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.