PAX Centurion - May / June 2013

Page 8 • PAX CENTURION • May/June 2013 617-989-BPPA (2772) Treasury Notes: David “Duke” Fitzgerald, BPPA Treasurer City adds insult to insult In the wake of the Marathon bombings, I think we all can agree that the Mayor could have and should have settled our contract then. We, that being the police force, did an outstanding job both during the bombings and in the search for the cowards who did it. The entire nation and the world was watching on television to see how the Boston Police would bring these faceless cowards to justice. I n this article I am going to step aside and discuss the topic of our bargaining/arbitration process with the City of Boston as I know it. I realize that I am no longer on the bargaining committee since I resigned that position when I became the Treasurer of The B.P.P.A., and should not really be discussing it, that combined with the fact that it is now a hot topic and everyone is probably writing about this, but I want to keep this to my personal knowledge of how it is going. To be brief and accurate it is not going well at all. That mean- ing that the City is dragging their feet as much as they can. I was involved in two sessions of this arbitration last month on May 23 and 24. I must be honest and say that I could not believe how the City was handling their end. In my opinion they were either unprepared or they just don’t care about the process and just want to carry this into the next fiscal year. That or they are counting on theArbiter not granting us retro pay so they want to drag it out even longer. To me it was nothing but a disgrace. In the wake of the Marathon bombings, I think we all can agree that the Mayor could have and should have settled our contract then. We, that being the police force, did an outstanding job both during the bombings and in the search for the cowards who did it. The entire na- tion and the world was watching on television to see how the Boston Police would bring these faceless cowards to justice. Then in less than four days one was killed in the efforts of making a lawful arrest and one was in custody. If that had been a motion picture nobody would have believed it to be a true story. The BPD was all heroes and was being honored in every forum. The rank and file, the patrolmen, who executed the workload and ap- prehended these vile individuals, did not look for bows or praise. We were just doing what was expected of us and what we were trained to do day in and day out. You would have thought that the Mayor of a grateful City would have honored those efforts and shown some real gratitude by settling our contract. The citizens of Boston who, at that time, expressed their heartfelt thanks would not have disagreed with the Mayor. The moment was then and then alone to show some real appreciation and thanks. Give the men and women of the Patrolman’s Association the respect that they earned and deserve. As we all know now, that was not the decision of the Mayor. Instead of showing any real thanks, the Department instead spread out some tickets to the Red Sox games that I am sure the Red Sox ownership donated to the Department. They also issued some tickets to the Onefund concert to members of the department; again I am sure that they were donated. So in short the City and the Department took some bows, gave away some tickets and tried to look apprecia- tive but did nothing themselves. Did not reach their hand into their own pocket once to say thank you to the line cops. As the saying goes, the city has alligator arms. I am not aiming this frustration solely at the Mayor. I personally have not heard or read one City Councilor come out and make a statement saying that our contract should be settled. All the candidates that have entered the race for Mayor have been silent on this issue. I was working the Dorchester Day Parade this past Sunday, June 2, 2013, and many politicians who walked by shook my hand and said thanks for all that you guys do. That all sounds very nice but say it louder in a public forum. I don’t need to hear you whisper that in my ear, I want to read it in the newspaper or hear it on the news. If you want to support your police department the sup- port us, don’t run away from us. Sorry, got a little off track there for a bit. So for the bargaining/arbitrations that I attended I thought was a dis- grace. I do want to state that our bargaining team did an amazing job. For what it is worth I was very much impressed with the testimonies of Larry Calde- rone (E-5), Brian Reaney (A-15) and Chris Broderick (D-4). They were prepared and ready for the questions of our attorneys and the cross by the City. This hired gun that the City brings in, Attorney Joe Ambash, (not sure of the spelling), just does not represent the City in a positive light.You can sense that he has no love for the police as a whole and more than likely despises us. The way he looks down his nose at us as a whole and even the way in which he questions the cops while they are testifying displays resentment and disgust for us. He tries to display a sense of greediness of the police and talk about the details we do. The non-pensionable details we do but he leaves that part out of his statement. I believe his words were lucrative details. This is not to confuse any of the readers and lead them to believe that any topic concerning details is on the table. There is nothing about details on the table but this is what the leadAttorney for the City wants to talk about. If there was any doubt that the City is just dragging this out, that was it for me. I couldn’t stop thinking to my- self ‘what is he talking about this for?’ At one point I had to ask our attorney if he was allowed to do this and I was surprised to learn that the answer was yes. That during interest arbitration you can ask any questions you want. This line of questioning went on for hours. If there was ever a bigger waste of time then I do not know when it was. The point that I have been long winded trying to make is that the bargaining team for the City has no sign of thanks to the police department. There was only resentment for us that I saw. If Attorney Ambash is so concerned about the taxpayers of the City of Boston being ripped off, then I have just one question for you Joe, how much are you charging the City an hour?Ah uh, now let’s talk about who is ripping the City off. I regret being so long-winded and thank any of you who took the time to finish this article. As always be diligent while working and let’s be careful out there.