FOP Files Complaint Against Mayor's Office

COLUMBUS, Ohio —A local police union is filing a complaint against the Columbus mayor’s office for leaking a memo to the media that asked for wage concessions.

Fraternal Order of Police President Jim Gilbert claims the mayor violated ongoing union contract negotiations and bargaining in good faith, NBC 4's Lauren Diedrich and Ana Jackson reported.

The FOP has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the City of Columbus to the state employment relations board.

Coleman asked all city unions to give up pay raises for 2009, as well as longevity pay for 2009 that is based on years of service with the city. The mayor gave the unions until Friday to get back to him on his request, which he said would save the city the $13 million it needs to balance the budget, if all unions agreed to the concession.

Last week, Gilbert called the request ‘unacceptable’ given the ongoing negotiations between the police union and the city.

Gilbert said Mayor Michael Coleman brought the letter to the media before the FOP, therefore violating the union contract, adding that he failed to negotiate properly.

"To share with the media this letter and more or less a demand and strong arm this union when negotiations are going on was wrong," Gilbert said.

"We want acknowledgement from the mayor that it was improper for him to handle it this way with us," Gilbert said.

Coleman’s office said the proposal is separate from the bargaining process and that the mayor has asked all five of the city’s unions to make the sacrifice, not just the FOP. The office said it needs everyone’s help to deal with the budge crisis.

Coleman wasn't giving in.

Coleman issued the following statement late Thursday afternoon, “The nation is mired in an economic crisis, and City of Columbus employees and residents are suffering from the effects of a $97 million budget deficit. The Fraternal Order of Police has filed a labor complaint against my office for trying to save jobs and preserve essential city services. This is an unfortunate attempt to change the subject from the reasonable request I made to all city unions last week. I do not believe it amounts to an unfair labor practice to include labor in the difficult decisions of whether to increase salaries, lay off employees or discontinue city services. I look forward to a response from each union to my request.”

Gilbert countered that the FOP is not necessarily against the proposal, but rather the way Coleman went about it.

NBC 4 got another view on the request from the Local 67 Columbus firefighters union.

President Jack Reall said they'll expect promises in order to forgo raises.

"We've had not good experience with commitment. If we can't have any guarantees, that we don't have any layoffs of firefighters, police or any other city workers that's really not a solution we should be looking at," Reall said.

Local 67 expected to have a decision for the mayor by Monday.

The FOP said they're willing to resume negotiations, but there was no scheduled time as to when they'll get back to the table.

The FOP also released a message to Columbus citizens Friday. It said the FOP remained committed to the city's citizens. It said the FOP was open to consideration of all proposals that would be included in a new contract. The FOP said it would continue to bargain with the city, without regard to threats or political bullying by the mayor, in an attempt to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

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