At the PBA Meeting on Monday, October 15, 2012, several members expressed concern that the Union was keeping secrets and not keeping the membership fully apprised of all developments.  This article will update the membership on current issues.

# 1.  The Arbitration Award has been available on the PERC web site since July.  Please click here to view the Award.

# 2.   In reference to the above award, the PBA has filed a "Class Action" grievance to enforce the 40 minute meal break which was awarded and not implemented in accordance with the Award.  Click here to view just the portion of the Award which pertains to the increase from 30 to 40 minutes in the meal break and the grievance which was filed.

# 3.    The PBA also won the right to accumulate comp time, members are permitted to accumulate up to 40 hours at a time but your bank must be at zero by January 1st or you cash it out at the December 31st rate and start again.  Click here to view the portion of the Award that addresses the Comp Time issue.

# 4.   The Union has filed an Unfair Labor Practice against the County and specifically Confidential Aide Eady for his continuous illegal interference with Union Business and his blatant and outward hostility, threats and nonsense. 

A long time source of frustration, Contract Negotiations can get the best of your negotiating team as they are constantly under pressure from their membership to settle the Contract.  While it is understandable that the membership wants the contract settled as soon as possible, their quickness to blame their contract committee for the delay may be misplaced if they are not fully informed.  This article addresses the uncontrollable variables in negotiations and hopes to enlighten the membership which should be supportive of its contract committee, not critical.  

First and foremost, if the County has no intention of settling the contract prior to arbitration there is nothing the contract committee can do to reach a settlement.  In Hudson County they have not settled a county contract in over 13 years.  The last signed contract presented to the Corrections Union was dated in 1999.  Similarly, the Prosecutors Office, Sheriff's Department and 1199J (Civilian's Union) have all found themselves in Arbitration.

PERC's Interest Arbitration web page lists 19 Arbitration Awards in Hudson County since 2000.  

Hudson County has paid the law firm of Scarinci & Hollenbeck to arbitrate the labor contracts since as far back as 1996 when they arbitrated PBA Local #232, Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Contract, IA-96-178.

Scarinici & Holleneck has been paid $2,327,598.10 between 2003 and 2010 to negotiate these contracts.  In 2011 the County awarded them a $330,000 "Fair and Open Professional" no-bid contract and for 2012 the County has awarded another $300,000.00 "Fair and Open Professional"no-bid contract to Scarinci & Hollenbeck for their continued services.

Scarinci & Hollenbeck is a very powerful political law firm which was the center of controversy in the "pay to play" accusations in Hoboken.

It is safe to assume, from the past 13 years, that Hudson County has no intention of negotiating a contract and it is doubtful that the in-house representative that they have appointed to conduct negotiations is either qualified or authorized to settle the contract prior to arbitration.  This means that contract meetings amount to nothing more than posturing by the County.  EdPDLaw praises the efforts and patience of the Contract Committee in attending these meetings under these circumstances and reminds the members of PBA Local #109 to support its negotiating team.  

Beware of Administrators who attempt to cast doubt on the Union for its inability to negotiate a contract prior to arbitration.  The Administrators are attempting to weaken the Union and shift attention away from themselves.

Comments:

Members of PBA Local #109 have expressed frustration because they have been 3 years without a contract.

Your frustration at the situation is acknowledged, please keep the following in mind and be assured that your Contract Committee is doing everything possible to obtain the best results for its members.

#1.  Your current President has been in office less than 2 years.  It is unknown what actions were taken by the previous President 3 years ago to secure a contract on behalf of the membership.

#2.  The new Board changed attorneys.  The old attorneys had to be or should have been aware of the information in this article and should have filed for arbitration.

#3.  There was little to no contract information contained in the Union files or passed on to the current Union Board.

#4.  The information obtained from the County was obtained through OPRA request and was not obtained immediately or without a fight.  The County initially supplied the Union with 700 pages of contracts for the nurses at the jail.

#5.   Once the information was obtained, it had to be given to the new attorney for review.

#6.   Contract meetings were repeatedly cancelled.

#7.   You must attend the contract meetings prior to filing for arbitration.

#8.   EdPDLaw just tabulated the figures this week after reviewing 7 years of invoices, researched the law firm and prior Interest Arbitration Awards for this article.

Please contact a member of the Union Board if you would like additional information and remember to:  

Beware of Administrators who attempt to cast doubt on the Union for its inability to negotiate a contract prior to arbitration.   The Administrators are attempting to weaken the Union and shift attention away from themselves.