June 25, 2008

Police get 4-year union deal; Cockayne opposes cost to taxpayers

A new four-year pact between the city and the police union provides a 13.9 percent raise to more than 100 police officers.
But one city councilor opposed the agreement because it doesn’t ask officers to pay enough for their health care.
“Everything was negotiated in good faith,” said Mayor Art Ward. He said both the city and the union had to give up items they wanted during negotiations.
Ward called the pact “a good compromise” that benefits taxpayers and the union.
The retroactive deal gives a 3-percent raise for 2007, 3.25-percent for 2008 and 3.5-percent in each of the final two years of the contract.
The contract also increases the share of health insurance costs paid by officers from the current 5 percent to 8.5 percent by 2010. That’s the highest figure that any city union outside the school system has yet agreed to cough up.
There’s no change in the existing pension provisions, Personnel Director Diane Ferguson said.
Five of the six city councilors backed the agreement, with only rookie Republican Ken Cockayne voting against it.
Cockayne said Wednesday that he didn’t have a problem with the pay hikes, but wanted a three-year agreement and a better deal for taxpayers on employee health care.
But Ward said the salary increases “are very comparable to communities that we’re basically competing with as far as retention of accredited police officers.
“It brings us up to being competitive,” Ward said.
The risk of paying less than the going rate is that the city will train new officers so they can become accredited and then they’ll leave for jobs elsewhere.
Cockayne said he wants city employees to pay at least 10 percent of the cost for their health insurance, along with higher co-pays for doctor and hospital visits.
As it is, police officers currently pay $66.44 each month as their share of a family medical plan. The city pays $1,377 more, Cockayne said.
Starting next month, officers with a family plan will pay $96.92 a month while the city will pay $1,523 monthly to cover the rest of the expense.
What that means, Cockayne said, is that every year, taxpayers are paying a much greater share of the rising health care tab than employees are.
“This was a huge deciding factor for me in voting no,” said Cockayne.
For the entire police department, employees pay $9,360 a month for their health insurance, Cockayne said. The city pays more than $150,000.
“That is why we can’t balance the budget,” he said.
Besides that, he said, the city’s plan is far more lucrative than anything the private sector has seen in years.
“It is not the Cadillac of health plans, it is the Ferrari of health plans,” Cockayne said.
Cockayne said his vote against the contract is not a reflection of any unhappiness with the job that officers do on the streets. He said the city has an excellent police force.
But, he said, taxpayers need a break.
The contract also sets an educational standard for those seeking to become sergeants and lieutenants for the first time. Starting in 2014, anyone wanting to become a sergeant needs to have at least an associate’s degree. Those seeking to become lieutenants will need a bachelor’s degree.
The city pays for college courses for police officers looking to earn a degree.
A three-year union pact reached last year between the city and 54 members of the Bristol Professionals and Supervisors Association delivered a 9.3 percent pay hike and required workers to cough up a 7.5 percent co-payment for their medical and dental insurance coverage, at the time the highest among the city’s municipal unions.
Two unions, representing the workers at City Hall and at public works, pay nothing at all toward their insurance tab. A new round of negotiations with them is set to begin soon.
The fire union is still negotiating a new agreement, Ward said. Ferguson said it’s in arbitration now.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought that some bargaining units pay more than 8%.

Steve, could you check that?

Anonymous said...

"The contract also increases the share of health insurance costs paid by officers from the current 5 percent to 8.5 percent by 2010. That’s the highest figure that any city union has yet agreed to cough up."


This is not true...the teachers' union and the school administrators' union (both of which are AFT-CIO) will be paying 11% as of July 1, 2008.

Steve Collins said...

I'm waiting for a return call from Diane Ferguson, the city's personnel director, to ask a few more questions. I'll include that one.

Steve Collins said...

Changed the text to reflect that the school system employees may pay more.

Anonymous said...

The police and fire should have the best package of everyone b/c they are putting their lives at risk. With this setting the bar or the baseline, I hope the other unions are ready to cough up more. If the police are paying, they should be on the low end of the scale with the firemen.

btw - Who agreed to have some unions pay nothing at all? That is ridiculous!

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it Nicastro that gave the unions a 6 year zero pay contract?

Anonymous said...

I know that Stortz got concessions in the one contract he negotiated, and I thought the numbers were higher.

The others go back to Nicastro and Couture.

Anonymous said...

Who in their right mind would approve a 4 year contract at 3.5% in such uncertain times??

A GOOD DEAL for the Police Union for sure.

Anonymous said...

McCauley working for the best interests of the unions!!

Anonymous said...

3:53


NEVER HAPPENED!!!!!

Anonymous said...

McCauley shouldn't be allowed to vote on any contracts. The other unions, including his own are definitely going to refer to the precedent set by the other contracts. It benefits him directly to approve a great deal like this for the police. The firemen are going to look at this one and want the same if not better.

It is ridiculous that he can vote on any of these things.

Anonymous said...

kenny needs to realize that everything costs money, how does his insurance business operate, can he say that his rates never went up, how about his commission rate or the profit margin for his company? sound bites are great kenny but reality does become actuality.

Anonymous said...

How many months left on this adminsitration? Get ready Ken Johnson-we need you.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the poster that said the primo contracts should be for the police and the firemen. If they are going to pay then the others should pay more. They should be the baseline.

Anonymous said...

MCuley voted the same way that Ward and others did.

Anonymous said...

Nicastro supported the great contracts before - blatant political pandering to special interest groups. No wonder he gets endorsed by the unions all the time.

Anonymous said...

Don't paint Cockayne as anti-union. He is bringing to light things that no one wants known. He is working for the taxpayers.

Great Job Ken!

Anonymous said...

