words of the astronauts "Houston, we have a problem", so too does the City of Waukegan.

There comes a time when a man has to do what a man has to do and sometimes it isn't pleasant when you have to take your favorite son to the woodshed to send a message.

In this case it's The field of Union Management relations where in the private sector disagreement is done behind closed doors before issues come before the public's attention. But in the public sector, the tax paying public has a right to know what is occurring in his house since his hard earned dollar is what keeps the governance machinery running. Since no product is sold except service, it is incumbent that the close cooperation and respect in its units is required to fulfill the mission placed into hands of those elected to guide the destiny of their community.

As one who has grown up in the role of unionism in our lives, I take seriously the approach the leadership of unions in our city takes towards the management of the operations of City departments as conducted by those appointed department heads, however, it has become evident in the Fire Department that the leadership of FF Local 473 has taken upon itself to harass the City's appointed leadership and to question decisions rendered to maintain respect, discipline, effectiveness and unity. Fire staff who disregard orders and challenge the will and wishes of the Councils mission to provide Waukegan the best fire service in Lake County which is diminished with confrontations within the department by misguided malcontents whose agenda is to create havoc by micro-managing through activities of unnecessary grievances and public activities to embarrass the appointed leadership at parties supported by Union leadership. It is unfortunate that personal dislikes and distrusts pollute the atmosphere in the Fire Department.

Having spent a lifetime growing up in depression days when Unions fought desperately to bring dignity, respect and fair wages to the workplace at the price of sit down strikes at Fansteel, Chicago Hardware Foundry and elsewhere in the country. Being tear gassed by our Lake County Sheriff Department, I hold this noble cause of working people to be used in a manner that enhances it's worthiness to the human person and not as FF 473 leadership loses it's mission of a responsible Union in the City of Waukegan. Unfortunately the noble cause of the department in Rescue and Life Saving services, which most of the Firemen take pride, is compromised by the few who have decided to become children instead of men in the honorable role of dedicated service to their City. Workers in the private sector would give their right arm for the opportunity to be a City employee under the conditions of the Union agreement.

Having gone through 123, 56,45, and 30 day strikes to bring dignity, this sacrifice was the price we paid to give future workers the benefits they now receive such as our Fire Fighters with early retirements of 20 years at age 50 with guaranteed pensions and yearly 3% increases, disability pensions of 65% with no Federal taxes and complete health care for life, and 75% of salary for 30 years of service. The American workers must look on with envy at the conditions granted Fire Fighters, not only by contract but by enacted laws to protect them and their retirement, the cost of which to the tax paying public is astronomical and to the American workers unbelievable.

Because I believe deeply in the role of Unionism to human dignity, the use of the Union by current leadership is an insult to the purpose of Unions and an embarrassment to me personally. Its time for the boys to awaken and become men of stature instead of children of stupidity. Be assured there will be consequences if the present conditions and attitude persist.

I ask the Mayor to have the Labor Relations Committee for a showdown with the leaders of FF473 Union to address this problem. Waukegan doesn't deserve this attitude of confrontation and personal vendettas.

John Balen Aderman 2nd Ward

H:\My Documents\Alderman Balen\Aldermans Time 05-22-06.doc

 

Lynch v The City of Waukegan

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

SECOND DISTRICT

The City has spent over $140,000 to keep Lt. Lynch terminated based upon
Chief Gallagher's recommendation.

     Plaintiff argues that (1) the Commission erred in adjudicating the disciplinary charges against him while his claim for a disability pension was pending; (2) the Commission erroneously admitted hearsay; (3) the Commission wrongfully called plaintiff as a witness; (4) the City failed to prove the charges against plaintiff; and (5) the Commission's decision to discharge plaintiff was erroneous under Walsh v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners, 96 Ill. 2d 101 (1983), because the discharge threatens plaintiff's disability pension. The last argument is dispositive, so we address it first. The issue of how plaintiff's discharge will affect his pension rights is a question of law that we review de novo. City of Belvidere, 181 Ill. 2d at 205.

