Dom’s blog post_3 June 2010

It’s less than one month to go and the city is now rushing to adopt a balanced budget. No pre-planning, no cut backs, just last minute……“Hmmm…..Did I forget to do something?” When we negotiated our concession contract last year we planned for this fiscal crisis that was all around us. We knew it was going to be ugly for 3 to 4 years, and we planned accordingly. We took a $34.2 million cut that works out to be a 7% to 15% cut to each OPOA member and adverted layoffs. We knew then that 2010 would be worse, and we planned accordingly and prepared for the future.

However, city government did not plan. In fact they did very little between last summer and today. The proof is very clear; they cut 200 plus open positions and only had 68 layoffs during this entire fiscal crisis. Yes, I said only 68 layoffs so far!! At the police department we saw the cuts; we gave more than any other bargaining unit. The city continued to spend without planning. The City appeared to have no sense of urgency. Now they want to pull out their political gun and place it at our heads and the head of every law abiding Oakland citizen!!!

Today at the Rules committee meeting (3 Jun 2010), Ignacio De La Fuenta made a motion for city council to vote to layoff Police Officers!!!! This is two days after we had our first “official” meeting with Council members De La Fuenta, Quan, Kernighan and Brunner. You tell me, is that bargaining in good faith bargaining? Unbelievable!! We first learned of the city’s woes, where else but in the media, on 18 May. Then we met on June 1, for the official talk, and then BAM…. June 3, a motion is made for LAYOFF notices to be sent out. Yes, this is before any talks with the OPOA. These are the facts. This is NOT how you run a city.

Today, Council Member Brunner did a really good job shutting down the talk of Police layoffs, for now. There will not be a vote to send layoff notices at the 15 June, council meeting; instead they will discuss layoffs at the 24 June meeting.

It doesn’t appear that the city is serious about negotiating in good faith with the OPOA. They want the OPOA to give up, give up, give up, and receive NOTHING in return. They cannot even give me a guarantee that there will be no further layoffs should further concessions be made.
As far as getting out OUR message, we are trying each and every way to get out the OPOA position out to the public. We are updating the website OPOA.org, we have a Facebook Oakland Police Officers’ Association page that is getting updated daily, and we are getting our posts on the city Yahoo groups. I have given countless TV interviews. Both Barry and I talk to print journalists almost daily. However, with a few exceptions, the media has only printed and broadcasted what they want and edit out the rest. The media has NEVER been favorable to the OPOA.

940A!! This is a serious situation! I need your help getting the facts out. The OPOA cannot be the only ones trying to get out the point across, it will take ALL of us. This magnitude of this situation has never been faced by this organization. Every member of this police department will be affected if we layoff. I need every member to push people to our website and Facebook page. We will be entering into talks with the city. The executive board of the OPOA will be in discussions with the city. It is very important for all members not to negotiate this contract with media, friends, and city politicians. This will only give them ammo to attack us and may even sabotage our talks.
Here are some great points to tell the community we serve:

1. The OPOA members took a concession last year saving hundreds of jobs and saving the city $34.2 million. If we negotiate what guarantees are there? What if they come to us again next year?
2. Cutting 200 officers will severely impact out response violent crimes and dangerous situations.
3. The city approached the OPOA for the first time with layoffs in May, just a month before the budget is due.
4. The city has done little or nothing to solve its budget shortfalls after our concession agreement last year.
5. Our pension is paid by the city because it was negotiated that way, which means the City Council voted for it! The city felt it was cheaper. (See Barry’s blog for more on this subject)
6. We are in line with most other agencies in the Bay Area with regard to pay and benefits. However, we have far higher workloads, more calls for service and work in the 4th most dangerous city in the nation.
7. Why is the city not cutting anyone else??
8. Push everyone to the Facebook Page and OPOA.org websites

At this point, we will be talking with the city. We are yet to hear their plan, because they don’t have one yet. The OPOA in good faith, like last year, will listen to the city and see if we can pull them out of their mess. However, believe me when I tell you this, the OPOA will NOT be bullied by the city. We know firsthand how much the OPOA has given. We will help our laid off members, but who is going to help law the law abiding citizens of Oakland when 200 plus Police Officers are laid off?