Proposed Changes to VPOA MOU

 Vallejo City Council Meeting December 16, 2013

Below is a summary of the changes in the VPOA contract/MOU to be voted on by the Vallejo City Council December 16 2013.

Health insurance- will be similar to other bargaining units- current VPOA members will contribute 25% of health insurance cost (based on Kaiser North Bay) and retirees will get $300 per month. New employees will receive a City contribution of 1.5% to Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) account for retiree medical benefits.

City will pay for a dental, orthodontist and vision plans substantially similar to current plans

Wages for VPOA members to be reduced by 5%.

Longevity incentive—no longer offered to new employees.

Sick leave accrual 8 hours a month according to MOU.

Sick Leave (resolution #1) A possible discrepancy with the MOU exists—employees hired after February 1 2009 will get 3 weeks (120 hours) of sick leave a year. Unused Sick leave accumulated after January 1 2013 can be used towards retirement service credit ( cash buyout is eliminated for these hours) .

Use of 7 Comparison Cities to determine raises eliminated

Telephone pay ($6.53 per month) eliminated

Bilingual pay $75 per month

Motorcycle pay $200 per month

SWAT Team pay $80 per month

Uniform allowance $1142

Any pay/supplemental pay not referenced in MOU will no longer be paid

Reference to compensatory time or pay to help ensure minimal staffing eliminated.

Out of town travel expenses covered by city travel policy (that all employees must follow)

Educational incentive eliminated for those hired after January 1 2014

HR Director no longer authorized to make exceptions for issues involving annual leave. City Manager or designee will now have this authority.

City paid Term Life Insurance ($40,000 policy) eliminated.

Pension Plan those hired prior to January 1 2013 3%@50 and for new employees not previously covered by CalPERs 2%@50 and new hires will pay 50% of normal cost of plan. All members will pay an additional 3.4% contribution towards plan or if cannot agree to pay increase have salaries reduced by 3.4%

Pension Cost of Living City will no longer have to offer Cost of Living allowance when no charge for Allowance by CalPER for it during that year.

Existing Benefits City no longer will need to keep [all] existing for the life of the Agreement.

VPOA Reopener clause eliminated

Length of Agreement July 1 2013 through June 30 2014

Past Practices, side letters etc. not included in the current MOU are repudiated.

Work conditions/practices not authorized by General Orders or ordinances/resolution from City Council are not guaranteed by current MOU.

Section 50 totally eliminated --Payment ($1,000,000 over 3 years) in Lieu of Bankruptcy. Not clear if some or all of payment will no longer be paid.

Comments

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Anonymous   |December.15.2013 @Case in point -- the current situation with all the crime numbers in this scandalous ad are a RESULT of the police getting what they wanted! Where is/was our safety? You are delusional. The crime in Vallejo is largely coming from young black males. How in the world will we ever correct this situation if we don't look the problem squarely in the face?

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 "Cut our numbers all you want. Give us our money."

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 VPOA's logic is backwards. They say in their ad they don't want the city to "destroy" policing -- but if we let the old contract terms stand, Vallejo cannot afford as many police officers. It is ONLY by getting new contract terms that Vallejo can afford to increase its policing efforts. Case in point -- the current situation with all the crime numbers in this scandalous ad are a RESULT of the police getting what they wanted! Where is/was our safety? It's hard for me to respect let alone like the VPOA. You would think that community trust would be one of their goals, instead of fomenting hatred and resentment among those they supposedly "protect and serve." When they do things like this ad, it makes me think of the old Mafioso taunts for protection money, e.g., "what a nice window, it would be a shame if it was broken." VOPOA is very close to a racketeering organization. Is there any way we can clean house & get rid of so many bad apples? Let Kreins start with a fresh slate, we'd be way better off.

Jeanne   |December.14.2013 From what I understand, one of the best parts of this proposal is that which is least obvious: it makes the old VPOA contract extinct. If all goes well on Monday night, Matty will be using the old contract for bird cage liner on Tuesday. This means in all future negotiations the city won't have to start from the old and highly unaffordable contract terms. They start with these. I dare Pippi and Rozzy and Jess to try and the old contract back and take the city back to bankruptcy.

