MARLBOROUGH - The city acted appropriately when it laid off six police officers during a fiscal 2004 budget crunch, according to a decision issued earlier this month by the state Division of Labor Relations.
The Police Patrol Officers' Association had claimed the city had engaged in "surface bargaining," a legal term for entering negotiations without any real intent on compromising, and accused Police Chief Mark Leonard of circumventing the union and dealing directly with officers.
"(T)he city engaged in good faith, hard bargaining rather than surface bargaining," the state board's decision reads. "Although the city did not deviate significantly from its initial proposals, the city considered and responded to each of the union's proposals."'
Faced with a $4 million deficit in fiscal 2004, the city, under then-Mayor Bill Mauro, asked Police Chief Mark Leonard to reduce his department's budget by $300,000.
In a series of meetings, the city did not back down from its position the $300,000 reduction would require layoffs. Six Marlborough officers were laid off as a result.
"Before the (Division of Labor Relations') hearing officer, it was clear the city did have its hands around the financial issues," Nicholas Anastasopoulos, the city's associate labor counsel at law firm Mirick, O'Connell's Worcester office, said yesterday in an interview. "The union filed (its lawsuit) because we didn't agree to what they were looking for," he said.
The union also accused Leonard of bypassing the union when he e-mailed officers asking for new shift preferences after the cutbacks in the fiscal 2004 budget.
The state, however, said Leonard is "expressly and unequivocally" allowed to determine work schedules without bargaining with the union. In the union's last complaint, the state found the city did violate law by failing to provide the union with the final version of the "cherry sheet," the document listing the final state aid figures for the city. "They asked for it and we were obliged to provide it," Anastasopulos said. "It may have slipped through the cracks."
The violation carries no financial penalty. The city must provide the 2004 cherry sheet to the union and post it where union members will see it.
Police Union President Patrick Hogan said last night he just received the decision and couldn't comment on specifics.
Five of the six officers laid off have since rejoined the force. The decision came less than one year after the end of a contentious dispute between the city and the police union over the city's health insurance deficit.
"Hopefully the relationship will improve because we have another contract to negotiate," Hogan said. "The health insurance thing is behind us. I do hope they improve, but we will see what happens."
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