Solidarity Against Mayor’s Bid to Kill Union for Police Brass: “We Are Not Wisconsin”

Mayor Charlie Hales hasn’t been especially cozy with the city’s big three public safety unions since taking office. He’s lined up political support for major cuts in the city’s police and fire bureaus while, at the same time, making a play to de-certify the union representing police lieutenants, captains, and commanders.

Muttering about the budget cuts has been mostly quiet and behind the scenes. (Mostly.) But Hales’ move against the Portland Police Commanding Officers Association (PPCOA)—claiming that police supervisors are, well, supervisors and shouldn’t be allowed to unionize under state law—is attracting some serious heat. Never mind that the PPCOA has been in some awkward spots over the past few months.

In a rare show of solidarity (not really seen since a group of unions all got together and pointedly decided, in December 2011, not to endorse Hales or his two rivals for mayor), six union leaders sent a letter to city council urging city commissioners to publicly challenge the mayor and not let him take down the PPCOA without a fight. It helps that there are rumblings Hales might look to do the same to Portland Fire Fighters Association—which has nominally supervisory employees in its ranks.

The letter (pdf), obtained by the Mercury and signed by the fire union, the District Council of Trade Unions, AFSCME, COPPEA, and both city police unions, PPCOA and the Portland Police Association, (PPA) spares no feelings by comparing Hales directly with union-busting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

The decision on the PPCOA is up to the state Employment Relations Board and could easily result in a court challenge. The city also is lobbying against a bill, HB 2418, that would explicitly let police supervisors join unions.

Stripping bargaining rights from supervisors comes down to a couple of things. One of them is money. They tend to have bigger salaries and often earn big payouts in overtime. Hales wants the right to clamp down on those costs without having to bargain. The other issue is discipline. Supervisors working without a contract backing them up could be fired or demoted or suspended more easily when the chief or police commissioner decide they’ve been guilty of misconduct. Because no more binding arbitration—where discipline decisions, in use of force cases, often go to die.

Discipline already is seen by many cops as a political tool—something Chief Mike Reese hasn’t helped ameliorate with discipline that some observers see as inconsistent. Add in the potential restrictions on pay and the ability to bargain over working conditions, and a lot of cops privately will say there’s absolutely no reason why any top-flight sergeant would ever risk trying to climb the ladder further. Cops with stripes also argue that the chief and assistant chiefs make all the real decisions, downplaying to some degree their role in advising and reviewing the cops they supervise. Union reps also argue the PPCOA has been easy to work with.

Legal questions aside, it’s been endlessly fascinating to see Hales go at not just public safety unions, but labor as a whole. He was proudly out front when SEIU’s private security guards, some who work for the company that holds the city contract, battled over their last contract. AFSCME sources say Hales has been decent—even though they backed Jefferson Smith until the end.

But the police unions and the fire union not only didn’t back Hales, but they also didn’t back Amanda Fritz for re-election and have picked a fight with Commissioner Dan Saltzman over fire and police pension reforms that he put to a public vote over their outcry. On a council where three votes achieves much,
those unions are starting out in a hole.

That hole is even deeper given, what I’m told, about Hales’ favorability ratings and the city’s overall.