Perfect example of how pathetic things have become

One thing i can say about frank baker, he has never I mean never forgotten where he came from. He is a cops cop always putting the troops first, trust me he will protect his front line deputies ever at his own cost. this situation will be taken care of. i wish he was back on the west side. west sider

Watch what you say. If those near the top learn that he is a Cops Cop they will put pressure on him to retire or cast him aside for another one of their Do Boys. I hate to say this, but even the Captain can't do much because his authority has been taken away by the powers downtown. They will not allow any Major or Captain to even run their own district anymore, as you know who has to have his thumb on everything because he is a power hungry insecure person with absolutely no interpersonal skills. You get more feedback from a slab at the morgue then trying to communicate with this person downtown. There is a rally right now to bring back the union, for which I was againt before, but totally agree with at this point due to the fact that things cannot get any worse at HCSO. Thanks for at least trying captain, but we all know what you are up against. I have always "Kept the Faith" until about the last 2-3 years, when I continue to see things I never thought were possible for a leader that made so many promises and had everybody ready to follow him and believe in him. Now, oh my God....now, we all feel betrayed and have no more FAITH in this current office.

Ditto you do make a good point. Thank you Captain for working nights and getting dirty with us, your positive and up beat attitude truly makes a difference. :cop:

A rally to bring back the union? Where ? When? Sign me up. Totally against it before. I am an olsd timer that thought the new regime would do what they said, lol, silly me.

Capt. Baker is a great guy and you are right, if they find out he is behind the troops, they will want him gone. Very very sad state of affairs we have.

The office is almost 200 positions down, that's an entire district of people. The" Hillsborough halo" is only going to last so long.

Morale bad? Nope, ask anyone downtown, it's great. You know the ones that sit in offices all day, wouldn't know a call if it jumped on their hood and I guarantee they dont miss their meals in their 8.24 hour day. I dare any of them to come work a zone for 12 hours.

A rally to bring back the union? Where ? When? Sign me up. Totally against it before. I am an olsd timer that thought the new regime would do what they said, lol, silly me.

Capt. Baker is a great guy and you are right, if they find out he is behind the troops, they will want him gone. Very very sad state of affairs we have.

The office is almost 200 positions down, that's an entire district of people. The" Hillsborough halo" is only going to last so long.

Morale bad? Nope, ask anyone downtown, it's great. You know the ones that sit in offices all day, wouldn't know a call if it jumped on their hood and I guarantee they dont miss their meals in their 8.24 hour day. I dare any of them to come work a zone for 12 hours.

I guarantee you that many are wishing they never voted the union out. If that same vote was taken today, the results would have been drastically different. I don't think it will be very long before there is going to be a push to unionize again. Ruthless politics now control HCSO and it has been overly clear that this command staff only cares about a select group of people, mainly themselves.

How will a union change things?

How will a union change things?

The same way it has at hundreds of other law enforcement and firefighting agencies. During the bargaining process, agreements (contracts) are made that agencies are binded to and cannot just do away with, like the current step plan for example. This is why TPD, Tampa Fire and many other public safety agencies around the state did not suffer the same pay cuts & feezes like HCSO for example. If the union was still in place at HCSO, they would not have been able to just freeze wages like they did and they certainly would not be able to tamper with and now decrease the step plan that was in place until the union left. By voting out the union, the employees at HCSO stated that they did not need any organization to represent them or fight for them, should the agency try and dismantle something like the agreed upon step plan. Most felt that the sheriff, usually referred to as chief at HCSO, would take care of them and do the right things. Now that most have seen that this is not what is happening, they cannot do anything about it, because all the bargaining power and legalized contracts went out the door with the union when it left HCSO. We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this one. We were all warned over & over again, but the little Cpls with their petition boards preyed upon all the new troops on duty time to convince then to vote out the union. Diid the union need some new blood in it's ranks..it sure did....just like HCSO needed and still needs some new blood in it's supervisory & command ranks. Make sure you take the first opportunity you get to say thank you to those petition Cpls, who have now suceeded in HCSO tearing apart the old Step Plan, thus costing you many thousands of dollars over your future career. 1% Step raises............wow what a bargain HCSO turned the once great Step Plan into. I'm surprised they didn't add on that in order to even get the 1%, you have to run the challenge course.

[The Nitely Blog]

I'm surprised they didn't add on that in order to even get the 1%, you have to run the challenge course.

