Police Union eyes mayor to mediate dispute

By Joshua Marks

FILE PHOTO After a year of frustration, the YPBA will turn to the Mayor in an effort to prevent a strike. But University negotiator James Juhas said that Yalešs position is Œvery, very firm.š

Although the Administration has not given an official response, the University is wary of binding arbitration. In the Locals 34 and 35 battle of 1996, the Administration turned down a union arbitration request.

"If it were up to me, I wouldn't have it. We don't believe in that process," Peter Vallone, the University's associate vice president of administration, said of the current arbitration proposal. Vallone foresees two problems with binding arbitration. First, it opens the dispute to the judgment of a third party which, according to Vallone, often doesn't understand the situation.

Chosen by both sides of the dispute, the third party could lean toward what Vallone calls the union's "exaggerated demands." "That isn't bargaining. That is just lunacy," he said. Second, it sets the precedent of submitting to binding arbitration when the next contract comes up.

Grottole disagreed. "I don't think it's a valid reason because each side equally hands off to a third party," he said. Yale Police Benevolent Association (YPBA) Treasurer Chris Morganti claimed that the arbitration panel, consisting of a YPBA representative, a University representative, and a third person selected by both camps, would arrive at a conclusion fairly.

"The more convinced you are with your proposals, the more willing you are to hand off to a third party," Grottole concluded.

FILE PHOTO

If the University rejects the arbitration appeal, the union can fall back on two other options: strike or get New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. to intervene, as he did during the Locals 34 and 35 battle.

While a strike is a last resort, Morganti said that it is a very likely alternative. "It's a serious consideration," he said. "I think we have the support for a strike at this point." An appeal to DeStefano, however, will most likely come before a strike vote. Morganti felt that DeStefano could act as "a neutral party with no labor problems."

The success of either the binding arbitration request or an appeal to DeStefano seems doubtful, given the University's stance. "Our position remains very, very firm," Juhas said. In short, that position means sticking to their proposals in the contract's main areas of contention-- disabilities and pensions.

The unions demands include lowering the age at which an officer can retire on full pension to 50 from the University's offer of 55. Additionally, unions have asked Yale to reduce the total of age plus years of service on which to retire with full pension benefits from 70 to 65.

On disabilities, the union wants the enhancements which the University has already offered to cover off-duty injuries. These enhancements--a half-year credit for every year on disability and medical benefits for disabilities--currently only cover injuries incurred in the line of duty. University representatives explained why they won't concede to these demands. "The Yale Police Department has to handle itself in a financially prudent manner. Every department operates within some budget and it has to be cost-effective," Juhas said. Although the Administration is prohibited from revealing budget information, Juhas noted that money to settle the dispute on the union's terms could be used to purchase more police cars, among other things. Pension and disability, though, do not fall under the Yale Police budget, which accounts for police wages and department materials only.

"This isn't just about money," Vallone said. The Administration feels that its own terms are fair and equitable. Vallone noted, for example, that the current proposed contract increases the pension benefits by 33 percent and offers many perks that other police contracts don't, such as a scholarship plan for officers' children.

Vallone claims that the union demands on pensions and disabilities are too exorbitant. Referring to the comparison the unions make with the New Haven Police Department contract, Vallone said, "They're just cherry-picking the best parts of the New Haven pension plan and we're not going to accept that." He explained, for example, that New Haven officers have to put a certain percentage of their salary into their pension plan, while Yale officers do not.

Morganti, though, has another perspecitve. "Our pension proposals don't even come close to what the New Haven police department has," he said. "We just want to get in the same ballpark."

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