www.afscme.org

Arizona’s middle class was the victim of yet another attack this past week as lawmakers rammed anti-worker legislation through committee in less than 48 hours.

ALEC – the powerful corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council – loves Arizona. The group wants to turn this already right-to-work-for-less state into the most anti-worker one in the nation. With a tea party-dominated Legislature doing ALEC’s bidding, it’s on its way.

Last Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Senate passed several bills out of committee that eliminate collective bargaining entirely and all-but eradicate workers’ rights to organize. Another proposed measure ends payroll deductions for voluntary contributions to a union’s political action fund – something already declared unconstitutional by a judge last year.

These deceptive, corporate-sponsored bills were drafted by ALEC and its Phoenix affiliate, the Goldwater Institute. Fifty out of 90 of the state’s legislators are ALEC or Goldwater Institute members.

If you think Wisconsin’s union busting law was bad, Arizona’s is even worse. Police officers and fire fighters aren’t exempted from Arizona’s legislation, as they were in Wisconsin. These bills will devastate 911 dispatchers and public safety officers and the vital services they provide.

“This is a battle for our existence and we’re not going to let them muzzle our voice,” says Frank Piccioli, a Phoenix 911 dispatcher and president of AFSCME Local 2960. “We are the first of the first responders. We are there when someone is having a heart attack, when a child is drowning, when a life is in peril. Politicians doing ALEC’s bidding are turning their backs on the citizens of Arizona and hurting the very people who save lives.”

Emergency dispatchers field approximately 1.5 million calls a year with ever-dwindling staff and resources, Piccioli points out. Despite being paid 19 percent less in wages, “we have made compromises and wage concessions because we want to be part of the solution. We are not the problem. But we are demonized because of a political agenda. This is not about saving taxpayer money. This is about wiping out unions and destroying the middle class.”

The climate in Arizona may well be receptive to ALEC-inspired legislation, but citizens are becoming increasingly alarmed by the extreme policies crafted by corporate special interests. Last year, anti-worker candidates for mayor and council in Phoenix were defeated. Residents apparently value the hard work and dedication of public service workers and agree with the decision of city officials to work with them.

AFSCME has launched an online campaign featuring a video and open letter calling on Gov. Jan Brewer to stop attacking teachers, fire fighters and police and other public service workers. Watch the video (www.afscme.org) and sign the letter here:

http://AttackingUnionsDoesNotCreateJobs.com

www.azcentral.com

The Phoenix City Council narrowly approved a new contract for police officers this week that will restore part of a previous pay cut and allow paid release time for some officers to conduct union business.

Several council members objected to the union release time and also questioned whether the salary increase would prevent an early end to the city’s food tax. Concerns also were raised over whether the pay hike, which also is being extended to other employee groups, would prevent some services from being restored.

The two-year agreement with the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents about 2,500 of the city’s police officers, goes into effect July 1.

The council vote on Wednesday was 5-4, with council members Sal DiCiccio, Bill Gates, Jim Waring and Thelda Williams opposed.

The police union agreement is like others that the council approved on a 5-4 vote last week with four other city worker unions representing 13,000 workers. All the agreements promise a 1.6 percent raise over the current fiscal year’s salary levels, which kicks in July 1. They also tentatively pledge another 1.6 percent increase in the second year assuming certain economic conditions are met.

The cost of the pay increases is $22 million for the coming fiscal year, according to the City Manager’s Office.

PLEA leaders did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Police officers and other city workers will get the second year’s raise if the city finds another $5 million in savings through budget adjustments, maintains general-fund revenue collections equal to or better than the current fiscal year’s levels, faces no shortfall or state-imposed budget cuts and retains its AAA bond rating.

City Manager David Cavazos has referred to these increases as “restoration” for the officers and city workers who had, in 2010, agreed to a 3.2 percent pay cut to cushion the city from a massive budget shortfall wrought by the recession and the state budget crisis.

Reasons for council opposition varied.

Williams said she was hoping that the city’s healthier budget could prompt the nine-member council to sunset the city’s food tax earlier than planned.

The food tax took effect April 1, 2010, and is scheduled to sunset March 31, 2015. The city’s latest figures show Phoenix collected $2.286 million from the food tax in February, up 5.7 percent from $2.163 million in February 2011.

Some council members objected to the paid release time for six officers who are dedicated full time to PLEA activities.

Councilman Michael Nowakowski said he abstained from voting because he disagreed with this provision, which also is at issue in a pending lawsuit filed late last year by the Goldwater Institute on behalf of two Phoenix residents involved with the “tea party” — William Cheatham and Marcus Huey.

