Dispatcher Unrest, Suburban Style

"ORLAND PARK POLICE DISPATCHERS WANT OUT OF THIER UNION"

This headline, from the Southtown Star of 28 December 2007, speaks volumes. The dispatchers, along with the village's other public works employees, are all represented by AFSCME. The dispatchers claim the union does not represent them, and according to this article, they have attempted to withdraw from their union by filing a motion with the Illinois Labor Relations Board. They have been working without a contract since last May. The union disputes the allegations of the dispatchers and is preparing a response to the motion for separaration but a union spokesperson would not say why AFSCME insists on holding the dispatchers against their will. The piece also points to unrest between the dispatchers and the other public works employees who have very divergent interests but are lumped together for bargaining purposes. Apparently that has become a major sticking poin--the public works employees rejected a contract they felt too heavily favored dispatchers.

Anyone see any paralells here? Are we not stuck in a bargaining unit where we are way outnumbered? Anyone see divergent interests in OUR bargaining? Anyone think IBEW does not always represent OUR intersts? Or that it devotes more time, energy, and resources to its other clients, SBC/COMCAST etc?

Blogmaster will be watching the Orland Park case closely, but not with any optimism. The Executive Director of the Illinois Labor Relations Board stated that 8-10 union factions try to dissolve each year on grounds they are not being represented but these groups rarely, if ever, succeed. The reason, he goes on, is because keeping unions larger brings "a certain amount of stability to collective bargaining" and "once you have a collective bargaining unit and work is stable, the board usually doesn't like to pull those units out".

Good luck to our brethren in Orland Park. They are going to need it.

Grinch Award

And the winner is...........Watch Manager Kathlyn Brown!

Blogmaster regretfully award this year's Grinch Award to WM Brown for her extreme insensitivity and bad judgement for the weekend leading up to and including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. After wholesaling denials of comp time for almost everyone that entire weekend preceding christmas--and purportedly every single person on christmas eve (see previous post addressing this issue)--WM Brown takes christmas day off for herself. That is right. WM Brown was carried day off holiday for christmas day. Never mind that she mandated 16--SIXTEEN--pcos from 2nd watch on christmas eve to stay into the 3rd watch, never mind that she her failure to adequately control her resources for christmas eve resulted in a "misunderstanding" that allowed a pcoII to believe that christmas eve off was granted when in fact it wasnt leading to a lot of hard feelings, and never mind that for those folks who COULDNT stay are going to be written up by her own hand. Never mind all that because WM Brown had christmas day off to be with her own family and did not have to deal with all of the blowback of her decisions the previous weekend.

Memo to the suits who are reading this, especially WM Brown: just because one CAN do something does not mean one SHOULD do something. It is very poor taste and judgement for a boss to expect his/her employees to sacrifice and forgo their plans while turning around and enjoying the benefits that were just denied to them by one's own decision. Comprende? Remember the first tenet of good management and good leadership--never ask someone to do something that one would be unwilling to do oneself. That means, WM Brown, that when YOU deny comp time wholesale, when YOU mandate 16 people to stay on christmas eve, and when you attempt to punish people for not being there YOU might want to show up yourself and show solidarity with the folks who are sacrificing to make YOU look good. To make the stats on YOUR watch okay. So you dont get called on the carpet with YOUR boss. The ones who miss their kids, presents and dinner so YOU can make your big bucks. And one last admonishment to you, WM Brown: if you are going to absent, just say so. Please. Look us in the eye and tell us you are being carried day off holiday. It is the least you can do.

Finally, to all the other suits who are sorry they missed the Grinch Award, take heart. There are still a few days left in the year.

New Years Eve Weekend

It is that time again. One of the busiest nights of the year and everyone, it seems is unhappy, pissed off, and generally disgruntled. Let us recount some of the reasons:
-wholesale of denial of comp time, even on those days preceding immediately following the actual holidays themselves
-cancellation of rdos for new years eve for certain members of the 1st watch and the pmp power shifts
-increased amounts of mandatory overtime, especially affecting the 2nd watch
-word that new class of dispatchers, expected to start in january, has been moved back the new date for hires is "sometime first part of the year" (per DD Simmons)

Now these issues are by no means new to the operations floor. However, for the latter half of December--not traditionally a busy time for oemc--these facts point to an alarming trend: have we finally reached a burnout point? a point of maximum capacity among pcos? an inability to just keep on working, working, working overtime mandatory or voluntary? Blogmaster hopes that the suits are feverishly working (cough, cough) to address these issues and come up with some real and creative solutions. But Blogmaster is not optimistic.

