Strategy

Brothers and Sisters,

What the city's negotiation team (Castor, Wright, Bennet and Lang) are doing is right out of negotiations 101.

First they counter our first offer with a ridiculous counter.

We (the PBA) cave almost immediately and drop our request by over 25%.

They then play a ridiculous demand for us to drop a benefit (shift bid) and slightly increase their offer.

Next they stand firm!

OK that’s where we are....want to know what the will do next.


First they will now come back with something in the area of 4/4/3 or 5/4/3 and a two year shift bid.

We will counter with and 18 month shift bid and 5/5/5, 5/4/4, or 5/4/3.

The city will agree to the shift bid and the 5/3/3.

It will go to a vote and we will vote yes.

Now why do I say we will vote yes....because the city has succeeded in splitting us on the issues. Detectives and Admin folks don’t are about shift bid. It has no effect on them so they don’t care about voting for it either way. The city knows this and will entice them with the raise (11 or 12% over 3 years). They will try to get the FTOs to go also by giving them a nice raise. Also they will dangle the shift differential in front of the midnight guys.

They will then be successful is splitting us all around. They only need 1/2 of us to vote their way.

On the other hand, the mayor will be hard pressed to try to defend the cities position on the raises. She got a 15% raise; she gave her staff 3-9% bonuses on top of their raises. But she can’t support the Police Dept who conducted the biggest crime reduction in 50 years, one of the biggest in the NATION?

Now I have heard the TFD received 6/6/6. Is this true? If it is, is she saying that we only deserve 1/2 of what they received? Have we done 1/2 the job they did?

In conclusion, please remember it is fundamental negotiations to try to divide you opponents rank and file with enticements.

Don’t let them do it. If the city does not change their position then we simply vote no. I don’t think the mayor wants to go into this election with the police protesting outside her speaking engagements about her lack up support for the police dept.

STAY UNITED!!! STAY THE COURSE!!!!!

Now I have heard the TFD received 6/6/6. Is this true?
heh, absolutely not true. The fire union doesn't even begin negotiations on their contract until next year.

He is talking about your last contract DUH !

Anyway Brother is 100% correct and as far as 11-12% raise that we keep us just at or below inflation if the next few year are good, if bad !

Stand United Brother and Sister for a change.

Here's my letter to the Mayor;

Service Type: Mayor's Office

Subject: Police Department Membership Contract

Message: Good day Mayor,

I am a very small voice of a large brotherhood of police officers that serve this great City. Many of us are disheartened by the antics of a select few that are trying to "low ball" a numbers game. What the City's negotiation team (Castor, Wright, Bennett and Lang) are doing is right out of negotiations 101. First they counter our first offer with a ridiculous counter. We (the PBA) cave almost immediately and drop our request by over 25%. They then play a ridiculous demand for us to drop a benefit (shift bid) and slightly increase their offer. Next they stand firm! OK that’s where we are....what will they do next.

As a group of professionals this is a tremendous slap in the face for all the hard work we have done to make our City safer and ultimately more attractive to expand our economic base.

I ask that you step in and stand up for your public servants. We need to stop these backyard tactics and ratify a great contract that will keep our moral high and our Department great.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Tampa Police Officer

He is talking about your last contract DUH !
6/6/6 with the current contract? I wish. Figured it was in reference with something someone thought was currently on the table since the current contract is public record.

Guys:

My suggestion to you is, read the updates on the PBA website. Our union is in agreement that we deserve nothing less than 5/5/5, with a one year shift bid. What they city is basically trying to do is protect management, and strip the officer's of their rights by changing the shift bid, and taking away the MPO rank from a bad evaluation.

Also the Chief, A/Chief, and Majors all got "Outstanding" Evals, along with a Bonus (All done by admin of course) due to the crime reduction, this is where the seperation begins. While we busted our butts, the ranks got to eat their steak with their bonus. NO ONE BOTHERED TO THANK US OFFICERS FOR A JOD WELL DONE, NO RECOGNITION WAS GIVEN. THEY GOT THEIR MONEY, KEPT THEIR MOUTHS SHUT, AND HOPED WE WOULD NEVER FIND OUT. The City wants to screw us, and so does management. They got their bonuses, along with a 3% raise (out of their 100,000 plus yearly salary).

Management does NOT want a unified force on this contract. My advise is STAY STRONG, and don't vote for anything than 5/5/5. And to the young rookies who came from nowhere, it affects you just as much as it affects the MPO. It has nothing to do with greed.

When the city counters and low balls you why in the world do you not up your offer from 6/6/6 to 7/7/7 and a 12 month shift bid to a 6 month shoft bid? Maybe that would grab their attention and get serious with the talks.