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of Dallas Employees Home Page
North Texas Association of Public Employees
Steel Workers Local 9479
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Letter
to Council
July 9, 2010
I would ask you, the Dallas
City Council, to take the time during your break to consider other
areas to cut rather than those currently proposed by the city
manager. Civilian employees have suffered from many years at the
hands of this city manager in the way of pay cuts, general benefit
losses, and increasing health costs while decreasing coverage.
The Dallas City Manager,
Mary Suhm, wants you to consider the following cuts to balance the budget:
no new police hires, reducing police overtime, replacing fewer ambulances,
cutting senior services, limiting library hours, cutting dental services
to the poor, and cutting civilian employee pay by 5 percent.
This pay cut is in addition to deleting 200 civilian employee
positions, largely held by people who live in the city.
The cuts Mrs. Suhm proposed are not as fair as they
could be to civilian employees. I hope you understand that uniformed
employees cannot carry out their job duties without the work of civilian
employees. Allow me to give you an example: Without civilian employees,
water does not flow freely through city pipes. We are there working 24/7
at a number of water treatment plants
insuring the integrity of the water pressure for firefighters. Civilian
employees are there working at call centers, insuring that calls for
emergency responders get routed to the proper authorities.
Civilian employees maintain the emergency response
vehicles, the fuel stations and the communication systems used to direct
those emergency responders. Civilian employees, in some circumstances,
have jobs that a large number of citizens or emergency responders would
not do, such as climbing into man holes and trenches to make repairs to
keep that water flowing. Working in some of this city's smelliest,
dirtiest and most hazardous positions is all in a days work for civilian
employees.
As a number of you know, a large number of civilian
employees live in the city of Dallas. We could have decided to live
outside of the city, but we chose to live here. This is our home and it is
important to us. We have a vested interest in insuring that we
not only provide good service, but that our families and neighbors also
these same services. You currently have city employees who can not afford
health coverage for themselves or their families. An unfairly large
burden is being placed on civilian employees in the proposed budget. It is
selectively unfair to your largest group of employees.
Finally, during your recess please consider the
following: Of the 3,636 Dallas police officers,
80 percent live outside the city limits. Why?
One police officer stated, "We choose to live
outside the city so that we may have what we consider a better life.
If we lived in Dallas, our children would have to go to DISD
because we can’t afford private schools.”
While discussing this recently, a civilian employee
commented, “I won’t say that we don’t all wish for our families to
have a better life, but we don’t expect it to be at the expense of the
people we live next door to and provide services for.”
In closing, it is my wish and the wish of many of
your civilian employees that you find other avenues to fund the budget and
not further burden those already hurting from years of shouldering
previous budget cuts.
Thank You,
Ernesto Pena
President
North Texas Association of Public Employees
Steel Workers Local 9479
Include
Civilian Employees in Budget Discussions
Steelworker
President Erensto Pena sent an email to City Manager Mary Suhm and many of
the council members pointing out that NO ONE from the City Managers office
has contacted any of the Civilian Employee groups to have budget talks with
them. He requested that Civilian employee also be included in future budget
talks. -
May 17th,
2010
Dallas
Citizens thrown under the bus
A recent plan by the Fraternal Order of Police has them plotting against
Dallas
citizens. Surprise! Well okay, it isn’t a surprise. This is more like
business as usually for the police unions, but the surprise is that we
civilian employees finally have someone being tossed under the bus with us.
Many posters, some
citizens, some civilian employees and our own Steelworkers President Ernesto
Pena have commented on the
DMN
web site in response to the story below.
Steelworker President Pena’s comments have been highlighted. Please
pay particular attention to where he calls upon all civilian employees to
join an association.
The main comment that the
FOP has made in the past about civilian employees is that since we are not
100 percent presented by an association, we get what we deserve. They forget
of course that the Police associations have been active in
Dallas
for about thirty years longer than the civilian associations. Doubtless they
also forget the many groups that helped them when they were newly formed.
Heck, they even called upon us to assist them in protesting various issues,
which we did. This of course was before they tossed us under the bus for the
first time….
