Open letter to the Mayor

[Terminal MPO]

Ms Mayor,

This Federal Arbitrator has basically called your Chief of Police deceptive (a nice way to say liar). He described the termination of Officer Maus as "Absurd".

Ms Mayor, our Chief and his Staff would NEVER allow us to do our job this poorly. We have a few questions for you if you would please answer:

1. Are you going to do anything about their incompetent handling of this situation?

2. Is this the type of administrative decisions you support and desire from you upper managers?

3. Do you agree with the arbitrator?

4. You have a mechanism in place to ensure these types of abuses don’t occur (Sarah Lang). Obviously she failed as the safeguard, is there any discipline for her (by the way she has failed over and over at reviewing these absurd terminations)?

5. Have you spoken to Travis about the fact your manager was found to be deceptive and to make "absurd" decisions?



Kevin Durkin,

Why would the PBA not assist Travis a further civil remedy? This is the exact reason the City and Staff continue to abuse their authority in these situations.

Its time we seek civil remedy beyond the city giving back their jobs. WE MUST seek punitive damages in these situations. The city wrote a check for $6000. Did that bother them? NO!!!

Lets have them write a check for $600,000 and see if they will continue to fire people unjustly ("absurd").

Now I know that the Mayor does not have enough hutspa to come on here and talk to us. She doesn’t care. She only comes to talk to us (in the trenches) when it was election time.

However, I would love for ANYONE on our PBA board to let us know whether or not they are continuing the fight or stopping now.

Excellent letter - would be nice if you get a response!

Speaking of Sarah Lang I wonder if she has ever over turned any ruling by the city. I have been here for quite sometime and it has not happended since I am been here. It seems to be a pointless step in the process.

[Sysop]

Sorry guys, but I was forced to remove an insulting post on this topic. There's no place for personal attacks on this website and I doubt anything constructive would have come out of it. And, before you ask, quotes from an Arbitrator are not libelous and do not violate our Terms of Use.

Thanks in advance for keeping it professional!

I agree, the digs about Sarah Lang are not professional. You were right to delete the posts.

Guys, it's not necessary for the PBA to assist Travis in a civil lawsuit. There are plenty of employment law attorneys out there who will be more than happy to take a wrongful termination case on his behalf. He's the one who was wronged, so he's the one who needs to pursue that if he really wants to. My guess is that he's so busy right now in flight training, he probably won't, at least not in the near future.

While I'm no fan of our PBA and would cancel my membership if it wasn't for the protections that they offer during shootings and discipline, I really don't think that it's their job to go after the city for punitive damages. They are a union, and their job as the union is to see that the collective bargaining agreement was not violated. In my personal opinion, they do a very poor job of that by letting the city get away with routinely violating the policeman's bill of rights. Still, their job isn't to go after the city in court after they win arbitration. That's just more money it will cost the membership as a whole.

I couldn't disagree with you more!

The city keeps firing people and destroying their lives BECAUSE the PBA only tries to get their jobs back.

If the city was to face some kind of punishment they may stop their "absurd" actions.

As it is there is no incentive for the city to stop. $6000 is nothing to them. The press obviously doesnt care as you havn't seen word one about the fact a federal arbitrator called the chief deception and his decision absurd.

If everytime the city fired someone absurdly they had to cut a check for a 1/2 a million they might rethink their actions. As it is now, they have NO incentive to do so.

As for whether it is the PBAs responsibility....of course it is. They are there for us and to represent us. We (Travis) were wronged and it is up to them to demand resititution.

What is restitution, more than just the difference in his military pay and what he would have made at the department.

Travis.....when they pull out their calculator, ask them to factor in the max off duty for every week you were gone. Thats income you "could have" received!

I totally agree with you!

There are many PBA's up north that go after the city all the time (http://www.nypdflsa.com/index.html). The problem that we have with ours is that the reps will do the very minimum that they have to do in a case because they do not want to make big waves. Why? Various reasons come into play, friendships, promotions, not wanting to become a target themselves, etc. We need a PBA that has balls and is going to keep it's members informed, and motivate them to get involved. A P.B.A. that demonstrates that they truely care, and are willing to fight for it's members, no matter the cost, time, or effort that has to be put into it.

N.Y.P.D. P.B.A. ( http://www.nycpba.org/news/index.html):

"We waged a media advertisement campaign, made public appearances too numerous to count, appeared on radio and TV, demonstrated at the Republican National Convention and picketed the Mayor at public appearances and other locations, including his residence, all to highlight our wage plight. While the City may not have been moved by our campaign, the public, press and ultimately the arbitrator heard our public arguments and we believe that the public campaign strengthened our position." Sounds like our press conferences, right? L.M.A.O.


"On June 28, 2005, after 14 days of arbitration and numerous days of other hearings and meetings, an award was issued by the PERB panel in our 2002-2004 Contract Arbitration, ending a protracted round of bargaining that began in September 2002. As you know, this produced an award of 5% per year over two years, or 10.25% compounded. While we deserved much more and that was clearly proven in our arbitration hearings, this award represented a significant upward departure from anything offered by the City across the negotiating table or during the mediation process."

With the crime reduction bonuses that the chief and majors received, I think that at a minimum 5, 5, and 5 sounds good. We did all the dirty work!

N.Y.C.S.T. (http://www.nystpba.org/pages/public/news.asp?cat=D)

The PBA will be presenting arguments before the Appellate Division, Third Department, today defending a previous Supreme Court decision that the Division of State Police wrongly withheld a Trooper’s pay after an initial 30-day suspension from duty. The ruling also ordered the Trooper be paid retroactively. Following the court win in favor of the PBA, Division filed an appeal.

