NewsHound
10-07-2011, 02:29 PM
From Jacksonville.com
A state agency has dismissed an unfair labor practice complaint that Jacksonville's police union filed last month against Sheriff John Rutherford.
The Fraternal Order of Police argued that Rutherford was intimidating officers by telling them in roll-call meetings that there would be layoffs unless the union accepted a 2 percent pay cut being sought by Mayor Alvin Brown.
The top lawyer for the state Public Employees Relations Commission summarily dismissed that complaint last week.
In a decision dated Sept. 28, general counsel Stephen Meck wrote that Rutherford's remarks were "a non-coercive statement of what the sheriff believes will occur," and didn't step over any lines.
Rutherford is not a party in the union's ongoing impasse with the city, which uses City Hall administrators to negotiate new contracts.
The union plans to file a new complaint making clearer why it believes Rutherford's actions were inappropriate, said Paul Daragjati, the FOP's general counsel.
A state agency has dismissed an unfair labor practice complaint that Jacksonville's police union filed last month against Sheriff John Rutherford.
The Fraternal Order of Police argued that Rutherford was intimidating officers by telling them in roll-call meetings that there would be layoffs unless the union accepted a 2 percent pay cut being sought by Mayor Alvin Brown.
The top lawyer for the state Public Employees Relations Commission summarily dismissed that complaint last week.
In a decision dated Sept. 28, general counsel Stephen Meck wrote that Rutherford's remarks were "a non-coercive statement of what the sheriff believes will occur," and didn't step over any lines.
Rutherford is not a party in the union's ongoing impasse with the city, which uses City Hall administrators to negotiate new contracts.
The union plans to file a new complaint making clearer why it believes Rutherford's actions were inappropriate, said Paul Daragjati, the FOP's general counsel.