| Author | Message | ||
     Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6926 Registered: 1-2003  |
5.5% raises, compounded over four years yields a 24% raise. 6% raises, compounded over four years yields a 26% raise. | ||
| tdurkin307 Citizen Username: Tdurkin307 Post Number: 31 Registered: 4-2002 |
Tom, With all due respect, 0% compounded over 4 years is 0%. That's the point! | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6930 Registered: 1-2003 |
I get your point, which is much bigger than mine. No offense taken or intended. | ||
| Joseph Guglielmo Citizen Username: Plt_guglielmo Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2004 |
Just to clear up some inaccuracy’s that I have noticed in some previous post. The PBA did not ask for 24% over 3 years. We asked for 24% over 4 years, plus some additional monetary and non monetary incentives (we deserve it). We knew that we would not get them all nor did we realistically expect to receive a 24% raise, but there was a reason why we arrived at the numbers we submitted. As we were among the lowest paid departments in Essex County, if not the lowest, our offer to the Township was calculated to bring us up to the middle of the County in pay. We thought this was fair and reasonable, don’t you. On the other hand while in negotiations, under the leadership of then Mayor DeLuca, and prior to moving into the arbitration phase, the Township started at 0% and never even brought their monetary offer up to the percentages that they gave the Fire Department. They did not negotiate in good faith from the beginning and forced arbitration, at great cost to the Township and the Union. In a May 15th post the PBA is accused of being “short sighted on how the raises were going to be paid for.” This is not true. The Local is well aware of the financial constraints placed on the Township. Prior to our proposal we had a financial consultant review the Townships financial situation and he determined that Maplewood did in fact have the ability to pay. This was confirmed by the fact that in the townships testimony at the arbitration hearings, they never made the Towns ability to pay an issue. In a May 16th post it is insinuated that the rank and file Officer could not get promotions because of the PBA leadership’s unwillingness to compromise. For the record the union conducted a vote of all members and the Rank and File vote 53-0 not to accept the Townships offer. The post also goes on to say that “if the PBA had been willing to compromise the promotions would have gone through in a flash”. Why is it that you feel it was the PBA that was unwilling to compromise? Shortly after the PBA was able to meet with Mayor Profeta, Mr. Grodman and Mr. Petis, and with a lot of hard work, a compromise was reached. This would indicate that the lack of compromise was on the part of the Township under the leadership of then Mayor Deluca. In a May 19th post L’angeloMisterioso writes: “By all reports it was the PBA prez whose behaviour was unprofessional, rude, and highly inappropriate, not to mention insubordinate. Since he was behaving in a such a disruptive way during a Township Committee meeting, should it be surprising that he was asked to leave the room?” The post indicated that you never saw the meeting and have no idea what went on. No member of the PBA has ever been asked to leave a Township Committee Meeting, ever. Although the exchange between members of the PBA and the committee that night were lively at times, Comical at other times, last I checked that is the nature of government. The only time that the meeting became heated was when out of nowhere, and pertaining to nothing that was being discussed, then Mayor Deluca became angry at the local for not endorsing him. He then made mention of alleged “Veiled racial remarks” being made towards citizens of the community by the members of the department. The PBA President then proceeded to defend his members, I don’t remember anyone being asked to go outside. As a member of the Local I am proud that over half the department showed up at that meeting to make their feelings known. If you care about your community, as I’m sure you do, you should be proud that so many members of your Police force would put their futures on the line and speak out publicly about problems within the department. Weather you believe it or not these problems effects the community overall, not just the members. Woodster I agree that if any officers made those remarks they should face disciplinary action. To date, two years later, I know of no officer who has been charged. There is a procedure in place and shame on Mr. Deluca or any person who knows of any Officer that made those comments and did not report them. Yes, the initial complaints that were brought to the townships attention at a prior meeting were directed towards the Chief and Mrs. Mead. The Union was very disappointed that the committee never acted and did little but pay lip service to our concerns. And for the record, the Chief of Police, in an article submitted to the News Record shortly after the meeting, Agreed with many of the concerns brought forward by the PBA. No, I was not President at the time and as I stated earlier, I do not recall anyone challenging the Mayor to a fight. The Officer who stood up for his men at that meeting is no longer PBA President, his term ended. Yes he is still on the department. You may have read about him several months ago in the local papers, he is one of the Officer who early one Sunday morning (while most of the Maplewood residence were enjoying a nice morning with their families) was chasing a man wanted for a double homicide in Florida. That man just shot two people in Irvington and was spotted in Maplewood. He attempted to shoot several Maplewood Officers, did shoot at the Officer in question just after ramming a Police car in the vehicle he car-jacked. He was then chased by the officer in question and taken into custody after a violent fight, that officer is OK. | ||
