Still picking of FSC just because we don't want to join your club?? Why do you have to make it so personal? We read your info, we listened. Even our AFSCME rep sent us copies of all your info and emails. We talked about it and decided that we are not interested. Why is this so hard for you to understand? We didn't pick on you or bother you, but you insist on emailing us all and posting stuff like this. You're getting more and more condescending and aggressive and honestly, I'm a little offended. Take the hint... Go Away. I'm all for a police union, but this is a bad idea.
And if you really must know what we have done on our own by standing up for our selves and putting together well though out and thorough proposals, with the backing of AFSCME.
We went up a pay grade and step last year, 50% increase in shift diff. $700 clothing allowance (yes we're armed) They helped us when we wanted to address the fact that our Chief and Captain are both raging a-holes. They sat in on mediated meetings between the officers and the admin. Once again, that isn't a union issue, it's a personal issue and we had to do it ourselves. They helped us plan and sat in on the meetings and made sure nothing contractual was changed. As far as making your department better. They back us on everything we said we wanted to do, we just had to have some spine and make it happen. Guns aren't in a contract, you have to explain to the liberal yahoos why you need them. put together a good presentation. Get documentation and crime stats.
You can't put in a contract that people have to be nice to you and care about you. What you can do is address the negative work environment with your supervisors and bring a union rep with you to make sure you don't get punished for speaking out. We've done that and it worked. Why would we want to change to a smaller, lower funded, less experienced union when what we have is working fine?
Like I said, it's working for us and we're not interested. I personally don't care what you do but leave me out of it. I'm not trying to slow you down. Why do you insist on dragging us into it?
Grow up.
And tell that lawyer to stop email me and calling me a janitor.
Posted Thu 22 Jul, 2004 14:07:
Hee Hee!
We are meeting with Bill Fisher CPO I/EMT-I/AFSCME Unit II Chief Steward/Campus Police Contract Negotiating Representative (Whew!) and VP Chris Wilkins about what we would like to see in the new contract.
:lol:
Oh, BTW............................
The Council 93 entity and Local 1067 Chief steward have already bailed out of the meeting.
:wink:
Will be glad to report on how the meeting goes
It doesn't sound like you're going in open minded... Bill's a good guy, really. tell him what you want to see.
Nobody is bashing anyone here. All we are trying to do is gain more support for MCLEA. If you don't want to be a part of it then don't. But stop accusing everyone of bashing Fitchburg State because nobody is doing that.
furthermore who is Bill Fisher? I have never even heard of him until
this whole thing started and then we get an email saying he is the
campus police negotiations rep! So I guess that means he is the rep
for the cops of AFSCME? That's interesting that he's OUR rep and
many people that I have talked to have never heard of him!! That tells me a lot about OUR
representation. If I was the rep for the cops of AFSCME I would make
damn sure that I was well known and available to be contacted and
checking in with the other colleges to see what they want me to
bargain for. This poor representation from just shows how much we need MCLEA.
And what about our retro pay? If the Commonwealth only had to pay 200
people retro pay instead of 2000 maybe we would have our money by now!!
Just something to think about!
This is why we support MCLEA! You can read on if you want, its just my opinion and note that not once do I "bash" AFSCME or Fitchburg State
Nobody here is anti AFSCME. AFSCME is a fine union and extremely well
known. The problem with being a member of AFSCME is that Police
Officers make up a very small part of the membership. As you know the
majority of AFSCME members are maintainers and janitors. Police
Officers are unique and have completely different needs than those
who make up the majority of AFSCME.
I compare colleges to towns. Towns are made up of Police Departments,
Fire Departments, DPW's and School Departments. As we all know Police
Officers and DPW workers have separate unions because they have
completely different needs, just like teachers have separate unions
because they have different needs. It's the same on college campuses.
We are police Officers; we should not be in the same union as the
facilities workers who can be compared to the towns DPW workers.
That's why the faculty members are not in AFSCME because they have
different needs than both facilities and us. How can AFSCME really
fight for the tools that Police Officers need? How can AFSCME fairly
represent us when they have no knowledge of what it means to be a
Police Officer and why would they even want to because we make up
such a small amount of their union?
MCLEA would be our own union. An association just for State College
Police Officers, nobody else. Brian has stressed over and over again
that this is "OUR" union, we make the decisions on what we want, not
some janitor. There are so many positives that can come out of
forming this association. Just think of how much better it would be
to have someone that is bargaining for the needs of Police Officers
only! Think of how much easier it would be if we wanted a pay raise
or more equipment, or anything for that matter! I'm sure the
Commonwealth and the Board of Higher Ed would be much more willing to
listen to 200 people wanting more money, more equipment or more
incentives than 2000 people!
This would be "our" union, so what you as a cop want, you ask and
we as a group will bargain for it. Not to mention a connection to a network
of attorneys who specialize in labor law and union issues along with
attorneys who specialize in defending Police Officers who are sued on
the job. I really don't think they could ever
provide us with all that!
Like I said support us or don't thats your choice, but lets at the very least try to be mature about this whole thing. I have never heard anyone "bash" Fitchburg State or AFSCME. Maybe people disagree with you for wanting to stay with AFSCME but they are certainly entitled to their opinions as you are. Maybe Fitchburg State is a squared away armed department and gets everything they ask for but just keep in mind that some other departments may not get what they want, and thats what this is all about. Trying to improve overall working conditions for all fellow Police Officers who are employed by the Commonwealth!