Attached above is the 19-page brief filed by the PBA to accompany today’s arguments in court. To read the brief, just click on the icon above. The PBA will continue to fight for our members’ rights through whatever means necessary.

I can go on and on with examples from other P.B.A.'s. I think that you guys get the picture.

Now to be fair, I do not think that the members help the situation by playing the me, myself, and I routine.

N.Y.P.D.:

"We want to thank you for taking the time to participate in this important process. The AAA informed us that the average turnout for a union election is 30%, while the turnout for the PBA 2003 election was over 53%, far greater than the average. We will continue our efforts to involve all members in the important work of the union.

On a more personal note, we want to thank you for your loyalty and support over the past four years. Over 70% of the membership expressed approval of the direction this organization is heading under the current leadership. This mandate sends a clear message to elected officials and others that WE SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE."

We need to stop all the gossip, back stabbing, etc., and stand united as one. United we stand, divided we fall.

Peace out, my brothers, and be safe!

It's only libelous if the statements you are making are "false" about someone. Read a law book.
Please don't delete my personal comments and then post your own because you too are a puppet of the current administration.
"She" did nothing to help the officer and could have, so "she" is at fault.
"She" has a track record of not helping good officers.
So this is not a libelous statement but feel free to delete in order to negotiate some better health benefits or a lower multiplier.
Sorry to get your g-string in a wad.

[Sysop]

It's only libelous if the statements you are making are "false" about someone. Read a law book.
Please don't delete my personal comments and then post your own because you too are a puppet of the current administration.
"She" did nothing to help the officer and could have, so "she" is at fault.
"She" has a track record of not helping good officers.
So this is not a libelous statement but feel free to delete in order to negotiate some better health benefits or a lower multiplier.
Sorry to get your g-string in a wad.

I'm familiar with the law, but you're apparently not familiar with our Terms of Use. Libelous statements are only one of many Terms of Use we have. So, here's a link:

http://www.leoaffairs.com/disclaimer.htm

Postings that violate our Terms of Use, even if they are your personal comments, will be Deleted. Further action, such as Banning or contacting your AOL ISP, can be employed as well.

Accusing the Sysop of LEOAFFAIRS.COM of being a puppet of the current administration is an interesting position to take. In any case, your above post proves that you can talk about the same person and get your point across without slamming her or name calling. So, thanks!

Please don't delete my personal comments and then post your own because you too are a puppet of the current administration.



The Sysop is a "puppet of the current administration"? :shock:

That is unquestionably the most ignorant and idiotic statement ever posted on leoaffairs! :lol:

You must have just fallen of the turnip truck!!!!

:) :) :) :D :D :D :lol: :lol: :lol: :o :o :o :D :D :) :) :) 8) 8) 8) 8)

LEOAFFAIRS.COM, LLC nonetheless assumes no responsibility for the content of the Messages, no obligation to modify or remove any inappropriate Messages, and no responsibility for the conduct of the user submitting any Message.

It seems to me (I could be wrong) that _____ overstepped the boundaries by deleting my message.
______ could have just deleted it without adding his agenda in but ______ didn't.
______ just didn't like what I had to say. I was right. They screwed a perfectly good officer and his family so I can't see why you are defending those actions.

With all due respect, it seems like this site picks and chooses which comments they want based on whatever suits them.
That's why I think something funny is going on.
Do you also release IP addresses when someone pisses in your coffee?
Please respond as most of us want to know how confidential this site really is?
Those of you defending the actions of the city on that one are wrong.
You screwed a good cop. How hard do you think it was for him to just not have a paycheck coming in.
Do you think he lost his house? Maybe
Divorce? Possibly
Did he even eat?
All because of a few bad decisions made by some top level administrators.

I am in a crappy mood because I work for a living and I ran out of Jack Daniels.
So Before you ask, the answer is yes.
When I return with another bottle to help heal my foot maybe my posts will be a little bit nicer but until then, stop abusing your position to delete perfectly good posts.
It almost sounds like you are having relations with ____ ______.

You can rant and rave all you want.

The fact is that you demolished your credibility on this subject with the accusation that the Sysop was "a puppet of this administration."

A more idiotic statement was never posted.

Never!

:P

Ok company man...
Do you wipe your seargant's a$$ too when he takes a dump.

Sysop never makes any mistakes right...that's why he posted my ISP.

I copied the "open letter" and sent it to the mayor. I have now waited over 3 weeks and received no response.

I also sent it to the trib and St Pete rag. Again, no response.

It appears that the mayor, the press, and the PBA dont really care.

Just the kind of officer I loath........sending stuff to the media......all the while knowing how the media is. You are stabbing your fellow cops in the back when u do such. The media doesn't care about anything but making us look stupid. Thanks for giving them the fuel. Please next time print your name so I know who to look for.

I copied the "open letter" and sent it to the mayor. I have now waited over 3 weeks and received no response.

I also sent it to the trib and St Pete rag. Again, no response.

It appears that the mayor, the press, and the PBA dont really care.


Open Letters are intended to garner publicity. They are regarded as political attacks not appropriate for personal response. If you had written a private message it is more likely that you would have gotten a reply.

Newspapers only publish Open Letters as paid advertisement. You've see them; like the ones where some pressure group is trying to get public support to pass a law, etc. You might have gotten something published if you had written a "letter to the editor."

Hope this soothes your feelings.

Just the kind of officer I loath........sending stuff to the media......all the while knowing how the media is. You are stabbing your fellow cops in the back when u do such. The media doesn't care about anything but making us look stupid. Thanks for giving them the fuel. Please next time print your name so I know who to look for.


I have to ask, how in the hell is he stabbing fellow cops in the back?