PAX Centurion - May / June 2015

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • June/July 2015 • Page 41 Expires December 2014 The founding of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association By P.O. Robert E. Anthony, BPPA Historian Information researched and gathered from various sources. 1 965 – Patrolman Richard MacEachern and 15 other patrol- men armed with a 1965 collective bargaining law compelling municipalities to negotiate wages and working condition. They met for the first time in his kitchen, each of the Officers kicked in $5.00 and formed a Patrolmen’s Association that be- came one of the most militant in the country. MacEachern, once a station house character, whose irrepressible, outspoken way got him transferred eight times in seven years. His office was on a fourth floor in Downtown Boston with a $2,000.00 a week budget. They say this is the house that Dick built. MacEachern was a 33-year old crewcut kid. He was elected in February, the chair- man of a national organization that represents the rank and file in six of the country’s largest cities. MacEachern’s background almost propelled him into uniform. He grew up in a tough neighborhood in East Boston where as he said “cops were respected.” He and his neighborhood friends served hitches in the Marines, and Seabees, and he worked as a taxi driver but always yearned to become a cop, even as a kid. After getting out of the service, he went to school for automobile mechanics and drove a cab for a year before joining the force in 1960. He worked in Stations 9 and 10. MacEachern worked as a motorcycle officer and was an active member of the department’s drill team. The times were changing for police unions. The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Associa- tion demonstrated and lobbied against certain provision of the civilian review board. Charter members and founders of the BPPA Richard MacEachern, 1 st President Warren Bradley, 1 st Vice President Paul J. Whelan, 1 st Secretary Joseph C. Belek HarrisW. Crouse, Jr. RaymondA. Winson WilliamW. Morrison Roy D. Lamb Ronald Stapleton Vincent J. Mercadante Robert T. Reynolds List of First House of Representatives and their Districts Paul Nelson, 1 st Treasurer John Dorr (11) Bernard Doyle (1) Charles Smith (11) Robert Stone (2) John Dacey (13) Robert Ridings (3) George Nelson (13) Robert Whooley (3) Walter Schroeder (14)* John Sacco (4) Arthur Lihzis (15) Edward Flynn (5) Peter McGuire (15) John Hurley (5) Louis Ballanti (HQ) Joseph Caggiano (6) Leo McDougall (HQ) John Floyd (7) Charles Dunford (TPF) Robert Malloy (9) Clifford Stronick (TPF) Earnest D’Amato (10) Paul Johnson (TPF) Charles Sullivan (10) Robert Reynolds (Traffic) * PatrolmanWalter Schroeder was killed in the line of duty Sep- tember 24, 1970 These officers risked all to start the Boston Police Patrolmen’sAsso- ciation. The very first thing the Founders did after donating the start up money, was to use it to hire their first labor lawyer, HenryWise, Esq. The Police Officers that banded together and formed the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association for the benefit of all, they had, and will always have, nothing but the greatest amount of pride and respect for the City of Boston and its great Police Department. One of the first and certainly the most important thing the BPPA ever accomplished was its extensive lobbying campaign at the State Legislature during the 1964-65 session and aggressive letter writ- ing campaign to Governor JohnVolpe’s office. The meeting of the House of Representatives on October 18, 1965 proposed bringing about Collective Bargaining for all of the Police in the Common- wealth of Massachusetts as part of a joint effort with the Cambridge Police on a bill that was sponsored by Rep. Lombardi of Cambridge which excluded police from bargaining. The BPPA was able through a lot of hard work to have it amended to include Police. During the signing ceremony, Governor JohnVolpe, left there knowing that because of the BPPA’s work and accomplishments, the organizers of all Police Unions formed thereafter in the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, would owe a debt of gratitude to the Founders of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association for bringing about their right to form a Union. The City of Boston was now required, by law, to bargain with the BPPA in good faith. There was no connection between the Police Strike of 1919 be- cause it taught the BPPA to make sure they had a collective bargain- ing law on their side before they made the move. Without it, they could have been fired. Without the collective bargaining law, Police officers didn’t stand a chance and they all lost their jobs. Political Friends of the BPPA O ur first “Greatest Champion of the Cause” was Albert “Dap- per” O’Neil, followed by his colleagues in the Boston City Council, Fred Langone, Pat McDonough, Gabe Piemonte, Chris Iannello, and Thomas Atkins. And at the State Level was the great legislative body of the 1964-65 sessions that heard the BPPA plea for Collective Bargaining and ignored the anti-Police liberals that were talking about another Police Strike, like 1919. And the Governor JohnVolpe who signed the Collective Bargaining for Police Bill. The die was cast and the ground work was completed with the City agreeing to the first contract issues, such as a pay scale com- parable to other large city’s overtime with minimum call back pay, night differentials, longevity, acceptable court compensation, more holidays, better vacations, uniform allowances, grievance procedures, and the tablishment of a labor management committee. Once the BPPA got that first contract it meant that the future had Patrolman Richard MacEachern 1965-1969 H 1 st Chairman of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association See BPPA Founders on page 46