Christmas Weekend, Continued

Blogmaster is once again saddened, but unfortunately not surprised, at the amount of rancor and venom directed at pcos by fellow pcos. Perhaps some of those affected by the mandatory overtime--particularly for christmas eve 2nd watchers--fail to comprehend the true state of manpower at the OEMC: as reported in previous post the mandatory overtime invoked by management is due to STAFFING SHORTAGES and LACK OF VOLUNTEERS for voluntary overtime, not because an overwhelming majority of 3rd watchers went on the medical. Anyone disputing this fact, please revisit the previous post and feel free to check on the accuracy of Blogmaste's claims. In fact, Blogmasters sources report, that for 3rd watch, pmp calltakers, and pmp dispatchers there were a total of LESS THAN 5 MEDICALS for christmas eve. Less than 5 out of the combined 3 shifts. And Blogmaster can report that of those folks who were actually denied the comp time for christmas eve on 3rd watch--ALL of them actually showed up for work. So please, people before everyone disintegrates into the blame game about who is at fault here, consider the real issues--THERE ARE SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH PCOS TO MINIMALLY--AND THAT MEANS BARE BONES, SKELETON CREW, STIPPED BARE, JUST ENOUGH TO GET THROUGH--STAFF THE WATCHES. That is why every single day just about every watch is working lunches, breaks, and extensions and is STILL often being hit with mandatory overtime.

Blogmaster would also like to point out to any interested parties that the critical staffing shortages--which account for about 50% of OEMC's problems--so affect quality of life that its impossible to ignore it. Yes those of us working the operations floor agreed to work holidays, 24/7, and rotate rdos. We agreed to take a job which puts us at risk to be sued civilly and handle a "reasonable amount of overtime" as specified in our contract. We agreed that in times of emergency, natural calamities, or manmade catastrophes to be "locked down" inside the building and put the citizens and officers of the city before even ourselves (anyone remember when the system shutdown a few years back when everyone worked 10-12-14-16 hours with no breaks, lunches, or even any food? or the time the system failed and the squad car suddenly appeared at the exit gate preventing anyone from leaving the parking lot?) What we did NOT agree to is to be mismanaged, abused, and taken advantage of. We DO NOT agree with the use of overtime--voluntary or mandatory--as a means of doing business or as a way to solve long term chronic staffing shortages. We OBJECT to continually trying to do the right thing and play by the rules, yet constantly get shat upon. We are TIRED of making plans only to have slips returned denied for important life events like weddings and graduations (how many folks in the private sector have this problem?) We are SICK of looking forward to the assigned end of our tour, only to be tapped on the back and be told "hey you are up tonight for mandatory" and most of all we are MAD AS HELL that no one--NO ONE-- gives a shit about it but us. And because it affects every citizen, taxpayer, tourist, visitor, alderman, and field unit in this entire city, THEY SHOULD CARE TOO.

The Eve of Christmas Eve Weekend

Blogmasters sources report a particularly high level of discontent on the operations floor for this weekend, mostly related to the lack of comp time approved for the busy days prior to Christmas. A particular pall hangs over the 3rd Watch where it can now be told that the Watch Manager denied every single request for time due for Christmas Eve. Every single slip submitted for time on afternoons--including pmp calltakers, pmp dispatchers, and even a police officer--was given back to its unlucky requestor. This is especially disheartening to those folks who put the slips in up to a YEAR in advance--only now to face a decision of whether to forgo their plans for that special night and come in to work or call off on medical and face certain disciplinary actions.

