Paul Bass Photo
Kottage (center) & his union endorsed the mayor in 2011. Now they’re at odds on a contract.
A vote on a new police contract sparked a spat between the heads of New Haven’s cop and fire unions — with one labor leader accusing the other of disloyalty.
The sparks flew as police rank-and-file police officers prepared to vote all day Wednesday on a tentative new five-year contract their union has struck with City Hall.
Fire union President James Kottage (at center in photo above) went on the airwaves Tuesday morning on 960 AM WELI with Vinnie Penn to warn cops about the deal.
“This is possibly the worst negotiated public safety contract in the state,” Kottage declared in a subsequent Independent interview.
“Their benefits have been eviscerated,” Kottage said.
Police union President Louis Cavaliere Jr. responded by accusing Kottage of trying to mislead cops in order to strengthen the fire department’s own hand at the bargaining table with the city and lure cops into “the foxhole” with the firefighters after abandoning them during a previous fight with City Hall.
Click here and here to read the tentative police deal and a summary.
The police and fire unions have been attempting to negotiate new contracts to replace those that expired on July 1, 2011. Kottage said if approved, the police contract would set a bad precedent for the fire union, which is heading into binding arbitration to settle its own contract.
“The mayor made it clear to our president that firefighters who risk their lives for the city would only get what the cops agreed to,” added his vice-president, Frank Ricci.
Kottage warned against rising medical costs: the cost of one plan, Blue Care 1, would rise from 12 percent to 30 percent of a cop’s salary.
Melissa Bailey Photo
Police union president Louis Cavaliere, Jr. (second from right in photo), offered different math. It’s actually a 7 percent increase, not an 18 percent increase, he said — as long as you switch to a new version of the Blue Care plan the city is offering. The only changes in that plan, compared to the old Blue Care plan: copays are $15 than $5. And out-of-state non-emergency doctor visits aren’t covered, Cavaliere said.
The city has been arguing that the medical and pension costs of its union contracts are unsustainable over the long run, imperiling New Haven’s finances. So it has been seeking — and in some cases winning — new terms as it negotiates new contracts.
Union leaders have to make a call: Strike a deal with compromises. Or resist any changes (like, in the police case, requiring future cops to wait 25 years rather than 20 before retiring) then take the whole contract to arbitration, a winner-take-all proposition. Historically unions have fared well in arbitration. The city now feels it has a strong case to make that its financial situation is too dire to be able to afford historicallly generous medical and pension terms. Cavaliere decided to strike the best deal he could get without arbitration; Kottage at this point has decided to roll the dice with arbitration.
Kottage denounced “divisive” clauses in the police union’s proposed contract that would divide the membership up into different tiers. And, he warned, the contract would take away medical coverage of the children of future retirees. The contract also includes a “retiree medical contribution”: cops would have to pay 1.25 percent of their salaries into a retiree health care fund.
Under the new contract, cops would get a 9 percent raise over five years. New hires (after this police class) would have to wait 25 years to retire, instead of 20.
Cavaliere has defended the contract as “fair” and far better than what the union could have obtained if contract negotiation went to arbitration. He dismissed Kottage’s critiques.
“I don’t understand why he’s so concerned about what the police department is doing,” Cavaliere said. “If they’re not worried about going to arbitration, why do they care about us?”
“They just need another man in the foxhole,” Cavaliere continued. “Where were they when they mayor laid off 16 police officers? They shook his hand and endorsed him.”
“Where was they loyalty [then]? They didn’t give a shit about us.”
Cavaliere was referring to an ironic fact: The fire union, which has reached an impasse in negotiations, endorsed Mayor John DeStefano for reelection in 2011. The police union didn’t.