The
Dallas
budget process was bound to turn nasty.
- Scott Goldstein,
Dallas
Morning News
Wed, May 12, 2010
9:37 AM
Fraternal Order of Police
President Michael Walton is accusing city leaders of failing to negotiate
with his and other police and fire association leaders.
So Walton says it's time for
Dallas
police officers to "take a stand as the men & women of the Dallas
Police Department!!" He proposes they refuse to take on any extra
off-duty job opportunities related to next year's Super Bowl.
ISSUES ABOUT MEET AND
CONFER
In recent days, there has been a lot of information coming out about
furloughs and pay cuts for all Dallas Police Officers. The FOP along
with the other Police and Fire groups have been meeting with the City on
a weekly basis, since January 2010. We have come to a serious impasse
with the City. They have said that they don't feel like they need to
negotiate with us. The City has even gotten mad and walked away from the
table. We have demanded that they show us in writing their offer. The
City did come back to the table and continued with the attitude that we
should take whatever they give us. That is in-direct violation of the
contact that they signed in January of this year. They have been putting
out information that was not supposed to be discussed outside of Meet
and Confer teams. They have discussed the freezing of step raises, the
5yr rule for anyone outside of patrol having to leave, the furlough
days, and pay cuts.
I am truly disgusted
with the actions of the City of
Dallas
. They begged and pleaded with us not to get a Collective Bargaining
Bill passed because they would have to deal with us in good faith. That
is not true. The City has under minded every effort to deal with us. I
will be pushing for a Collective Bargaining agreement in the next State
Legislative session. That will add teeth to the contract.
It is time for us to
take a stand as the men & women of the Dallas Police Department!!
The event we need to think about is the Super Bowl. We need to consider
not working ex-jobs for this event. The City is counting on us to bow to
the quick money of the Super Bowl ex-jobs. I am not saying give up your
regular ex- jobs, just don't take on anything to do with the Super Bowl.
I am planning on sending a letter to the NFL Players Association to
inform them of our current labor strife that we are involved in.
By no means, I am
suggesting that we call in sick or stop answering calls. We need to send
the City a message that they cannot keep kicking us.
In the next few weeks, the FOP will be holding informational meetings
about Meet and Confer. As well, as giving updates as to what has
occurred. We will also be open to suggestions as to what our next move
should be.
It has been mention
that the morale of the officers is high and will stay high even if pay
cuts and furlough days are implemented.
If you would like to share your thoughts on that, please e mail the FOP
at admin@dallasfop.com and
we will be sure to relay that information to the city leadership.
Michael Walton,
President
Dallas FOP
(Editors Note: Don’t ya
love how the FOP want to add ‘teeth’ to a contract… and this is a
‘right to get fired for any fool reason’ state. Sigh… you just
couldn’t make this shi…. I mean stuff up. :D
Ya know…. Walton did ask for comments….
If you do decide to send one, please people…. Keep them tasteful.
Anyhooo. Here are the comments for this blog. Enjoy!
DMN
Comments
Posted by Ms. Shirley @
10:27 AM
Wed, May 12, 2010
Come on people. The Dallas Police Department tries this tactic each time
they don't get their way. If the citizens of
Dallas
really knew how they negotiate and use scare tactics to get their way. The
non-uniformed employees have not received raises for years, while they
continued to do so. We got a small raise two years ago after several years
of no raises whatsoever. And then this year had them taken away by unpaid
furlough days. Uniformed employees do not have to take furlough day. I hear
that it is proposed that they do so this year.
The Police and Fire
"Uniformed" employees continued to receive during this time of no
raise for non-uniformed employees. In addition, management created other
types of pay for uniformed employees such as: certification pay, educational
inventive pay, 5 year retention pay which is a $5,000 lump sum payment, 10
year retention incentive pay - $3,000 lump sum payment, down payment
assistance - $6,000 lump sum payment as well as several other types of pay
such as detective assignment pay, field training officer pay, narcotics
hazardous material interdiction team pay and patrol pay - Each and every one
of these programs were created to retain officers and to meet them half way
on their salary demands. No other city employee is eligible for these types
of benefits. NONE. In addition, their retirement system is different from
NON-UNI
FORM
ED employees - they contribute less and receive more in the end. This type
of favortisim has done nothing but create a divisive workforce.
