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Illinois Police & Sheriff's News
Contract Falls Short of Promise
IPSN Newspaper, March 26, 1997
THE CURRENT UNION contract between the City of Chicago and the Bill Nolan labor amatuers who run Lodge 7 of the Fraternal Order of Police has not lived up to the promising notices it received in the media last September. At that time, after something over two years of protracted negotiation, Mayor Daley’s people and President Bill’s buddies, negotiating their first contract ever, walked up to the microphone and announced that they had struck a deal that a lot of unionized police officers should consider “fantastic.”
But even then, the most powerful hint that Chicago police probably would not agree that their contract was a work of merit came from the fact that out of over 8,000 police who voted to either accept or reject the deal, “yes” votes from a mere 486 Chicago police made up the margin that put the package in place. Or, putting it another way, only about 5 percent of the FOP members who voted last September wound up locking up the entire deal for the other 95 percent of the bargaining unit.
Less than 500 cops swung the vote for more than 10,000 active CPD patrol officers. And, even though retired members are not specifically covered by this questionable contract, the votes of that same 5 percent of working cops was all it took to prevent several thousand retired officers from getting the health insurance problems that they have resolved to their satisfaction.
ABOUT THE ONLY good thing CPD people can say about the FOP contract is that is was implemented this time around without the in-house cop union laying out hundreds of thousands in arbitration fees. Which is a first in anyone’s recent memory. All the contracts that Bill Nolan’s hapless predecessor, “One Percent” John Dineen ever put together came after the entire negotiating process broke down completely and had to be put back together by one of those pin-stripe patronage guys that Mayor Daley so adroitly places in labor relations positions.
ALSO LAST SEPTEMBER, it was announced that the total value of the increases produced by the new Nolan deal would exceed 10 percent.
And, if you re-read those early press reports, it certainly looks like the city’s patrol officers were in for something of a financial boon.
But, Mayor Daley and FOP boss Nolan did not get where they are without having a complete understanding of the use of smoke and mirrors. In fact, when one factors in all the givebacks that FOP members are required to part with, the reality of the 10 percent-plus deal really comes out to less -- the contract a pay raise of less than 1% in 1995 and slightly more in 1996.
Also, in keeping with the spirit of former FOP head dude Dineen, the Nolan-approved givebacks bring the dollar value of the new contract improvements down to the one percent range for the first year.
That means that Nolan, at least in this instance, outdid even “One Percent” Dineen” in his ability to lowball a contract.
So how does that happen, even though Nolan and his pals in the Mayor’s office were bragging about how Chicago police were in for all these impressive annual raises?
Simple. It’s a case of the left hand giving what the right hand takes away.
IT’S A CASE of Math 101 being brought into play here. The average FOP member is told he or she will receive a raise of about $2,500 for the period from January 1, 1995 through when the contract was signed in September of 1996. The paychecks start coming and there is an obvious raise. However, what is not so obvious is how the value of the insurance and pension contributions are being eroded. Also, not so obvious is the percentage raise figures played with to make them look palatable to the rank and file who should have defeated the deal -- and almost did. There exists to this day a number of officers who question the vote tally. Was it a typical “Chicago count?”
So, if you are a Chicago cop who thinks he got a raise, don’t get sick. Also, don’t plan on ever collecting a pension. If you do, you will have to wonder just where that raise went.
The net effect? Chicago police might just as well have kept “One Percent” John in the top spot of their union. At least then there would have been no surprises.
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