This issue, however, does not just have repurcussions for those pcos affected by a lack of approved time due--it poses a challenge for the watch managers and supervisors and has the potential to seriously affect officer safety and 911 call processing. For the 3rd Watch on Christmas Eve, Blogmaster can report, there are still significant gaps in manpower to staff the minimum number of positions to ensure efficient operations. That would be the MINIMUM amount of pcos necessary to staff adequately, and all of this is BEFORE a single pco calls off on the medical for that day. This sad fact illustrates a salient point that often goes unacknowledged and unreported: the OEMC operations does operate--and has operated for a very long time--on the continued use of overtime as a means to solve a chronic and dangerous (did we mention liability?) staffing shortage. It only becomes apparent on days like christmas eve, new years eve and july 3--when an extreme lack of overtime volunteers for those particular days (which are not holiday pay)--reveal gaping holes in manpower. This phenomenon especially affects 3rd Watch because having to work that day leaves one little time to do anything else. Can anyone say mandatory overtime? These next few weeks are going to be brutal for everyone at a time when call volume is not traditionally high (with the exception of New Year's Eve) when the mandatory overtime kicks in for real as it did already for 2nd watch, pmp dispatchers and calltakers, and the 1st watch over the weekend.

But more importantly, the watch managers, supervisors, and pcos are left trying to deal with a problem they did not create and are unable to adequately address. As a result the watch managers are reliant upon the continued use of overtime and all the associated problems with overextended employees, the pcos are burdened with more work and more burnout, and the citizens and taxpayers of the city are forced to pay--and pay bigtime in some cases (did we mention liability?)--for a less efficient workforce which is third rate, at best, despite the city efforts to tout its 911 operations as world class. It would be funny, if it werent so sad and serious.

Training of New Hires

As previously reported, Blogmaster sources indicate that a new class of pcoIIs will be commencing early next year, purportedly in January. While this is good news--any help to solve the staffing shortages is welcome--it also forces a host of unsettling issues back to the forefront, primarily the OJT that current pcos are expected to provide to the new hires and it begs the question of why those individuals assigned to the training division already on a full time basis are exempted from performing this "essential function".

Blogmaster is very familiar with management's standard position on this issue--that many of the training division employees also assume other duties (beat meetings, representation of OEMC at outside events, and providing pcad training to CPD among other things), but we don't buy it. Other "excuses" include administrative functions, class/materials prep, and other duties as needed. Blogmaster is more inclined to believe, cynically perhaps but not without good reason and precedent, that the OJT functions are handed off to working pcos primarily so that the M-F employees--who are all pcoIIs by the way--are not required to disrupt their lives by assuming inconvenient watch shifts, albeit if only for a period or so. Furthermore, Blogmaster has observed rather pessimistically, that most of the pcos in the training division haven't actually dispatched or taken calls for a very long time--YEARS in some cases. From a training perspective this sad reality poses some very real issues and impedes both the integrity and credibility of the entire training division. The lack of qualified OJT volunteers is one reflection of this phenomenon--with few exceptions, almost NO ONE, pcoI or II actually CHOOSES to do OJT. Even with additional compensation, for current pcos, its a no win situation. So why, Blogmaster repectfully asks, are we being forced to when its abundantly clear that the pcoIIs RESPONSIBLE and ACCOUNTABLE for training the new hires--the pcoIIs who WANT to be in the training division and who currently enjoy S/S rdos--appear to hand off the most crucial aspect of the entire training experience to those who have no interest, inclination, or ability to assume it? And can anyone, preferably a suit, please explain why this makes sense?

Federal Monitor

The city's federal monitor has been busy, busy, busy. With only $12 million and over 1,400 claims of political and patronage hires, transfers, and promotions the monitor is set to request a 90 day extension to complete processing of claims which were to be done by 27 December. Apparently, the monitor is overwhelmed by both the volume and the content of claims. Blogmaster is shocked, SHOCKED, that anyone can still be surprised about the depths of corruption and patronage that permeate every aspect of city government.

Blogmaster has now confirmed, via the usual very reliable sources, that a minumum of 3 claims related to OEMC have been filed with the federal monitor. Blogmaster is waiting with bated breath to see how the monitor rules on these cases and whether any meaningful investigations will take place that will result in any suits being disciplined. Ultimately, Blogmaster thinks not. The city has made it an art form to blame the lowest level employees and make them take hits while the upper level, politically connected, high paying employees skate (think Durkin Park, for one quick example). Just the same, Blogmaster wonders if these claims were what led to the departure of former high ranking OEMC employees, including Valaquez, Oaks, and Keating who no doubt saw the writing on the wall. Blogmaster bets that there might still be some squirming for those left at the top of OEMC even though now the question becomes whether any investigation will lead to significant changes or will it be "business as usual" at OEMC and at other city departments?