So if the cost of premiums to the city go up do they share the increase with the workers or do the taxpayers absorb the increase?

Anonymous said...

What soundbite did Kenny put out? It sounds like he offered some hard examples.

Steve can you do something comparing the contracts between the different unions? I would love to know the deals that everyone else has.

Was it really Nicastro the signed off on a zero contribution towards healthcare for some unions? That is outrageous!

Anonymous said...

Maybe Stortz wasn't so bad after all.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that people keep attacking this guy?

He seems to be asking the right questions. I am learning more about the inside stuff then ever before and I don't really like what I am seeing.

Steve Collins said...

I'm not sure how valuable comparing the contracts would be since they were signed at widely varying times. The two city unions that pay nothing agreed on a deal six years ago. Even then, it was unusual for a pact to contain no requirement that the workers help pay part of the health care tab, but remember that it was negotiated. They gave up something so they wouldn't have to pay.
Unfortunately for taxpayers, and the press, it's hard to know what goes in negotiations that are secret.
Personally, I don't see why they need to be secret. I think it should all be done in the open. But I'm big on open government.

Anonymous said...

Ken, dial 911!

The taxpayers are being raped!

Anonymous said...

poster 4:24

Check your facts! Yes, it was Nicastro who signed a six year contract giving two unions 100% paid health insurance.

Anonymous said...

4:31 poster,

REALITY!! Are you kidding. Reality is that NO company today pay's most of the insurance for the employees. Talk to your friends and neighbors, outside of the city unions, they are NOT paying 6.5% cost sharing.

Keep up the good work Cockayne. Keep bring out all the Good Old Boy agreements that is still going on.

Anonymous said...

ken stick to your guns don't let thoses jerks you sit down with change your mind. help us taxpayers, ward sure does'nt give a damn.

Anonymous said...

Nicastro for COO COO

Anonymous said...

Nicastro is COO COO

Anonymous said...

GREAT CONTRACT FOR THE COPS! They do a fantastic job day in and day out and they deserve this package! Hopefully our brother firemen will get the same!

Anonymous said...

wow...so the police get big pay raises, pay the minimum for heatlh insurance and are allowed to have traces of narcotics in their system from a drug test....sign me up, sounds like a police officer is the job to have in Bristol.

Anonymous said...

No, don't sign him up, doesn't sound like the intelligent individual we need on our police force. It's obvious he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about from his comments. These benefits are agreed upon by BOTH city leaders and union membership, BOTH trying to get whats best for the people they represent. If you knew anything about bargaining you would know that.

Anonymous said...

That is why the unions always ask for everything. They don't necessarily believe they are going to get everything, but that start off requesting the Ferrari then settle for the Cadillac (to borrow an analogy from Ken C himself).

Too bad no one other the Ken C or sometimes Minor has the balls to stand up to them. If everyone took a hard line together and worked for the taxpayers as a whole (not just the taxpayers in the unions) we could balance this budget and get out of this mess.

What a great deal the police got. For the most part it is well deserved, but the drug testing stuff is crap. If there are trace elements of marijuana or steroids or cocaine, how can it be a "legal thing" or an acceptable positive test. What a joke. Even trace amounts shows that they were doing illegal things and they should be held to a higher standard.

Anonymous said...

"Too bad no one other the Ken C or sometimes Minor has the balls to stand up to them"

LMAO ~ 4:41, Stop, my sides hurt! Ever think about a career as a comedian? You're a riot!!!

Anonymous said...

McCauley...working in the best interests of the Unions!!

You bragged you had the most votes last election in District 2, as I recall rookie Cokayne wasn't far behind. Next election you will be the least vote getter.

You've been outed and we are all aware.

Thanks Cokayne for not being part of the same old, same old and showing us what is really going on in Bristol.

COKAYNE FOR MAYOR 09!!

Anonymous said...

Next will be the attacks at Ken like Zoppo had to deal with.

It's been posted here Ken will fade out, that he can't keep going like he is. Seems to me he has just begun and doesn't look like he is slowing down!

Ken, where do I send my check for next years election? Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

My sources tell me that Ken had a copy of this agreement weeks before the special meeting to vote on it. Why didn't he make any noise about it before the vote? This seems like his method of operation. Wait until after the vote and then pretend he is looking out for the taxpayers. I think he is all smoke and mirrors. He is definately a one termer.

Anonymous said...

Ken who?

Anonymous said...

10:24 poster,

You should get better sources!

Anonymous said...

Obviously Councilman Cockayne and all the other Councilors had a copy of the contract well in advance of the vote. I don't think they were handed the contract for review ten minutes before the vote was taken. I agree that it seems like Cockayne loves to complain about things after the fact when there is no recourse. He claims to have all these simple solutions to very complex issues that municiple governments have been wrestling with for years. The guy must be a rather under estimated genious. He is probably not a bad guy, but I also agree that he is a one termer. He appears to be too much and too loud to accomplish much of anything. Remember, others came before him.

Anonymous said...

Where will Cockayne be when the Press folds?

No one will know he exists!

Anonymous said...

"Next will be the attacks at Ken like Zoppo had to deal with."

Nah, there's no need. Ken isn't in the same league and he's way too easy of a target! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Thats right Ken, give them more money, and then take some of it back with CO-PAY.

You look good in the media and the city still comes out on the short end.

Anonymous said...

Would the cost of a COO COO pay for the health care?

Ken, get real!

Anonymous said...

Cockayne is unhappy with the contracts....awwwwww I'm unhappy with insurance costs are you , as an insurance rep gonna help us reduce that cost? We're unhappy with that.

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't Cockayne produce a report for the people as to what each union is getting, in health care and other benefits?

There is so much different information going aroud.

Here is a chance for him to clear it all up.