As I sit in isolation in the woods to grasp the full ramifications of this new contract, I look upon the giant pines I surround myself with.
Tall strong weathered majestic pines which have stood for hundreds of years some well before our great city was settled. I think to myself about this new contract that has been proposed and wonder why our union can’t stand strong and instead like a tree with no roots just simply topples over.
How many years have blue collar, and civilian workers been cast aside in order to please the politicians?
How many times have we as a group seen other bargaining units prosper at our expense?
When we were offered a decent contract, we felt appreciated, respected, only to ne the first to get dragged to the table under a false shared sacrafice plan.
Shared sacrafice is a really catchy phrase used to disguise a layoff list and departmental cutbacks. It’s own definition leads one to belive it is shared by all which it isn’t, sacrafice would be accurate in that civilian workers and there departments have been sacraficed in order to maintain Sworn employees high standards of living, cover there shortcomings and civil liabilitys, and prevent the elected politicians from having to make a choice between a new squad car or a janitor, new facility upgrades for those who work 3 days a week, or a handful of sweeper operators to clean our streets.
When sworn employees ask they recieve, when civilian ask they hear excuse after excuse. When the pot is only so big and so many hands reach for there piece of the pie it is the politicians who make the same choice to sacrafice the civilian to keep feeding the sworn beast time and again.
Some how it is ok to sacrafice the civilians, constantly taking hit after hit for others mistakes. How is anyone ever going to reform a department if they are never forced to answer for there mistakes? 13 million for the LAPD may day incident, 125 million for Rampart, Rodney King 3.8 million.
Reward for beating media 3-12 hour shifts. Obviously I do not want to single out our brothers in blue nor having
actually been working at the may day event care to pass judgment on those events but to point out the large sums of money that this enforcement machine sucks from the budget.
In the end these overruns come from general funds after there special funds and reserves are used up. Money that could have been used to pay for our salary increases and COLAS instead is used to pay for legal settlements.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have these sworn departments put off equipment upgrades, and suffer the pain or “Share the sacrafice” other departments are forced to make?
Instead budget trickery and contract renegotiation is the order of the day.
We as civilians are called upon to sacrafice yet again, upon looking at this latest contract redo by the council I look back upon the pine trees I surround myself with this holiday weekend, if We continue with the city, constantly giving up everything promised to us when will we get ahead? When will we stand tall like the mighty pine? Unfair, to say the least, poorly written, and lacking in any real protection this new contract reopening attempt is a huge step backwards!
Partially sharing the pain and to be left wide open for more abuse it is time we take a lesson from the mighty pine we stand firm and refuse to accept these miserable terms.
Let us go back to the table and work out these issues so that we can all prosper.
Take a look for yourself the new contract is posted in the forums section for all to read, please note the wording used, it is not what we have been told it would be if you don’t understand ask someone who does or send it over to your own lawyer ask him or her if it leaves you open or protects you.
Enjoy your holiday weekend.