Non-uniformed employees have had the budget balanced on their backs for
about ten years now. It is time for the uniformed employees to RE
COGN
IZE that the average city employee has struggled for years and have given up
raises for years in order for them to receive these additional benefits. We
recognize that their jobs are hard, but there are countless other hard
working and dedicated employees who think maybe it is time for them to face
reality and realize that they are not the only group that works hard for the
citizens of
Dallas
. I love my job and I work hard to be the best employee that I can be. But I
do not feel that I am being compensated or treated fairly when year after
year we give up raises and cut benefits and struggle to make ends meet while
they receive much more than their share. If the general public only knew the
entire story, they would realize that they are simply resorting to scare
tactics to get what they want.
City employees do not pay
into Social Security, so retirement benefits - for most will be their only
source of income.
And for those of you who
only think that we are a lazy bunch of employees getting paid tons of money
and sitting on our butts, think again. I am regularly here until
8-9 pm
or later to get my job done and I don't get paid overtime. I also can't be
sick or take otime ff because there is no one to do my job if I am not here.
I have dedicated myself to my job and I am happy to do so. It would be nice
if we didn't feel quite so much like the step-children of the City.
Posted by WW @
4:25 PM
Wed, May 12, 2010
If you don't like working for the city, go ahead and try the private sector.
Tell them during the
interview that you want to negotiate your yearly raise.
And that you will politely
refuse any furlough attempt to temporarily help save the company money. And
any type of pay cut will not be acceptable at anytime whatsoever. Oh and any
conversations about my pay and benefits will always been done thru my
attorney. Oh and if I do something bad, you will not be allowed to fire me.
I will only allow a committee to determine if I should be fired. And I will
continue to sit home and draw my salary while they determine the outcome.
And if I am fired, I will sue you.
Did you get the job ?
Posted by oaklawn @
7:53 PM
Wed, May 12, 2010
Officer Walton: I am so sorry you are "truly disgusted with the actions
of the City of
Dallas
". Those are pretty strong words coming from someone who is supposed to
be part of, and represent, the entity you are condemning. There are lots of
Citizens of the City of
Dallas
, and Civilian Employees of the City of
Dallas
, that are truly disgusted with your childish, spoiled-child-like behavior!
I would hope that your remarks are due to you forgetting that you all
received good pay raises over numerous years, complained about them, while
civilian employees received pay cuts, layoffs and more work. (Something is
wrong here)
Regarding your statement
"Putting out information that was not supposed to be
discussed...". TRY to remember that you work for a PUBLIC entity, i.e.
an OPEN government; your salaries and operating expenses are paid by the
PUBLIC. You are supposed to be defending and supporting this concept....not
hiding from it.
And now you are threatening
to refuse to work extra jobs? GO FOR IT! Lets get ethical!
I guess it never occurred to you that there is a strong "scent" of
impropriety here considering event planners are required to provide event
security, preferably off-duty police officers. While working "on the
side", you are wearing your
C
ITY
-issued uniform & equipment, you are using
C
ITY
owned communications methods, you are using the
CITY
name to obtain and perform your "side" employment while collecting
$$$ that remain in YOUR PERSONAL possession. It must be nice to use City -
issued equipment and reference the City of
Dallas
, in order to make money on the side. Last I checked, if a civilian employee
tried this, they would be quickly terminated as it is considered unethical
(oh, yeah...and illegal).
And, please, don’t start
the whine about the challenges you constantly face, the deplorable working
conditions you must tolerate, etc.. Civilian employees endure as bad or
worse conditions and just do their job; even while listening to your whines
and dealing with budget cut consequences like furloughs, layoffs, etc..
When its freezing cold and the streets are iced up, snowed up and basically
impassible, who is out there first making the streets passable for you? Who
is out there, regardless of weather, picking up your garbage, preventing
disease, etc. (a nasty job you must admit)? When your sewer backs up, who
jumps into the poo without hesitation in order to get your toilet flushing
and remove the chance of contracting any related nasty disease? When the
water main breaks and you don’t have drinking water, who jumps into
service, rain or shine, ice or 100 degrees w/ hi humidity, to get your water
service restored?