| Woodster Citizen Username: Woodster Post Number: 88 Registered: 8-2002 |
officer JG, I remember the officer saying something to the effect of "come on down Mr. Mayor and deal with me like a man", he said this over and over as he gestured the mayor to come down to him. Do you deny this happened? | ||
| C Mark Townsend Citizen Username: C_mark_townsend Post Number: 2 Registered: 4-2005 |
Does anyone know what the final raise turned out to be for the Police Dept.? And, was this reached through arbitration or from TC and PBA negotiations? | ||
| Woodster Citizen Username: Woodster Post Number: 89 Registered: 8-2002 |
I don't know what the final raise was but I do know that Fred has made it clear at the TC meetings that it was the arbitrator who awarded the raise. He does this so the people won't blame him, but he fails to mention that he and the TC could have appealed the decision but wouldn't because of the deals made with the PBA. Give the man credit, he knows how to play both sides for suckers. | ||
| Lucifer Citizen Username: Lucifer Post Number: 4 Registered: 5-2005 |
Does anyone know if it is too late for me to join the race. I mean, enough is enough of this sh*t. I can't bear the thought of Grodman or Profeta again. What do i have to do to get on the ballot? | ||
| Jack Straw Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 5085 Registered: 10-2001 |
boring | ||
| C Mark Townsend Citizen Username: C_mark_townsend Post Number: 3 Registered: 4-2005 |
Mr. Woodster, I heard today from a PBA representative that the raise was 19.4 percent over four years. There were also other issues pertaining to scheduling and promotions that seemingly were resolved. Mark | ||
| ajc Citizen Username: Ajc Post Number: 3816 Registered: 9-2001  |
"What do I have to do to get on the ballot?" Lucifer, you little devil you... if you really want to get on the ballot you first need to get off your arse and do something.  BTW, keep trying, you're headed in the right direction on your suggestion for corporate sponsorships. Keep that up and you could be the new Mayor before you know it! | ||
| C Mark Townsend Citizen Username: C_mark_townsend Post Number: 4 Registered: 4-2005 |
Does anyone know who the Republican/Independent candidates are going to be? Not like it matters in Maplewood though. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6951 Registered: 1-2003 |
It seems that there won't be any. I think we would have heard from them by now. Goodness, it seems that it is always election season around here. I guess it's because people are so involved. | ||
| Joseph Guglielmo Citizen Username: Plt_guglielmo Post Number: 3 Registered: 11-2004 |
The final raise for the Police Department was an Arbitrators Award. It came after 28 months without a raise. The final award was: For 2003 the PBA was awarded 4.5% For 2004 the PBA was awarded 6.0% For 2005 the PBA was awarded 4.5% For 2006 the PBA was awarded 4.5% No other financial incentives were ordered by the Arbitrator and no benefits were taken from the members. The members were paid retroactive pay, which is common practice. The award was 2% over what the Township offered and 4.5% under what the local requested. Based on what surrounding communities are paid, current trends, the Townships ability to pay and our ranking in the county in both workload and pay scale, any appeal of the decision would have cost the town a substantial amount of money and most certainly been rejected. Woodster I have tried to be informative and factual in my posts. I was the PBA President when the Award was given and am unaware of any deals made with the Township Committee. Please, Tell the online community what deals were made. You post as if you know and now is the time for you to expose these so called deals. Please try to be factual and if you will, name your source as I don’t recall your participation in any talks between the Committee and the PBA. | ||
| Woodster Citizen Username: Woodster Post Number: 91 Registered: 8-2002 |
Officer JG, I don't know you or the kind of officer you are but I hope you are one of the good ones. It appears that you do care about the town. I just think the PBA getting involved in an elections turns some residents against your organization. I for one admire what you guys do, but I have lost respect for your union. It gives me and the residents the feeling that if we don't back your union then you guys won't protect us. I don't expect you to tell us what went on in your PBA meetings, but please don't think we can't figure out that there were deals made for the endorsement. Maybe it was something like the schedule change, or we'll give you more men, or something a long those lines. When did the PBA decide to endorse Profeta/Grodman? Did you guys volunteer to endorse them or did they ask for the endorsement? If they asked for it, where and when and what was said by them? "I agree that if any officers made those remarks they should face disciplinary action. To date, two years later, I know of no officer who has been charged. There is a procedure in place and shame on Mr. Deluca or any person who knows of any Officer that made those comments and did not report them." The fact that Vic didn't press charges on this man shows that he is not the villian you guys think he is. Not only could he have pressed departmental charges but he probably could have pressed criminal charges. | ||
| Jack Straw Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 5089 Registered: 10-2001 |
"the fact that Vic didn't press charges on this man shows that he is not the villian you guys think he is. Not only could he have pressed departmental charges but he probably could have pressed criminal charges." Oh please, give it a rest. Vic was out of line....period. Bottom line, if you respect police officers here in Maplewood, you will vote for fred and Ian. It's pretty obvious there will be serious problems again if the two (Vic and the police) are forced to co-exist. In other words, if we have to choose, we will choose the police. | ||