Under the city charter, an abstained vote is counted as a “yes” vote, City Attorney Gary Verburg said.

“I believe that release time should be used to advocate for the benefits and resources for their members, not to use it for (promoting) personal agendas like advocating on SB 1070,” Nowakowski said.

The agreement sets up a bank of 1,859 hours of paid release time for union representatives.

Up to 42 officers in the association can be designated union representatives. Of these, as many as two representatives may attend a grievance meeting, hearing or board meeting that deals with police employment concerns such as discipline.

Mayor Greg Stanton and the other supporting council members have said the agreement was appropriate considering city workers have sacrificed their wages to help the city get through tough times.

Time to get our brothers and sisters together for a BBQ.

azcentral.com

The Phoenix City Council will vote Wednesday on new contracts with four employee labor groups that would restore half of the pay that was cut two years ago.

If approved, the contracts would increase employee pay and benefits by 1.6 percent for the coming 2012-13 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Two years ago, the labor groups agreed to a 3.2 percent cut in compensation as Phoenix battled a $277 million budget shortfall.

The latest two-year contracts, if approved, call for restoring the remainder of the pay cut in fiscal year 2013-14 if certain economic conditions are met.

For example, employees will only get the additional 1.6 percent pay increase in the second year of the contract if: the city maintains its AAA bond rating; continues to expand direct services to the public in 2013-14; the city’s 2012-13 general fund revenue collections are equal to that adopted in the 2011-12 budget; there is no budget shortfall or cuts to state-shared revenue; and the city finds an additional $5 million in savings through innovation and efficiencies.

Four labor contracts for unions representing firefighters, laborers, skilled tradesmen and administrators will be up for review on Wednesday after the membership from each group voted to ratify agreements made with Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos.

Cavazos called the contracts responsible, saying that this is the first time the city has built in economic triggers and measures before promising employees pay increases.

Frank Piccioli, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2960, said the group was hoping to get the full 3.2 percent wage and benefit cut restored in the first year of the contract but thought getting 1.6 percent for 2012-13 was still a fair deal.

“They saved longevity, and they expanded city services,” Piccioli said. “That made a bitter pill easier to swallow.”

Longevity payments are given annually to certain longtime employees for lengthy service to the city.

The proposed contracts also reduce the cap for tuition reimbursement from $9,200 a year to $6,500 and scale back employees’ long-term disability benefits.

AFSCME also has an unfair-labor-practice complaint filed against the city, claiming Phoenix negotiators weren’t upfront about what money would be available to consider during talks.

Piccioli said talks were unusually political, with negotiations centered on cutting union release time, step pay raises and longevity bonuses for employees.

Last year’s budget was controversial after some elected officials said they were blindsided by the spending proposal’s inclusion of longevity bonuses for employees.

This year’s labor contracts will also bear some controversy. Some members of the City Council and residents have decried the pay increases for public employees that would restore pay levels to what they were two years ago. Already members of the Original North Phoenix Tea Party have urged the City Council to reject the labor contracts.

The contract for the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association will be reviewed at a separate meeting after the membership votes on a tentative agreement that labor leaders struck with the city. Details for two other labor groups representing supervisors, and police sergeants and lieutenants also are being discussed.

If the council approves Cavazos’ recommendation for all seven of the labor groups, the 1.6 percent compensation increase will cost the city about $22.2 million for fiscal 2012-13.

To review the contracts, visit phoenix.gov/employment/index.html. The City Council meeting starts at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Phoenix Council Chambers, 200 W. Jefferson Street

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/politics/state_politics/critics-alec-helps-shape-extremist-legislation-04122012

Critics expose ‘bill factory for corporate wish lists’: KPHO

http://www.kpho.com/story/17404873/critics-expose-bill-factory-for-corporate-wish-lists

Arizona activist groups protest ALEC: AZ Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/04/12/20120412arizona-activist-groups-protest-alec.html

APS ending ALEC membership; SRP considers doing same: AZ Cap Times

http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/04/12/aps-ending-alec-membership-srp-considers-doing-same/

Arizona UPRISING — ALEC loses more AZ member corporations UPDATED 7:30pm MST 4-12-12: Tucson Citizen

http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2012/04/12/arizona-uprising-alec-loses-more-az-member-corporations-updated-730pm-mst-4-12-12/

With 196 members coming in to vote, the members of 2960 voted YES on ratification of the 2012-2014 contract.  91% of the voting members approved the contract.

The vote count was:

179- YES Votes

17- NO Votes

We want to thank everyone who came in and voted….
YOUR voice is the voice of this Union Family.