These people regularly
endure this type of work, in these conditions, yet get furloughs, pay cuts
and layoffs while the DPD unions complain about the amount of their pay
raise they are getting. (Personally, if the "BIG ONE" ever
happens, I believe I could protect myself and my property. Once I lose the
ability to dispose of my nasty garbage or waste ("poo" as I used
above), or lose my unlimited and ultra-reliable source of drinking water,
I'm dead as I have no long-term solution.)
****
PLE
ASE
REAL
IZE**** than I, as, I'm sure most people, truly respect, support and
appreciate the job that you perform in a professional and compassionate
manner. However, the expectation of "Special Treatment" that many
folks (myself included) perceive as your regular attitude and expectation,
is not becoming of you and does not paint a positive picture of your
organization(s).
Please, shut up, grow up, and be a team player. Be a part of the "City
of
Dallas
" team, not just the "XXXX Police Union / To Hell with Everyone
Else - We Want more Money" team. You might realize more support from
that than you think.
Posted by instone2 @
8:37 PM
Wed, May 12, 2010
Civilian employees should spread all this information far and wide to the
public so that they can see the real situation. I'm sure officers figure out
a way to get their holidays off, so why not furloughs....it is called
scheduling and planning. Over the years the DPD has cost the city plenty by
way of lawsuits, outrageous demands and their many financial perks. They
obviously don't want to be part of the city team and have no respect for
civilian employees. It would be really nice to see management stand up to
them for once and treat them like the rest of the team. And, unfortunately,
other city employees have lost their lives over the years while on the job.
Please DPD, stretch a bit and realize that you, too, have to shoulder some
financial loss during tough economic times.
Posted by jim @
9:39 PM
Wed, May 12, 2010
The Dallas Police and Fire have the most generous pension fund in the
U.S.
The taxpayers pay 27.5% into this special pension fund. (If you have social
security, your employer puts in 6.25%) It is so over funded (or would have
been) that they set up special additional pension benefits and guaranteed
returns to use up all the taxpayer contributions. I had a police officer
making about $80,000 a year tell me his retirement would be approximately
double his pay.
Including the pension costs and all the special pay they get, the Dallas
Police and Fire are the most costly to the taxpayers of any uniformed force
around.
And they whine!!!!
Posted by citygirl @ 9:51 PM Wed, May 12,
2010
The costs for Public Safety are 73% of the City's operating budget--it's a
little hard to balance the budget gap on the remaining 27% of the budget
that are civilian employees. It's time for police & fire to share in the
pinch. And will they turn down the extra pay that they'd earn by working the
Super Bowl? Are you kidding??? Is it freezing in hell yet?
report as objectionable
Posted by oaklawn @
11:28 PM
Wed, May 12, 2010
A
TTEN
TION TO THE RE
PLY
ERS CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS BLOG....
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
TH
ANK
YOU!
We are all human; there are times that we think that we are above such
things.
I truly appreciate everyone voicing their comments. The more the better
AGAIN, THANKS!
Its the right thing to do
Posted by E. Peña @ 7:08 AM Thu, May
13, 2010
Civilian employees need to unite and speak as one there seem to be some very
sensible folks here making some very logical points but the fact remains
that without coming together with a united front to face the challenges
before the civilian employees we will take a much larger hit than the
uniformed personnel about to be affected by this budget you can and should
joint the civilian employees association that I have been a member of for
some years,
NTAPE, visit the web site at www.cityofdallasemployees.com
Together you can make a difference.
(Editors Note: or since you
are already at the site, just click here to get a card so you and your
buddies can join! Sign
up Cards in .PDF format
Sign
up Cards in .DOC format
)
Posted by Floating Ahchor @
10:02 AM Thu
,
May 13, 2010
O.K. Oaklawn, have you taken a pay cut? Have you stood in the line of duty
for the safety of your fellow citizens? Do you put on a Bullet Proof Vest to
go to work everyday? Do you ever want to put on a strip of black tape across
your heart.
