Newsletter

September 2010

By: Patrick Rose, Secretary BPPA

Welcome Back

In keeping with my promise to keep you, the member, more informed; I have reactivated the BPPA Newsletter. I am continuing to attempt to update our web site: www.bppa.org , so that you will have a real time look into what's happening on a weekly basis. However, there is nothing like the printed word and I will endeavor to publish this newsletter on a bi-monthly basis to keep information flowing between editions of the PAX.

What's Happening

By now you are all aware of the ?Stipulated Order' issued August 20th, 2010. This is an order that both the City of Boston and the Union (BPPA) stipulated to prior to a resolution of the case in hand, MUP-1085, being presided over by hearing Officer Erica F. Crystal. What does that mean? Well the short and sweet is that a representative of the City of Boston and a Representative of this Bargaining Unit stipulated to an agreement concerning the damages to be awarded in this case, (MUNI Case). It means that prior to the Hearing Officer making her final decision and rendering a verdict by awarding an amount certain for damages; that the two parties agreed on an amount and language for the distribution of that amount and the Hearing Officer went along with it.

Next: What is the time period and how was it determined who is eligible for payment of the award? The time period was established through the grievance process and ultimately decided on by the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission, (now known as The Division of Labor Relations or ?DLR'),  after the Union filed an ?Unfair Labor Practice' concerning the City of Boston transferring our work (assignments in the city projects) to the ?Boston Municipal Police' in September of 1994. The City finally removed that agency and returned the work to us, in September of 2003, thus the inclusive dates of 1 October 1994 thru 30 September 2003. As far as who is eligible? First and foremost, the BPPA was the only Police Union to file the grievance/unfair labor practice for their members. Secondly, the representative of the City and the representative of this Union made that decision after what I am sure was years of discussions in several different forums to include guardrooms around the city, union meetings, general conversation and discussions with members and representatives and I'm sure most of all; what was considered most fair to all of our members both present and past. So, what is the real deal, how much am I going to get? The answer is: The agreement was for a total sum of $16,500,000.00 dollars. This is to be spread over the nine (9) year period which equals thirty-six (36) quarters. The money will be evenly split into the 36 quarters. If you were employed as a City of Boston Patrolman paying union dues or agency fees to the BPPA on the first day of any of those 36 quarters, you will receive an equal share for that quarter. The amount per quarter will differ based on the amount of Patrolmen on the payroll on the first day of each quarter. The check will be issued as one lump sum with taxes taken out. Whether you were fired, retired, quit, got promoted, got rated or even died, you will have a check issued in your name for the amount of quarters that you are entitled. Please, do not call the union at this time, the names and eligibility list are being handled through the city payroll and or retirement system. The Union President has stated that he will send letters to all recipients identifying how many quarters they will be receiving and that there will be some type of appeals process in place if you disagree with what the Union and City says you're entitled to. There will be $100,000.00 (from the $16,500,000.00) set aside for 180 days to cover anyone that was inadvertently missed or otherwise has a legitimate claim. That $100,000.00 or the remainder after claims, will be distributed exactly the same way as the initial payment. The BIG question: When do I get the money? The President has stated that the city had promised that they expect to identify and cut checks to awardees prior to the Christmas Holidays. Exactly when? We Don't Know, from now ?til then, when I know, you'll know. I know it's a lot of information, but it's a lot of money and the phones haven't stopped ringing at the hall. Hope this was somewhat helpful! A complete copy of the ?Stipulated Agreement? is available on the BPPA web site; www.bppa.org.

Minute of Meetings

          Members should take advantage of reading the ?Monthly Minute of Meetings' distributed twice a month to your shift representatives. These minutes cover both the Monthly Executive Board Meeting and the House of Representative Meeting not to mention any and all ?Special Meetings'. These minutes will keep you informed on what's happening at the meetings and FYI should be posted in every guard room in the city or wherever you keep you Union Board!

Charitable Donations

Please be aware that your Union has donated over $25,000 to neighborhood sports and athletic events from our PAL account. Sadly, I have to report to you that the account is now depleted and any future donations will come out of our general fund.

The Family Emergency Leave Act

Boston Police Patrolmen's Association

Newsletter

April 2011

By: Patrick Rose, Secretary BPPA

What's Happening in Health Care?

Well our worst fears have been proven true. The only differences between Wisconsin and Massachusetts is that we didn't get the warning that the Public Employees got in Wisconsin. We didn't mass onto the steps in front of the State House in a near riotous frenzy, denouncing the Governor and the Legislature. The end result is the same. You just lost all collective bargaining rights insofar as your Health Care is concerned. Without public hearings, without public input our esteemed Legislature, following the Governor's and Speaker's lead, just wiped out your bargaining rights. In Wisconsin, the Governor and the Legislature went for the Big Headlines, tried to convince the masses that they were doing what they had to do to insure a stable economy and a balanced budget. In Massachusetts you have a Governor and State Legislature that tried to ?play' to the masses and convince them and us, (the public employee), that they would never gut collective bargaining, that they had a working relationship with the unions in Massachusetts. After all, Massachusetts is civilized, in Massachusetts we can come to the table and work together to solve problems, in Massachusetts there is no need to alienate the public employees and gut their lawful collective bargaining, no not in Massachusetts, we are so much better than a Wisconsin (where the Governor and State Legislature told the civil servants what they were doing), a New Jersey (with a Governor who ran on a platform of screwing their own public employees), or even an Ohio (where at least the Governor came out and stated that they couldn't work with their Unions, which was a lie but at least it was public). No, this is Massachusetts where we are in partnership with our Unions and our public employees, for crying out loud, we're Democrats, we would never screw our workers. Ah yup, guess what, you not only got screwed you got RoyallyFU___D!!!!