     In Walsh, the supreme court reversed the board's decision and remanded for further proceedings, observing that, if the evidence revealed no grounds for discipline independent of the misconduct caused by the plaintiff's psychiatric disorder, then discharge for cause would be an inappropriate discipline and some lesser sanction should be imposed instead. Here there are no adequate grounds for plaintiff's discharge independent of the cognitive disorder upon which his pension was based. Therefore, the Commission's decision to discharge plaintiff for cause is clearly erroneous, and we reverse it. Consistent with Walsh, we remand for further proceedings to determine whether a lesser sanction might be appropriate, though we express no opinion on what that sanction might be, given that plaintiff is now on a disability pension.

Having found this issue dispositive, we not address the remainder of plaintiff's arguments.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the circuit court's affirmance of the Commission's decision discharging plaintiff for cause and remand this cause for further proceedings consistent with this disposition.

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.

BOWMAN and GILLERAN JOHNSON, JJ., concur.

2-05-0616, Lynch v. The City of Waukegan

 

Court Dismisses City of Waukegan Suit against Firemen's Pension Fund

Read The Whole Story

 

Brothers and Sisters, This is simply meant as a reminder:

 "Abuse" of sick time is punishable ! "

It seems that there exists some confusion regarding your contractual sick time benefit with the City of Waukegan, as part of your wage package.


* The contract affords you 12 hours of sick time per month of employment.
* It allows you to save up to 900 hours in a "bank" which can be used when necessary.
* This job is both physical and exposes you regularly to others who are ill.
* You also share quarters with coworkers for 24 hours at a time.

* The contract states that you can use your sick time for 5 different reasons:

                                        1 personal illness,
                                        2 medical, dental, or optical appointments,
                                        3 enforced quarantine,
                                        4 sickness in the immediate family,
                                        5 injuries

Abuse" of sick time is punishable and can only occur by one method:   you use sick time for a reason OTHER THAN these 5 criteria.

"Abuse" does not mean using more than 6 days per year, nor does it mean using "a lot" of days. You have exactly as many hours as you have.  IE.. .(in your "bank")

There is no way to interpret the contract to state anywhere that you are not allowed to get sick while on kelly or vacation.

Of course,  it is up to personal preference on how frugal you may be with your "bank",  as all of us have different pain thresholds, immune systems, and levels of personal courtesy.  Likewise, none of us know,  what we may need to saved for the future.  It is an important consideration that we all face when one of these 5 criteria arise.

I can tell you, after calculating the time used in the first 2/3 of this fiscal year and prorating it to May 2006, that we will have averaged only 2.3 sick days used per shift employee at the end of this year.

Enough  said. Please let me know if you have any questions.

 Thanks.

Jon Nordgren
President, Local 473

City Reversed Position

In the last paycheck, the City reversed their position on union dues and refunded all dues taken out of Lieutenants' checks. No more will be deducted until authorization cards have been turned in. This is in contrast to the Mayor's letter in October stating that Union dues will be deducted. The matter of changing the Lieutenants' insurance premium benefit while negotiating still remains and there is a hearing date before the Law Judge on Feb. 14 and 15, 2006. In the meantime, PLEASE save your stubs from October forward. It will make calculating your illegal premium deductions and the accrued interest even easier to calculate when it's over. As always, if anyone would like to donate to the Local during this time, they can do so by calling Brother Jack Long.

 We'll keep you posted.  11/18/2005

 

Compulsory Interest Arbitration

     The Local has filed a demand for compulsory interest arbitration regarding the lieutenants' contract. This is separate from the Unfair Labor Practice. Interest Arbitration involves a third party in our negotiations to resolve our negotiation dispute(s); namely that the City is obligated to negotiate the Lts.' insurance premiums along with the rest of their wages, hours and working conditions. The ULP addresses the unauthorized extraction of dues, and the changes from the previous premium benefit, while negotiating.

