Fire union officials crying foul over refusal to televise
proceedings; City concerned the panel might ‘play to the cameras’
if broadcasted
Gilroy – Four days into the New Year, an outside arbitrator is poised to begin settling a year-long labor dispute between City Hall and Fire Local #2805. The first witness has yet to testify, the first documents have yet to be submitted, but fire union officials are already crying foul over the city’s refusal to televise arbitration hearings that begin today.
“It is one thing to give the public access to public meetings, because public business of necessity needs to be conducted openly rather than behind closed doors,” wrote city labor attorney Jeff Sloan in an e-mail to city officials and union negotiators. “This is why the law requires the proceeding to be open to the public. It is entirely another thing to have an arbitration proceeding be placed under the lens of a television camera. Televised proceedings can easily take on a circus atmosphere which detracts from the decorum and seriousness of public business.”
Sloan points out that hearings are transcribed, but the union insists that televised hearings could prove crucial in the effort to win hearts and minds if Mayor Al Pinheiro continues his efforts to uproot binding arbitration through a ballot measure.
The mayor’s efforts to convince councilmen to back such a measure withered last summer in the face of complaints about due process and threats of political retribution by public safety unions, who are barred by state law from striking. But with the November election over, Pinheiro will gauge council interest this month on a measure to either repeal arbitration, first added to the city charter by voters in 1988, or to subject arbitrator decisions to voter approval. Council could word the ballot measure to affect the outcome of the hearings now under way.
“The city didn’t feel it was appropriate to broadcast the hearings,” union representative Jim Buessing said. “They felt it could create a circus atmosphere. We were hoping everybody would get to watch it – that’s the best way for people to know what happens in these hearings and make a decision based on that. It’s the best thing for the citizens, especially if the council’s going to lean toward pushing this toward a ballot measure.”
While the hearings are open to the public, Pinheiro expressed concern that the arbitration panel “might play to the cameras” if the sessions are broadcast on Channel 17, the station that carries City Council and other government meetings.
“It’s not that we said no, but we felt that the arbitrator should be the one to decide that,” Pinheiro said. “The whole point of these hearings is to try and get people in a position to work things out. At the end of it, if it doesn’t work out, we’re all going to have plenty of time to plead our case to the citizens.”
Last-minute bargaining
City and fire union negotiators will gather around the bargaining table one last time this morning, hoping to bridge some ground before an arbitrator starts settling differences for them.
Representatives for both sides will meet in closed session in City Hall this morning from 8am to 10am, when arbitration hearings are scheduled to begin.
The morning session could run longer “if things are going well,” according to Gilroy Human Resources Director LeeAnn McPhillips.
Neither side expected the last-ditch effort to resolve major differences.
“I think the hope is that a few items will come off the table and that there’s some agreement before we head into the hearings,” Pinheiro said.
An arbitration panel led by John Kagel, of Palo Alto, will review documents and testimony on 19 items over the course of the next week. The 36-member fire union’s list of requests includes: an 11-percent pay raise over three years; a retirement package that would allow firefighters to retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their salary; and an increase in the percentage the city pays for health-care benefits. The city has countered with a 4.5-percent pay increase, a less-expensive version of the retirement package, and has requested a cap on medical benefit contributions.
Both sides have shown willingness to budge on salary and benefit requests in recent months, providing fertile ground for a few last-minute compromises this morning.
“We’ve got a very precise idea of how far we can go and what we can budge on,” Buessing said.
He added, however, that the union still considers the city’s request to roll back staffing minimums, awarded in the last round of binding arbitration five years ago, a “deal-breaker.”
Arbitration hearings are scheduled to begin today at 10am in council chambers at City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St. The all-day hearings are scheduled for Jan. 4 through 6 and 9 through 11, as well as March 6 and 8.
The city and fire union are free to continue negotiating a contract settlement during the arbitration process.