The cynic in Blogmaster thinks business as usual will commence. After all, the monetary payouts are in leiu of any court action and prohibit the claimants from later suing, even in class action suits. It is blood money and it was designed, approved, and will be paid for the lowest, most qualified (in many cases)people harmed to sit down, shut up and go away.

Rotating Seniority List

It is posted. The christmas rotating seniority list--in all its glorious confusion--is posted in the 3rd floor operations breakroom. Is there anyone, ANYONE, who truly understands how this thing works? or how it is SUPPOSED to work? Asking different supervisors yields slightly different answers and its not even clear that all the watch secretaries are really aware of how it works. And since this does not appear to be a union issue--the list (indeed the entire concept of holiday rotating seniority), Blogmaster is told, is not contractual at all. So don't look to the stewards or the union for help interpreting it: they appear just as confused as everyone else on this issue. One just looks for one's name and prays that it is near the top for a coveted holiday like Christmas.

Quick Hits, Part II

New Hires: For those interested, it may now be noted that the NEW date for PCOII hires and promotees is scheduled for early to mid January. That is what Blogmaster sources say, anyway. We are waiting with bated breath to see a) how many people actually accept the job b) how many make it through training and c) how many quit of their own volition when they realize, correctly, what a morally bankrupt cesspool they have agreed to work for.

Contract Negotiations: Blogmaster has been told another round of negotiation talks commence tomorrow. While we are not actually THERE, we do have reliable sources. Blogmaster shudders to think of the total incompetence and ineptitude likely represented at that table, on BOTH sides. Dare we wonder what we are to be asked to concede to next?

Rumors, Scandals, Innuendos and etcetera: Is it true that our esteemed Excutive Director had his vehicle towed? or not? Word on the ops floor vary but Blogmaster has heard that our EDs vehicle was parked illegally on a hydrant in front of his home. Confirmation anyone? Even Blogmasters usually reliable sources are stymied by this one and we wonder if it is an urban legend gone amok.

Watch Operations

There is something rotton in OEMC. The chain of command, always susceptible to corruption, appears to be suffering. IT would seem that the watch managers have been dealing with a high level of outside interference of late with regard to day to day operations. Overtime hires, management of call volume, personnel shifts, zone assignments, and even day off group changes have all been issues either directed by, or become an issue with, upper management. As a result, Blogmaster asks the question: who really runs the watches? Is it the executive director or the deputy director of police operations? Is it the watch manager? The front line supervisors? Or even the watch secretaries and the pcos?

The watch operations, for the most part, run pretty seamlessly. With the help of good secretaries, the front line supervisors and watch managers should be able to make organizational decisions about operations based on knowledge of available personnel, past experience, and the facts at hand. They get paid big bucks to make these operational decisions. Why then, are we seeing so much outside interference? Micromanaging can be a dangersous thing: those things that are legitimately concerns of upper management ultimately are lost, watered down, or overlooked when the suits are devoting their considerable time, resources, and ahem TALENTS, to the everyday minutia that has rightfully been delegated to their minions.

And to those pcos who contribute to this phenomenon by circumventing the established chain of command, Blogmaster respectfully requests that you stop. Stop going around the watch managers to complain about issues that are not worthy of upper management, including petty squabbles, perceived slights from co workers or supervisors, dog changes, denial of comp time or the dozens of other issues that the watch manager should have the final say over. And to those suits, if you are paying attention, please stop the interference as well. It undermines the credibility of the front line supervisors and watch managers, it contributes to the perception that certain folks dont have to play by the rules, and it is bad for morale.

OEMC Morale

The holidays are upon us, with one of the busiest nights of the entire year, right around the corner (New Year's Eve). Yet during this time of celebration and joy, something is missing in OEMC. There is no sense of spirit, brotherhood, or pride associated with taking 911 calls or dispatching. In short, our morale has long since departed the building right along with the long lost, lamented Motorola holiday dinner we used to enjoy.

The reasons for the lack of morale are obvious and have been evident for a long time: lack of supervision and accountability, overall lowering of job performance standards, mismanagment and lack of understanding about operations and communications by top tier political appointees, clout promotions and apppointments, and rife incompetence that goes unchallenged and unchecked.
Inconsistent, capricious, and arbitrary disicpline for alleged infractions have also killed morale.