 We'll keep you posted.  11/06/2005

 

Illinois Labor Relations Board to

 "Fast Track" the ULP

  The Local has successfully persuaded the Labor Board to "fast track" the ULP regarding the unauthorized garnishment of the Lieutenants'  paychecks. The ILRB complaint is due November 7 with a hearing as early as the beginning of December. This response is very positive as the impact of the City's action has directed the Board's early attention to this matter.

 

On October 12, 2005, the Local 473 Negotiation Team

On October 12, 2005, the Local 473 Negotiation Team met with the City’s team to further negotiations of the Lieutenant's contract. A federal mediator was also present on joint request. The Union's position was clear: we are not asking for anything, just what already exists plus the usual non-economic components of a contract including grievances and a termination date of the contract. The City's position is this: Free insurance is for managers  who do not belong to a labor union. Since the Lieutenants joined a union, they no longer receive this benefit. Lieutenants are now expected to do the same job in the same way for less money (roughly 4% less) because they are union. Free insurance is payment for staying out of a labor union. If you join, you don't get the bribe.

We all know this is insanely wrong and will be corrected. This violates the FLSA in numerous ways. Here's just one:

(j) Arbitration procedures shall be deemed to be initiated by the filing of a letter requesting mediation as required under subsection (a) of this Section.

(l) During the pendency of proceedings before the arbitration panel, existing wages, hours, and other conditions of employment shall not be changed by action of either party without the consent of the other but a party may so consent without prejudice to his rights or position under this Act. The proceedings are deemed to be pending before the arbitration panel upon the initiation of arbitration procedures under this Act.

Further legal action is underway as of today regarding a forthcoming letter that will solidify the City's intention to garnish your wages. As we proceed, we will keep you up to date and ask that you continue to voice your concerns to friends or acquaintances  who may be interested in this type of insurrection.

 

Letter to the Lieutenants

Two days after the first meeting with the City to negotiate the Lieutenants new contract, Mayor Hyde sent a letter to the Lieutenants stating that they would now be responsible for their own Union dues and that they would pay for a portion of their historically free insurance premiums. This was being done, the letter states, because of their certification and inclusion in local 473. Obviously, several things are wrong with such a letter including:

  • There had been only one negotiation meeting and impasse had not been declared. Further, during an exchange of proposals, it was mutually agreed that there were no Lt. Provisions within the current contract making inclusion impossible without some form of ratification.
  • All current wages, benefits, and working conditions for Lieutenants are subjects of bargaining, of which there has not been any.
  • Such a deduction violates the Fair Labor Standards Act Sections 10 (a) (1) and (2), as does the stated motivation for doing so.

. Therefore, several actions have been taken by your Local:

    1. Obviously, a change in working conditions and benefits during negotiations is a sign of bad faith in bargaining, causing all of the previously agreed ground rules for negotiation to likely be forfeited, unfortunately and prematurely eroding the chances for a fair negotiation relationship.
    2. It is also an Unfair Labor Practice, along with not alerting the Union of such a change in advance. A ULP was filed immediately against the Mayor of Waukegan.
    3. An immediate joint request for Mediation was filed with the FMCS and the ILRB, effectively protecting the current wages and benefits.
    4. Any monies deducted from paychecks for either insurance or union dues (actually the sole responsibility of the Union, not the City) will be won back with interest and can potentially open the City to a law suit involving unauthorized wage garnishment.

Hang in there, Brothers and Sisters, and know that Local 473 is doing everything in our power to protect our members from these and any other aggressive actions against our members.

 

Lieutenants petition for representation

On the day before the hearing with the Illinois labor Board, the City cut its' losses and withdrew their challenge to the Lieutenants representation by Local 473. I'm not sure how many thousands it cost the City of Waukegan to employ a law firm for a couple months in order to question a protected right like organizing and then to scrap it, but the important thing is the WFD Lieutenants are now represented by the IAFF.

Congratulations to them and negotiations on their portions of  the contract begin on September 12!

President Jon Nordgren