| Woodster Citizen Username: Woodster Post Number: 93 Registered: 8-2002 |
Jack, how was Vic out of line that evening? "Bottom line, if you respect police officers here in Maplewood, you will vote for fred and Ian." Not true at all. I can and do have respect for the polce (NOT THE PBA) and I will be voting for Vic. Officer JG, it was posted that hte TC offered you guys a zero raise, yet you posted "The award was 2% over what the Township offered and 4.5% under what the local requested." Wouln't that mean the TC did in fact make an offer? | ||
| steel Citizen Username: Steel Post Number: 681 Registered: 2-2002 |
Steel's Humble Impressions: It seems to this humble reader that the sum totality of Woodster's response to officer JG's request to post any information that may exist about so-called "deals" consists entirely of; "please don't think we can't figure out that there were deals made for the endorsement". Frankly the ability of the present TC to have helped foster a fair and equitable agreement with our police force is an odd indictment and a more odd defense of DeLuca's past inability to do so. For my part, I was at the candidate's debate the other night and not having seen DeLuca speak for a while was again reminded that he does less well at persuading than insisting and that much of what he insists upon does not bear close examination for either accuracy or presentation of wise priority. It strikes me that he is better suited as an advocate for some narrow cause, (whatever he should choose), than as a steward for the totality of a municipality. It additionally did not serve him well that apart from wrongly insisting both in tone and content that he also managed to both wrongly imply or only partially reveal on matters such as rent control, developer's interests, campaign canvassing tactics and yes, police negotiations. However I did enjoy his old politician's trick of when asked a difficult question would first reply; "Thank you for the question..." as in; "Thank you for poking me in the eye you bastard why did you have to show up here tonight..." He would then insistently "hold-forth" weaving a dunning tapestry of how HE had first looked at, studied, was responsible for, should be credited with, initiated, and had invented everything presently good or hoped for in this town I think not to the exclusion of the internet. His method seems designed not so much to fully inform as to numb you with the blunt object belief that; "well gee, he is certainly saying it forcefully enough so it must be right". -"Thanks Vic, I've never been hit over the head, I mean, had it explained to me like that before." His portion of, (I presume once bright-faced and earnest) self-presumed nobility has become all-too tainted and thus toxic with bile that cannot be disguised with quick smiles. It may have once been the bile of others tossed at him during his many causes in "fighting-the-good-fight" but now it has become his own. In my opinion it is a quality not conducive to either "healthy debate" or reaching mutually arrived at agreements and certainly not to be admired or sought in a representative that I would choose. In my case he was decidedly unpersuasive despite that I had in good faith walked in prepared, (probably much to the presumed shock and horror of some acquaintances), to be persuaded to change from my still present and now final choice of Profeta & Grodman. | ||
| Joseph Guglielmo Citizen Username: Plt_guglielmo Post Number: 4 Registered: 11-2004 |
Woodster, just a couple of thing and then I have to stop this because it’s just getting silly: “I don't know you or the kind of officer you are but I hope you are one of the good ones”. Just for the record, all of the men and woman who work for the Maplewood Police Department are true professionals who work very hard. Although we are far from perfect, I challenge anyone to name one Officer who is not, based on work ethic and professionalism, a “good Officer”. “It gives me and the residents the feeling that if we don't back your union then you guys won't protect us”. You’re kidding, right? “I don't expect you to tell us what went on in your PBA meetings, but please don't think we can't figure out that there were deals made for the endorsement. Maybe it was something like the schedule change, or we'll give you more men, or something a long those lines”. In your May 21st 11:09 am post you clearly stated that you knew of the deal made between the Candidates and the PBA. Everyone’s waiting! As for the PBA getting involved with the elections turning some people against our organization, TOO BAD! I surely will not make excuses or apologies for doing all we can to make the Department safer for the officers, the town safer for the citizens and attempting to pull us up above the bottom of the heap in pay and schedule. For the record, at no time did I ever say that former Mayor Deluca was a villan, or that myself or anyone in the PBA disliked him. In fact I never said that I liked or disliked anyone. What the PBA said by our endorsement is that Mayor Profeta and Vice Mayor Grodman along with committee member Petis (the Safety committee) had worked very hard with the PBA to address the problems that both the Union and the Police Administration have identified. The PBA believes that this hard work earned Mr. Profeta and Mr. Grodman the endorsement. } | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6995 Registered: 1-2003 |
Woodster, as far as I can tell, it is your conjecture that "deals were made". When asked for details, you just didn't want your intelligence insulted because you can figure these things out. Sure you can, but it's still conjecture. Others come here with accounts of what they know first hand, and that's more convincing to me than your assumptions. If you know something, you can still tell everyone about it. It is particularly convincing when it is in the form of "X said Y" or "X did Y" rather than "X must have done Y". |