Sadly, Blogmaster know though that the pcos also contibute to it when they are continually tardy, fail to adhere to uniform standards, take endless smoke breaks every hour, conduct foot patrol every hour, sleep while on duty, are just lazy, or bring alot of personal drama to the operations floor.

It is a classic case of chicken and egg: is the operations floor so "bad" because they are poorly managed or is management indifferent because pcos are "bad" and are protected by a union, thus not worth their efforts and resources? Makes one wonder.

Quick Hits

Three thoughts for the price of one (even though you really don't pay us anything to impart all these topics/thoughts anyway):

Why are we jumping all over the hierarchy map in terms of promotions? One would think that we'd hire PCO Is, then promote to PCO IIs, then promote to SPCOs, then promote to Watch Managers. But we've had a promotion to WM, and a set of people (not very many) poised to make PCO II. Aren't we already short supervisors? And calltakers?

Speaking of people set to get promoted to PCO II, how is it that with all of the calltakers we have - with plenty of time on the job, mind you - only four of them were able to pass the written test for dispatcher?

And are all of them going to pass the interview stage? And when are they going to get promoted, anyway?

Radio Zones

It's that time of year again. The 1st period brings with it new shift assignments and personnel changes. As a result, Watch Managers attempt to fill the holes in zone assignments created by personnel movement to other watches. This effort has always struck Blogmaster as slightly riduculous, considering that the "official" position of the OEMC management team is that radio zone assignments are not permanent, are subject to change, and are day by day.

PcoIIs, and all the field officers who pay attention, know that day in and day out the same dispatchers sit at the same zones with only slight variations to accommodate rdos, furloughs, and comp days. This is true on all 3 watches and even the power watches are remarkably consistent in their assigment of personnel to particular zones for reliefs. This is a direct effect of managements enforcement of its "non policy policy" of keeping "regulars" on particular zones. The creation and maintenance of zone assignment sheets in the watch manager's office ensure consistentcy of dispatchers on each zone on a daily basis.

The inevitable outcome of this practice are distinct classes of dispatchers: a)those who dispatch and b) those who dispatch only at a certain zone or citywide. Blogmaster has been hearing more and more discontent among some of the front line supervisors when confronted by certain pcoIIs who object to a particular assigment, including calltaking (which by the way, Blogmaster will point out emphatically, is most certainly part of the pcoII job definition).

Blogmaster has no sympathy for managment in this regard. This is a monster of their own making and they have inspired these types of petty squabbles over zones and citywides for many years now. So when a pcoII complains about, refuses to work, or goes home sick rather than work a particular zone, citywide, or calltake management must take some responsibility for that because its own practices and policies contributed heartily to the problem.

Contract Negotiations

Blogmaster thanks those union reps who have been updating the members on the progress of contract negotiations. It seems that pcos/acos really do have an uphill battle to fight with the city. Blogmaster can now confirm the city has offered a 10% wage increase over 5 years while rejected other union demands, including a shift differential (Blogmaster could've advised, had we been consulted, that this would be DOA--can one imagine the already incompetent hacks having to deal with that?).

The out of hand rejection of more money by the city is not a surprise-they have been crying poor for months now and Daley has recently raised taxes. The real question now becomes whether the union and its membership have the stomach for a strong standoff on this and other issues. According to one of the more knowlegeable union reps, other issues on the table include OJT, comp time payouts, and grievance issues.

Blogmaster would like to see an overhaul of the current contract. A real line by line, article by article comprehensive fix to many of the vagaries embedded therein. But we know that, in the end, the contract will turn on the money issues AGAIN. The notion of a retro check and a small raise will be enough to break any impasse on any real reforms.

Seniority

Furlough picks 2008 commence tomorrow morning at 0500. It is safe to say that some people will be disappointed with what they ultimately end up with, either by default, because their slips were filled out incorrectly, and/or because they failed to show up. Unlike watch selections, furlough picks are conducted in the open and are live from the roll call room. Being present assures one of at least having some say in what one ultimately ends up with. And there is the salient point in all this: SHOW UP OR SHUT UP. While Blogmaster has some sympathy (very little) for those newer pcos who are almost assured of winter furloughs due to their low seniority, there is simply no excuse for not showing up and then complaining about it. But past experience has taught Blogmaster that there are always a few out there that don't show up and then never shut up.