I hear ya dude. No kidding.

[Monster Garage]

How will a union change things?

The same way it has at hundreds of other law enforcement and firefighting agencies. During the bargaining process, agreements (contracts) are made that agencies are binded to and cannot just do away with, like the current step plan for example. This is why TPD, Tampa Fire and many other public safety agencies around the state did not suffer the same pay cuts & feezes like HCSO for example. If the union was still in place at HCSO, they would not have been able to just freeze wages like they did and they certainly would not be able to tamper with and now decrease the step plan that was in place until the union left. By voting out the union, the employees at HCSO stated that they did not need any organization to represent them or fight for them, should the agency try and dismantle something like the agreed upon step plan. Most felt that the sheriff, usually referred to as chief at HCSO, would take care of them and do the right things. Now that most have seen that this is not what is happening, they cannot do anything about it, because all the bargaining power and legalized contracts went out the door with the union when it left HCSO. We have nobody to blame but ourselves for this one. We were all warned over & over again, but the little Cpls with their petition boards preyed upon all the new troops on duty time to convince then to vote out the union. Diid the union need some new blood in it's ranks..it sure did....just like HCSO needed and still needs some new blood in it's supervisory & command ranks. Make sure you take the first opportunity you get to say thank you to those petition Cpls, who have now suceeded in HCSO tearing apart the old Step Plan, thus costing you many thousands of dollars over your future career. 1% Step raises............wow what a bargain HCSO turned the once great Step Plan into. I'm surprised they didn't add on that in order to even get the 1%, you have to run the challenge course.

I truly hope you are not this stupid. FHP has had a union, several different ones as a matter of fact, for many years and they have the worst pay and working schedules around the state. Furthermore, take a gander over at TPD’s board (which you hold as an example of union power) and see the threads on how their step program was taken away recently. Unions have no power, get over it. Be glad we have a good leader and we got the raise we got in these bleak economic times.

[Monster Garage]

Here are some direct quotes from the almighty powerful unionized TPD board:

“Who said it was the PBA fault that we had a higher pension, it was just listed as another kick in the gut for FY2011. Based on your argument that the PBA can't do anything, one would wonder what is the purpose of the PBA. Lastly, for me and many others they are not complaining about the lack of a raise, but I think they could have at least put up some fight to address off duty, pay compression or health care. They blew off every person at the meeting or who called the office that tried to get some feedback on these issues. They really come across like they just rolled over and thru in the white flag from the start. So I leave you with the question, if the PBA is unable to do anything within bargaining and the norm is going to be whatever the City decides to give us, perhaps the city does not need to be paying three full time SR detectives to work there nor should we be paying 45,000-50,000 in dues a month, and annual and sick time for some expert golf tournament planners.”

“While I agree that the contract COULD have been better, we need to look at reality. What would have happened if it was voted down? Another round of negotiations, a powerless mediation, and an appearance again before city council. We would then be with the same contract we have now (no steps) for another year. It's blatantly obvious that we only have one supporter on the council so it's no surprise how the vote would be. In the end the city is going to give us what they want, and we will deal with it. Our union isn't powerful enough to throw any weight around.”

“What are you talking about, the PBA has not won a disciplinary hearing/ arbitration in almost three years. What ever staff dished out, thats what the person got. Who has the PBA saved since Stout took over? We have batted zero on contracts and zero on arbitration hearings. The last attorney sucked, and based on the intro from the new one in the badge and labor, it just states he was an attorney at a state attorneys office, no mention of any labor law, arbitration or civil law expereince. WTF.”

I have said it before, but it still amazes me the idiots that take the time to come on here and beat the union drum but cant click over to another board and see how its working for others. FHP, TPD and every other unionized agency has no greater bargaining power than one without. Simple fact.

[The Nitely Blog]

Yo Monster G. I actually do visit other boards on this site as well as speak with officers from other agencies. I was one of the people that voted against a union at the time the vote came up. (I screwed up and I'm sorry boys and girls for voting that way.) The union at that time had leadership that pretty much sucked and was much to be desired. The idea of a union was'nt a bad one but the people in charge of it were disgruntled and resented anything that did not meet their demands.

While the union leadership was wrong in not meeting the staff leadership halfway in the negotiation process the leadership of this office was and continues to be a dictorian cast of characters. After being here a fair amount of years I have seen this place fall into the crapper. There use to be a sence of family and a botherhood around this place but no more. It's sad.