ICEBLOG PREDICTS PBA WILL BE DEFEATED IN ARBITRATION

I am not going out on a limb by prognosticating that the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association will lose in their upcoming binding arbitration because of pattern bargaining. One municipal union settles on contract terms with the city and that sets a pattern that other unions follow. The civilian pattern is usually a little lower than the one for uniformed city workers.

From the Chief Leader:

Arbitration dates have been rescheduled for the Police Benevolent Association, with the union’s case for a pattern-busting pay raise to begin April 27...The PBA arbitration was sidetracked when the chairman of the three-person panel, John M. Donoghue, was forced to withdraw due to illness shortly before arguments were due to begin Jan. 27. The two sides quickly agreed on veteran arbiter and mediator Martin F. Scheinman—whose vast experience in public-employee-union labor disputes includes extensive work in cases involving the Nassau and Suffolk county police unions—as his replacement.

Further down in the Chief article:
In the weeks between the postponement of hearings and the setting of new dates, the city’s hand may have been strengthened by the ratification of contract terms by both the Captains Endowment Association and the Lieutenants Benevolent Association that Ms. Campion has contended constitute a uniformed-union pattern. They made those deals, each running for at least 39 months and featuring 7.95 percent in raises plus another 2.25 percent in differentials, as part of an eight-union uniformed coalition that reached basic terms last December.

Yes, those raises are better and the contract length is shorter than the UFT's current 43 month contract. However, PBA members still earn significantly less than cops in most surrounding areas and often for a more dangerous job in NYC. The tradition since Ed Koch's time is for the uniformed unions to earn slightly higher salary increases than civilian unions but those raises aren't that much higher.

Personally, I believe the higher raises and better pension tiers for uniform employees is pure sexism as those who wear a uniform are more likely to be male as compared to civilian city employees who are more likely to be female. However, expecting our civilian union leaders to figure this out and actually fight for equal pay increases is asking for too much. Back to the PBA arbitration.

PBA President Lynch's comment:
PBA President Patrick J. Lynch reacted to the CEA’s ratification early this month predictably, saying that while the 10-1 ratio in favor of the deal showed it met that union’s needs, it fell well short of what was required to close the considerable salary gap his members face in comparison to cops in neighboring jurisdictions, including those employed as State Troopers and Metropolitan Transportation Authority cops who are also deployed in the city.

The arbitration panel also includes PBA representative Kenneth Feinberg, a compensation expert best known for his work at the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, and the city’s designee, former Labor Commissioner Robert W. Linn. In 2015, while still serving as Mayor de Blasio’s chief negotiator, Mr. Linn was able to convince then-PBA arbitration chairman Howard Edelman that he should be guided by a pattern set nearly a year earlier by the uniformed coalition that began with two 1-percent increases.

I have argued in front of Scheinman and we all know how former Commissioner Linn is married to pattern bargaining. This deck is totally stacked against the union.

Here is what I need help understanding:

• Why does PBA President Lynch keep insisting on going to binding arbitration when he knows he will not break the pattern set by other uniformed unions?
• Why doesn't the Municipal Labor Committee (an umbrella group of all the city's municipal worker unions) get together and say in the next round of bargaining we insist that the PBA settle first and set the pattern for our raises?
• Why doesn't the PBA get involved to oust UFT's Michael Mulgrew and DC 37's Henry Garrido from office as these two unions consistently set lousy pattern raises for each round of bargaining that is only marginally improved on by uniform unions? Maybe they could let us join the PBA en masse. My guess is most teachers and DC 37 members would jump at that opportunity but it will not happen. 

I really can't comprehend why DC 37 and the UFT go first in setting patterns for each round of collective bargaining between the municipal unions and the city. Clearly, the PBA should go first because they have the best argument that their members are underpaid compared to police officers in surrounding areas and as the article says, some of these people actually work in NYC. If the PBA set a pattern based on their strong case for pay parity with surrounding jurisdictions, precedent says the city would be stuck with it and have to give it to the rest of us. If they didn't follow the pattern, then that would be the end of pattern bargaining, which isn't a law, only a tradition.

Lynch is known for his bluster and I do respect how he backs up his members no matter what but they will never get paid as much as police in the suburbs if they keep letting the UFT and DC 37 settle first with the city in each round of bargaining.