While on seniority, Blogmaster has watched the latest fiasco unfolding at the OEMC with sadness. All the hoopla about implementing a "rotating voluntary overtime" list seems to have divided the operations floor and not in a good way. Apparently, this is a contractual provision, and allows all voluntary overtime to be rotated among ALL members. Presently, OEMC practices affords overtime strictly (by watch first) by seniority and this is a direct contradiction to the contract. Blogmaster would like to remind ALL pcos--before they turn completely against one another--to look first to management and notice how skillfully they played this one out and what they have/had to gain from it. For the cynical among us know that management ALWAYS has an agenda when it changes track. Again, its a divide and conquer tactic which they employed brilliantly because ultimately, we cannot stick together for anything.

Discipline

Here we go again. Blogmaster has received confirmation of at least 8 suspensions handed down in the last week. By our count, at least 4 of them were for multiple days off for "rudeness" including one pcoI who was hit with 20+ days. Doesn't exactly inspire fondness for the company, for the management, or for the union who apparently are powerless to prevent said suspensions from being served BEFORE appealing the ruling. Kinda hard to have a nice christmas under such circumstances.

Blogmaster would laugh, if it were not so serious, at the concept of our new (relatively) Executive Director approving (or as rumor has it, INCREASING) puninshments for alleged transgressions he neither understands or has ever personnally witnessed/experienced. OEMC is not a business, its not a customer service operation, it is not one stop shopping, and it is not on demand service. Calltakers are REQUIRED--by OEMC's OWN POLICIES--to obtain information from callers and to "take control of conversations". At what point did doing that become verboten? Is doing one's job now cause for suspensions? Blogmaster would like the Executive Director to ask some of the field units if THEY objected to the calltaker asking too many questions if it resulted in finding out that a domestic involved a gun? Or that a witness reporting a hit and run got a description of the car and driver? or that any one of ten thousand other scenarios the calltakers deal with EVERY SINGLE DAY resulted in someone's life being saved or an officer who was prepared for what he/she walked into when answering a 911 call? When did that become a bad thing? Just asking

To those facing suspensions during this month, Blogmaster is thinking of you. And for everyone else, take heed because next time it could be you.

It's official. There is, for the first time in recent memory, a new CPD Superintendant who is an "outsider". A former fed, as it were, non Chicagoan, to lead a department beset by several scandals, bad apples (a few, not all by any means), and tons of bad press over the past few years.

But Blogmaster digresses. For OEMC, the real issue about the appointment is two fold: how will the new Super treat the OEMC dispatch operations (like an unwanted but necessary minor league bit partner ala the current and immediate former Superintendants who mostly ignored OEMC) and what does his new role over "emergency management/homeland security" mean for the OEMC? Mostly, former supers just ignored OEMC, but those in the know know that is not the most prudent course of action in the long run, even if OEMC is no longer directly accountable to the CPD.

Were Blogmaster asked, we could advise the new super about a police dispatch center which is severely understaffed, operates on occasional mandatory overtime and unhealthy amounts of voluntary overtime, and accepts a lack of training and equipment for its 911 calltakers and dispatchers as "an unfortunate reality of the present political climate" (ie, read NO MONEY). These factors, coupled with low morale and other shortcomings (no leadership, poor use of existing resources, etc) directly affect officer safety and test public confidence in the entire public safety structure of the city. These are the things which OEMC's OWN executive director(s) have either failed to appreciate or take action upon.

Were Blogmaster advising the new super, we could further expound upon the city's amorphous and vague concept of "homeland security" and "emergency management" which provides its citizens with neither, if the definition of said phrases means that its front line workers (911 calltakers and dispatchers) are prepared to handle field events which include recognizing cluster occurences, multiple man mande catastrophes, terrorist attacks on city soil, or the occasional large scale evacuations or other mass incidents.

Blogmaster has no axe to grind with CPD and in general, we are very, very supportive of our brothers and sisters in the field. We know that the new super has his hands full already taking on CPD, especially if mass exodus in the upper ranks of CPD occurs when he takes his post. But these issues are so critical and so important that he ignores them at his own peril. Just the same, we wish him well.