Talks continue on cops contract
The Madison Professional Police Officers Association and the city still haven’t reached an agreement on a new contract for the rank-and-file officers. Police union president Kelly Powers says he “preferred not to comment at this time because we don’t want to bargain in public.”
Powers will say that “recruitment and retention” of Madison police officers has become more difficult in recent years. If the city and the police union can’t reach an agreement through mediation in the coming weeks, the contract could be decided through interest arbitration.
This may impact the pay raises of 1,400 other city employees who are prohibited from collectively bargaining over wages because of former Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10, which passed in 2011. Police and fire department unions are exempt from the law. Over the last several years, wages for non-union city employees have not kept pace with city employees who are still allowed to collectively bargain. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway says a resolution passed by the council in September seeks to bring parity in pay raises to all city employees.
“Right now, there’s a 6 percent gap and we have a multi-year plan to bridge that gap,” says Rhodes-Conway. “But if pay for police and fire keeps going up, the gap gets bigger and the bridge doesn’t reach.”
That’s why the September resolution also includes a “me too clause” that guarantees if the firefighters or police union negotiate for a higher pay increase, non-union workers get that pay bump, too. The Madison firefighters union did just approve a contract for a 1.5 percent pay increase in 2022. Non-union employees in the rest of the city will now receive a 1 percent raise in 2022 and see a retroactive half a percent pay bump to keep pace with the firefighters.
But what if the final contract with the police union contains a 3 percent raise in 2022? Will non-union city employees get that pay increase, too?
“We’ll have to revisit that question,” says the mayor. “There’s also just the reality of how much money we have.”
Rhodes-Conway says this is another example of how the state Legislature is putting Wisconsin municipalities in a bind.
“We lose ground every year with shared revenue. The levy limit severely restrains our ability to raise taxes,” says Rhodes-Conway. “It isn’t just Madison. Municipalities around the state need more revenue options.”
Body cams, for now
In recent months, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes pushed hard for the city council to approve a body-worn camera pilot program. At its April 19 meeting, a crucial vote from Ald. Tag Evers got the one-year pilot program approved and 48 officers at the North District precinct will soon test out the technology.
Barnes says “the research” gained from the pilot will determine if Madison will ever equip the full police force with body-worn cameras.
Virginia Tech professor Broderick Turner — who runs the Tackling Race and Prejudice lab at the university — will help guide the research into what effect body-worn cameras have on community relations in Madison during the pilot program, says Barnes.
“If he comes back and says, for Madison, there’s really not a trust problem, that would be music to my ears…I hope that’s the result,” says Barnes. “But if the research shows [body-worn cameras] can be a piece of the puzzle in building community trust, that would obviously guide how we move forward.”
Watch out for God
The Dane County Board will continue to open its meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance. In March, Supv. Heidi Wegleitner proposed doing away with the pledge but the board voted April 19 to continue the tradition. Before supervisors made that decision, Wegleitner received some nasty messages and death threats.
“A shit stain on the bottom of a shoe is worth more than a Bolshevik maggot such as yourself,” one person emailed Wegleitner.
The isthmus supervisor was successful in striking the word “prayer” from future county board agendas. Supervisors can still opt to say a prayer at the start of board meetings, but it will be listed on the agenda as an “inspirational message.”
Conservative supervisor Jeff Weigand thought this was a terrible idea and stated at the April 19 meeting that there would be consequences for the board “forsaking” God.
“Prayer is the single biggest weapon that we have in our fight against evil. And by taking prayer out of the equation, we’re essentially tying our hands behind our backs as we go into battle,” Weigand said.
“I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now, everyone, from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good,” said Weigand, reciting a verse from Jeremiah 18. “That’s a quote from God.”