Jim, You have a problem
with the pension? Wow! Would you be gracious enough to tell your children or
grand children/nieces or nephews to study hard, go to college, graduate and
join a team whereas they must run into burning towers as they crumble and
fry them like steaks, only to save innocent citizens who report to work each
day to support their children and grand children/nieces and nephews?
Jim, would you be gracious
enough to tell your off-spring to join a team whereas they will have to wear
a bullet proof vest everyday to assist them in insuring them that they may
make it back home for the evening dinner or morning breakfast? Remind them
that they will work all holidays including christmas, shift work including
late nights with crappy off days. While doing this they will only be able to
serve as a bandade to provide public safety. While doing so, if they survive
this endeavor, they will grow old and be able to experience enjoyment by
paying into one of the best pensions in the
US
. If you can't beat them, join them so, in the mean time, police and fire
are still hiring, regardless of the budget crunch. Why are we hiring? Send
your youthful family members and ten years from now after they have bought
their homes and are rearing their families, listen as they tell you how much
deception they feel from their bosses after they have put it on the line
everyday for Public Safety. No one in any generation will ever be happy
about loosing a significant portion of their income. Would the Cowboy
Stadium have generated more revenue for the City of
Dallas
?
73% of the Budget? Get Real. I support Civilian Employees as well, So, GET
on it. Billions of Dollars on New Bridges and New Parks in a River Flooding
River Bottom: What a Plan.
Nothing will work without Public Safety. We are not
Detroit
. We are not
Chicago
. Big Cities across all over our Nation are crime infested Dens.
Mr. Walton, It will be extermely difficult to get Police/Fire or anyone to
unite and stick together when the root of all evil as described in the Holy
Bible is involved, However, What a unique plan.
Good Job Mike
(Editors note:
Obviously this poster has never read any of our newsletters. They just
don’t get it. Street, Sanitation, Water and Transportation workers spend
all day working a few feet away from tons of steel whizzing down the road.
Mac trucks beat Kevlar every time. Many city employees have dangerous jobs,
not just the uniformed ones. Heck, with the deferred maintenance that our
water treatment employees have to put up with, theirs may be the most
hazardous of all. And guess what, those working holidays he mentioned.....
ummmm Police and Fire are not working
alone there, just ask all the water, dispatch, street and transportation
employees who spend every holiday working with them.
;p )
Posted by E. Peña @
10:50 AM
Sat, May 15, 2010
Here is a quote that might hit home.
When they came for
the Jews, I did nothing, for I am not a Jew. When they came for the
Socialists, I did nothing, for I am not a Socialist. When they came for the
labor leaders, the homosexuals, the gypsies, I did nothing, for I am none of
these, and when they came for me, I was alone, there was no one to stand up
for me. -- Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran
pastor from Nazi Germany
When civilian employees were being laid off and being hit with pay cuts
where were the police or fire associations?
Was it evil when, we sat
in negotiations hoping that together we could make some changes only to find
out later that police and fire had struck a back room deal with the City
Manager to leave the civilian employees out in the cold? Did
you consider that evil or was that justified because you were uniformed and
we are just civilians.
We are all brothers and
sisters in this world whether we realize it or not. If you don't stand up
for your family, no matter how different they are to you, no one will stand
up for you in your hour of need. This quote reminds me of the definition of
humanity. If we don't do something for the less fortunate, how can we grow
as a society; besides Jesus himself said "whatever you do for the least
among you, you do for me.
Stop
whining because you made a career choice that places you in circumstances
that you knew would arise when you were being trained. You do not complain
about the double pay you receive for those after hour jobs. Jobs where you
get to use city owned equipment and your city supplied uniform, You're paid
to do a job! Man Up! Act like you have a set! Move on!!!…
The
Archived Article at the Dallas Morning News
Newsletter/Web
Site Help Needed!
The
ladies that used to produce our newsletter and website content have all
retired. We
need department reps and general help for our newsletter. Face it, city
management rarely wants you to know anything until it is a done deal or too
late to change.
