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Old 03-08-2010, 04:27 PM
 
Location: Omaha Nebraska and dreamland when I am sleeping
3,098 posts, read 7,543,719 times
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City Wants Police Union To Pay More For 'Spiking' - Omaha News Story - KETV Omaha (http://www.ketv.com/news/22775924/detail.html - broken link)
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Old 03-08-2010, 06:13 PM
 
Location: Tampa (by way of Omaha)
14,561 posts, read 23,062,561 times
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The city council is going to cost the city a lot of money with their political grandstanding. The Police Union will almost certainly reject this deal (as they should) and then if the original version doesn't pass, they'll just take it to the CIR again, get the raises they agreed to fore go and spiking will continue.
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Old 03-09-2010, 11:11 AM
 
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The police and fire unions are way too powerful in this city. It's about time they get some push back.
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Old 03-09-2010, 11:34 AM
 
Location: Tampa (by way of Omaha)
14,561 posts, read 23,062,561 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvinist View Post
The police and fire unions are way too powerful in this city. It's about time they get some push back.
You realize the unions have all the leverage here, right?
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Old 03-09-2010, 12:12 PM
 
Location: I think my user name clarifies that.
8,292 posts, read 26,671,830 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bosco55David View Post
You realize the unions have all the leverage here, right?
And with all due respect, it's time to put a stop to that nonsense.

I'm all for paying policemen and firemen, and paying them well. Absolutely.

But this business of a policeman or fireman being able to retire at the age of 50, and earn $85,000 - $90,000 per year pension FOR HIS ENTIRE LIFE is absolutely ridiculous - especially considering the fact that it is funded by Omaha's taxpayers.

It's one thing if private companies want to pay pensions like that, but when it's public pension it's another thing.


With all due respect, enough is enough.
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Old 03-09-2010, 12:49 PM
 
Location: Tampa (by way of Omaha)
14,561 posts, read 23,062,561 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Omaha Rocks View Post
And with all due respect, it's time to put a stop to that nonsense.

I'm all for paying policemen and firemen, and paying them well. Absolutely.

But this business of a policeman or fireman being able to retire at the age of 50, and earn $85,000 - $90,000 per year pension FOR HIS ENTIRE LIFE is absolutely ridiculous - especially considering the fact that it is funded by Omaha's taxpayers.

It's one thing if private companies want to pay pensions like that, but when it's public pension it's another thing.

With all due respect, enough is enough.
I agree, the spiking issue is a problem and it's one that the unions have been just as eager to solve as the city.

That said, the unions DO have the leverage. That old contract is in place until a new one is agreed upon and they can simply take the city to the CIR (as they have in the past) to get their raises while spiking continues. They hold the cards in these negotiations and they continue to play nice despite the idiots on the city council and in the general public running them down again and again.

The police union brought forth a pretty sweetheart deal for the city. So sweetheart in fact that it barely based a membership vote. Of course that is met with a bunch of political grandstanding (mainly by Stothert and to a lesser degree by Festersen) and a local media that would rather pit the council against the union with the taxpayers in the middle than report objectively.

These amendments are entirely unreasonable too. Especially this one...

- Set pension rates for new hires on base pay only, and not overtime: Bull****. All of Omaha's comparable cities allow overtime to be figured into the pension in one way or other. Like Aaron Hansen said on Kaleidoscope, that would be like only calculating Social Security on base pay and not the overtime you had worked over your life. Also from what I understand, pension contributions would STILL be taken out of overtime pay. How wonderful, take money out for the pension but then don't allow it to be figured into what they can earn at retirement.

You also have to love the nerve of the city council wanting the police union to take on the brunt of this shortfall when spiking only accounted for 8%. I don't think their little amendment will even get to the union because city charter requires a 50/50 split and the city has to pay more on top of that due to a past lawsuit.

The people in Omaha should be thankful I'm not part of the OPD negotiating team, because the second those amendments hit my desk I'd reject it, declare an impasse and drag the city back to the CIR and laugh while they were forced to give us the raises we originally agreed to freeze.

Last edited by McBain II; 03-09-2010 at 01:11 PM..
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Old 03-09-2010, 12:52 PM
 
Location: Tampa (by way of Omaha)
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Oh, I just thought I'd add that the original version of the contract has the pension fund solvent 5 years EARLIER than it would with the city council's amendments.
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Old 03-09-2010, 03:08 PM
 
6,484 posts, read 6,615,778 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bosco55David View Post
Oh, I just thought I'd add that the original version of the contract has the pension fund solvent 5 years EARLIER than it would with the city council's amendments.

And it costs a lot more, right? I didn't see the full breakdown of both, but the new one, IIRC seems to cost the city less money.
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Old 03-09-2010, 03:30 PM
 
Location: Tampa (by way of Omaha)
14,561 posts, read 23,062,561 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvinist View Post
And it costs a lot more, right? I didn't see the full breakdown of both, but the new one, IIRC seems to cost the city less money.
Yes, but to do so the city would have to pass on more of the costs to the police department which as I explained above, is not only ethically wrong but also a violation of the city charter.
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Old 03-09-2010, 03:38 PM
 
6,484 posts, read 6,615,778 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bosco55David View Post
Yes, but to do so the city would have to pass on more of the costs to the police department which as I explained above, is not only ethically wrong but also a violation of the city charter.
How is it wrong? I don't get it. What is that violating? Shouldn't they help pay for their own pension?
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