On Wednesday April 13, 2011 the Massachusetts House of Representatives released the highlights of House Bill #3400 aka House 1, the Budget Bill. Behind closed doors under the secrecy of cloak & dagger and once again under the guise of a Budget Bill, as in the previous two years, the Massachusetts Legislature led by Speaker DeLeo, has decided to legislate the contract of municipal Police Officers (and other civil servants). Once again, we as public employees have been screwed by those that purport to represent us. House Bill #3400 basically strips you of all bargaining rights, insofar as Health Insurance, and gives autonomous authority to the Managers of the 351 Cities and Towns to develop and implement plan design without Union Collective Bargaining input. Basically it allows the Cities and Towns to put you into the GIC, create their own GIC or force Co-pays and Deductibles equal to that of the State GIC. Your recourse? NONE!

Knowing how trustworthy our State Elected Representatives are, your association joined the other City of Boston Unions in forming a coalition, to develop a strategy in staving off what has proven to be Draconian Measures from the State House. With your support, the Leadership & Bargaining Committee has entered into an agreement to become part of the City of Boston PEC (Public Employee Committee). This PEC has entered into a ?Memorandum of Agreement' with the City of Boston. Upon acceptance of ?Chapter 32, Section 19', by the Boston City Council, the PEC will be the authorized exclusive bargaining representative with respect to Health Insurance Coverage. Barring interference by the State House, we believe that entering into this agreement for the term of four years, we have protected your current Health Care Benefits with modest financial increases. The term of the agreement is for your Health Care Coverage between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2015.

Please understand that there was already a small premium increase planned for our insurance based on our 85/15, 80/20 or 75/25 split, (depending on product). This is the normal annual bump up by the insurance companies. Prior to any negotiated change, the new monthly rates announced two weeks ago would have been:

The Agreement

·        The Agreement provides for a 2.5% increase in the employee share of health insurance which will be phased in over a two-year period [1.25% increase per year] beginning on July 1, 2011

·        In addition there are relatively modest changes (between $5 and $10 increases) in office visits and $5, $15 & $20 increases in tier 1,2&3 pharmaceuticals.There is a tiered office visit co-payment depending on whether you are using your primary care doctor or a specialist.The Emergency Room co-payment will be $100.

·        The premium changes for family plans that will become effective this July are described below:

·        Blue Care Elect Family Plan: Weekly premium increase -$7.84

·        Blue Choice Family Plan: Weekly premium increase - $6.26

·        Harvard Pilgrim POS Family Plan: Weekly premium increase - $6.03

·        Harvard Pilgrim HMO Family Plan: Weekly premium increase - $5.65

·        Neighborhood Family Plan: Weekly premium increase - $5.82

·        BMC Advantage Family Plan: Weekly premium increase - $2.10

So that there is no misconception and at the risk of sounding redundant, our premiums on July 1^st, 2012 will be shared at the rate of:

EMPLOYER %EMPLOYEE %

82.5%17.5%

77.5%22.5%

72.5%27.5%

This percentage breakdown will be determined by your choice of product offered.

On a more sober note, I would like to publically thank the Mayor of the City of Boston. (I know I can hear the yelling, hooting and hollering already!) However, The Mayor stepped up and had his Labor Relations Staff, (John Dunlap & company), reach out to the City of Boston Unions and start a dialog which has developed into a Section 19 agreement. This proposed agreement, once bound, will maintain our families level of Health Care for the foreseeable future. It took a lot of ?Moxie' for the Mayor of the City of Boston to stand up to the pundits and say; Not in Boston, not in my town, I'll deal with my employees and their health care, I don't need outsiders to step in and screw my workers. The Mayor and the Union Leaders around the City did step up and did work out what could have been a catastrophic mess. Under House #3400, the Mayor could have forced higher co-pays and deductibles into our insurance without giving a thought to Collective Bargaining. We could be looking at a move into the State's mismanaged health care system, otherwise known as the GIC. The more one studies that product, the more appreciative one will be that we have Union Leaders and City Leadership that can work together in a crisis and develop reasonable plans that achieve the desired effect. We, (the City Unions & the City Leadership), can continue to agree to disagree on certain items, but thankfully this was not one of those things! We understand that there is and has been a major shift in the paradigm between Public sector employees and Private sector employees. Twenty years ago both groups, for the most part, enjoyed pension plans and health insurance protection for their families. Now approximately 85% of private sector employees no longer have a defined benefit pension plan. Insurance costs have gone through the roof and instead of attacking the cause, cost containment and cost control, most politicians will take the easy way out and deflect the attack towards us. Nationally only about 7% of the private sector employees are unionized compared to the 37% of public employees. The private sector tax payers, are now being put into the position of asking themselves; why am I funding the public sector worker benefits that I can no longer achieve? In addition to the private citizen being crunched by their own employers, we have been targeted by groups and politicians that want to destroy Unions and are using this recession as an impetus to achieve that. Even when Unions concede, you have the Wisconsin's & Ohio's of the Nation stripping away Collective Bargaining rights for no other reason than to dismantle Unions. Now, some within our own State are attempting to do the same through the budget process. Not quite as dramatic as Wisconsin but equally as effective. Notably, we still have a few friends in the State House such as Marty Walsh, Jimmy Oday, Eddie Coppinger, Nick Collins and a few others, so I won't paint them all with the same brush. In closing, I would ask that you continue to support you Association while we endeavor to sustain and protect your rights!