You
can help by writing columns on subjects that interest you, perhaps you just
want to send in news sniplets/tidbits from your department or perhaps you
just want to help assemble the word file for publication. Whatever your
interest, your help would be greatly appreciated by both your association
and your fellow employees.
Please
tell us your name, contact information, what department you work for and
what you are interested in assisting with. Your participation can be kept on
the down-low if you want it to be. :D
If you
are interested in assisting please email us at frey@NOSPAMthefrey.com
(take the nospam out of the address before emailing please) with
the subject line 'I want to help'. Or fax your information to us at
214-760-7423.
Posted
January 24th 2010
Meeting
Dates
We meet on the 2nd Thursday each month at 6:00 p.m.
1408
N. Washington
- Main Floor
Dallas,
Texas
75204
We have lots of free
parking, meet on the ground floor and generally serve snacks, so please
plan to join us.
1408
N. Washington
@ Bryan is just a few blocks north of
Baylor
University
Medical
Center
which is also on
Washington St
Location
Map
http://www.cityofdallasemployees.com/codeMap.htm
Get
the Fax!
If you have a fax
you can be the first to know what is happening. Simply fax your name and
fax number to 214-760-7423 to be put on the fax info list.
Want to be notified at home when a new newsletter is published?
Email your home email address to newsletter@cityofdallasemployees.com
or fax it to 214-760-7423. Or you can always just check on our website.
The Time to Join is Now!
Don’t
forget about the 30 day waiting period on certain services for new
members. We don’t want anyone to miss out on assistance should they
need it. The time to join is now, so you will already be a member before
any problem that you need help with occurs.
Council
Meeting Audio Available
Did
you know that you can download city council meetings? Some interesting
stuff in there. Take a listen. http://www.ci.dallas.tx.us/cso/audio.shtm
Grievances - Do Them Correctly!
Scott
and Dan would like to stress to all members the importance of contacting
the Local Union immediately after any disciplinary action is taken
against them or a situation has occurred that they need to grieve.
As
your representatives they only have ten days from the date the incident
happened to file a grievance. They are also experiencing a problem with
members notifying them too late with appeal hearing dates. Receiving
notice the day before the hearing is to be held is not acceptable; they
need time to prepare, or reschedule as they may have another hearing
scheduled for that day. So when you receive the notice in the mail, you
need to contact them immediately with the hearing date and time. Voice
214-760-7422, Fax 214-760-7423, email steel.workers@
no spam sbcglobal.net
(take out the 'no spam' and the extra spaces) If they are not out
at a Greivance meeting, they are generally in the office Monday thru
Thursday mornings.
If
you don't hear from them by the next morning... Call Again!!
(Ed.
Note:
All grievances need to be reported immediately to the association
office. The best case in the world, will be lost if it is filed late, or
has incorrect paper work. Copies of ALL correspondence needs to be
immediately forwarded to the Grievance Reps. This is particularly
important when you have your final resolution. A copy of that needs to
go in your file incase there are problems later, or someone else has a
similar problem that this would have a bearing on.
Grievance tracking, especially of the final resolutions are VERY
important to improving our working conditions in the city.)
Help
your Association by helping yourself.
You
can help grow your union and get paid at the same time. You can earn
$10.00 for each member you sign up!. And they get a hat and the
knowledge that they taking a positive step towards creating a better
workplace.
Best
yet? You don’t even have to stop in the office to turn in the cards.
All you have to do is put your name at the bottom of the new members
card and then mail or fax it into the office. It is that simple.
As
soon as that new member appears on our membership rolls, you can pick up
your check at the next meeting.
What have Unions done for me?
Eight-Hour Day
Five-Day Workweek
Health Insurance
Good Pensions
Paid Sick Leave
Higher Wages
Overtime Pay
Job Safety
Paid Holidays
Job Security
Paid Vacations
Family and Medical Leave
Fair Treatment for Women, People of Color & Workers with Disabilities
The
preceding benefits were brought to you by the working women and men of
America's unions, who won them at the bargaining table and set the
standard for all working families.