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 First, this is not a contract. There will be no contract as of Monday night if the council approves these terms. Second, they can't make these imposed terms last more than one year because of state law. When a city council has to impose on an employee group, it can only be for one year. Third, MOU means "Memorandum of Understanding." This is not an MOU because VPOA has refused an agreement and certainly appears not to understand based on the $5,000 ad in the Times Horrid today.

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 @Tramky: those raises fall at the feet of Osby Davis and Hermie Sunga. The only other person still sitting on the council that voted on that contract was Ms. Gomes, and she argued hard and voted against those raises. Don't paint everyone with the same brush. And just because they're not sitting there still doesn't mean they shouldn't be shamed: Erin Hannigan, Michael Wilson and Tom Bartee.

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 The only thing I don't like about this is the fact that it is only one year, they should have made it 2 years just to help protect us from the bought off ones. Secondly they should have instituted some form of performance metrics in this MOU, thus enabling us to hold their feet to the fire when they refuse doing their jobs to an acceptable standard. Sure they do their jobs now, but "sorry nothing we can do" and "the best advice we can give you is to get out of this town" are a pretty crappy standard of service.

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 The real concern is that if the negotiations dragged on, the union funded council candidates, Dew, Malgapo, and Verder-Aliga, would give away the store. They owe the union(s)their loyalty.

tramky   |December.14.2013 The absurd raise that was granted months after the City entered Federal bankruptcy court falls completely at the feet of the City Council sitting at the time. We know who they are, and some of them are still sitting there. The City's bankruptcy filing should have been thrown out by the bankruptcy court judge but was not. But that action rendered the entire bankruptcy action meaningless and with little effect. The real issues were NOT addressed, and it cost millions of OUR money for the privilege of obtaining very little in return for taxpayers in this city.

Paul Armentano   |December.14.2013 See the full page ad VPD took out on page 3 of the VTH claiming that these potential changes would "destroy your police department." Yep, 4 homicides this week and VPD's concern isn't about the community they serve; VPD sees this as an opportunity to make it all about THEM.

rocketman   |December.14.2013 So if this is implemented (and it is a reasonable first step--and ONLY that), what will be the percentage of the generalfund budget devoted to police & fire payroll costs. If it's over 70% this will not be terribly helpful in the long term. That number must become 50 to 55% and nothing more. Until that is the case the City of Vallejo will be in difficult and inflexible financial positions.

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 Sunga can't run for mayor because he won't have enough information.

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 Sunga won't vote for it because, even after negotiating for over a year, he won't have enough information.

5-2 vote   |December.14.2013 I predict 5-2 in favor. --Will be watching Malgapo's vote, because of his jump start affiliation. --Will be watching Sunga's vote, because of assumed/alleged ambitions to run for mayor.

PS   |December.14.2013 Once again, VIB scoops the Times Herald, heh heh! You want real Vallejo new? Right here!

Anonymous   |December.14.2013 I expect VPOA will whine about the pay cut -- but everyone needs to remember that during bankruptcy, their RAISES added up to 10% increase over a 2-year period. Now the city is asking for half of that back -- but VPOA is still ahead 5% from their pre-bankruptcy salaries. Insisting on raises during Vallejo's bankruptcy cost the VPOA incalculable goodwill. In the private sector NO ONE gets raises when a company hits hard times. By being selfish, the police showed that they don't care for Vallejo. The conduct of VPOA makes me wish we could fire most of them and start over. Kreins is good, but the old guys need to go.

No Doh!   |December.14.2013 I had to read this twice, I couldn't believe it. This is what should have been done before and during bankruptcy (except the formerly Fab Funded Four majority gave raises and no contract changes instead. Doh!) I'm not sure which item I'm happiest to see changed, but the change in comparison cities (for raises) from affluent cities to cities similar to Vallejo is probably my favorite. It's a fairness issue. Why would Vallejo have to keep up, and beat, the pay of our wealthier Bay Area cities? It didn't make sense. I'm sure the cops will be sobbing over the "drastic" cuts, but too bad. These are reasonable cuts and changes that reflect the times we are all facing. All the other employee groups have agreed to similar cuts and changes. Yet the VPOA obviously won't agree and forces the city council to make their cuts. It's so disappointing. I grew up looking up to police officers because they were "the good guys." They've tarnished that image with their greed that has hurt us residents. Good job Dan Keen and staff (did I just compliment Vallejo city staff? Things are really changing!). I hope it's a unanimous "yes" vote.

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