VCOPS, along with other Police, Fire and teacher organizations held a Press Conference Wednesday morning prior to the General Assembly going into Session to thank the Governor and urge the Senators and Delegates to support the Governors recommendations. Click here to see VCOPS Press Release-

Second House Vote

We ask that you send the Governor a quick thank you….click here…..as well as our Senators and Delegates.

Delegate Villanueva; Yes – DelRVillanueva@house.virginia.gov

Delegate Knight; Yes – DelBKnight@house.virginia.gov

Delegate Purkey; Yes – DelBPurkey@house.virginia.gov

Delegate Iaquinto; Yes – DelSIaquinto@house.virginia.gov

Delegate Tata; Yes – DelBTata@house.virginia.gov

Delegate Howell; Yes – DelAHowell@house.virginia.gov

Senator Miller; Yes – senatorybmiller@verizon.net

Senator Northam; Yes – district06@senate.virginia.gov

Senator McWaters; Yes – district08@senate.virginia.gov

Senator Blevins; Yes – hbblevins@senblevins.hrcoxmail.com

Delegate Stolle; No – DelStolle@house.virginia.gov

Finally please send an email to Delegate Chris Stolle to ask why he opposed the Governors Amendment and didn’t support the local employees.

We were also advised by some senior leadership, that this was by no means over, so please be prepared to fight this battle again next year.

Thanks to all those that took the time to contact their representatives prior to the final vote.

Employers would have you believe public employees receive a “Cadillac” pension. In fact Virginia has one of the lowest pensions in the country, 48th to be exact. Pension plans that require an employee contribution are typically much higher than Virginia. Other states multipliers in the mid Atlantic run 1.8 to 2.0.

Our fight is not over. We must work harder than ever to support the Governors amendments and make sure it is sustained in the General Assembly. Below is the Governors press release:

Governor McDonnell to Send Down Budget Amendment Keeping Existing Retirement Contribution System in Place for Current Local Government Employees

RICHMOND- As part of his package of budget amendments that must be completed by midnight, Governor Bob McDonnell will ask the General Assembly to reject a previously passed provision giving localities the ability to shift retirement expenses to local government employees, including teachers, police officers, sheriffs and others. The Governor will ask the General Assembly to treat current local employees the same as current state employees in the funding of their retirement plans.

Speaking about his amendment, Governor McDonnell noted, “The men and women who serve the Commonwealth in our state and local governments have devoted their professional lives to public service. It is important that we treat that service with the respect it deserves. Current state and many local employees took their jobs with the expectation that their retirement contributions would come from their employer. We cannot turn our back on that agreement. To do so would be unfair to Virginians who work hard for our Commonwealth every day. We should make necessary changes to our retirement system and I do support changes to the contribution requirements for future state employees, and for future local employees if a locality chooses to make such a change. For current government employees a promise was made, and it should be kept.”

The budget introduced by the previous Administration called for current state employees to contribute 1% of their payroll to their pensions in 2011 and 2% in 2012. As a candidate for Governor, McDonnell opposed such a change in policy. Upon taking office he worked with the General Assembly to remove this proposal from the budget. The General Assembly did pass a budget amendment granting localities the authority to require current local government employees to contribute to their retirements, in a similar fashion as was proposed for current state employees. This amendment will remove that authority.

We must now work hard to contact every member of the General Assembly, and ask them to support the governors veto. You should all plan to be in Richmond next Wednesday, April 21, 2010 to meet your legislator and ask them to vote in favor of the governors amendments to the state budget. you should all write letters to your local newspaper and media supporting the governor. there will be a large effort to oppose the Governors amendments and only through our hard work can we protect our members.

Talking points for the Governors amendments:

Current employees were promised they wouldn’t have to pay the 5%. It was commendable the Governor is holding employers to their promise.

Many state and local employees had their portion of VRS paid by the employer in lieu of raises.

Since state employees were spared paying a portion of VRS, it was only fair the same be extended to local employees.

This amounted to a tax on local employees by the General Assembly, and we are beholding to the Governor not to raise taxes on local employees.

Public employees receive less pay over their careers in order to have a modest pension.

Please be supportive in your letters and contacts with legislators.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BILL TO GET HOUSE VOTE AFTER RECESS!

Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives has stated that H.R. 413, the “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act,” would be “among the first” bills considered on the House floor following the Easter recess.

With Members of Congress home in their States and districts, this is a perfect time to make your voice heard!

IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND ASK HIM OR HER TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF H.R. 413 AFTER THE RECESS!!!

You can find your Representatives’ district office phone number using www.congress.org, or contact their office through the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121. When you reach their Washington office, ask for the district office phone number as well!.

The bill would recognize the fundamental right of public safety employees–primarily law enforcement officers and firefighters–to form and join unions and bargain collectively with their employers over wages, hours, and working conditions without undermining existing State labor laws. Basically, H.R. 413 would require:

• the right of employees to form and join a union;

• a requirement that the public safety employer recognize the union and agree to bargain over hours, wages, and the terms and conditions of employment; and

• the availability of an impasse resolution mechanism such as fact-finding or mediation.

The legislation does not require binding arbitration and would prohibit strikes and lockouts. You should emphasize that collective bargaining is a critical tool to resolve differences, not create them.

Law enforcement officers and firefighters do not have a traditional labor-management relationship. The bottom line is not shareholder profit versus wages, but how to best keep the public safe and get the officers safely home at the end of their shifts. The success of the law enforcement mission depends on an open dialogue that is absent in far too many of our departments today.

DON’T DELAY — CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TODAY!!!

This is very important legislation. If passed in both the House & Senate and then signed by the President (which he has promised to do) then we will finally get the right to Collective Bargaining in Virginia. Once we get Collective Bargaining rights, YOU will need a strong Union to fight for you. The PSA and the PBA will be here, ready, willing and able to fight for Your rights. Stand with us NOW!! Contact your U.S. Congressmen and women and let them know that you want them to support H.R. 413 – the “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act”.

The Battle of The Bulge 2010

Cities Begin Final Plunder Of Wages

An organized blitzkrieg is now raging from Los Angeles to Philadelphia – Gainesville to Portland. Protected by the fog of economic propaganda that covers our nation, cities are making their final assault on pay and benefits for this business cycle.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has shouted out the victory chant to the “small government” faithful in the grandstands. The faithful will not disappoint the WSJ. The last two quarters have seen public employees take a trouncing. The winners are downright giddy. Not satisfied with going home with a 21 – 0 victory, management has now entertained the thoughts of a 50 – 0 massacre. The second stringers will remain on the bench until the final gun. The victors are hell bent on making a statement. The WSJ is ever so happy to facilitate this quest for its benefactors – aka subscribers.

The frontlines of this epic battle are Los Angeles, Toledo, Tulsa, and Cleveland. We work for police associations in three of these cities – Los Angeles, Tulsa, and Cleveland. Trust us, things look much different at the epicenter of the battle than in a newsroom in Manhattan or even at the Los Angeles Times, The Tulsa World, or The Cleveland Plain Dealer. War is hell, even if it civilized one, which this is.

Driven by “bumper sticker” rationale, cities go after the “straw men” that are the cause of their current financial plight – overpaid employees and obscene pension benefits. You have to hand it to the management of cities, they know the “hot button” of their citizenry – envy. Today, they are laying down on that button like a cab driver on a horn in Mexico City. The end is near and they know it.

What began in July or August of 2008 as a senseless panic, ended last summer at about the same time. As a point of clarity, the “recession” did not begin in December of 2007 as the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) claims, unless feelings count as macro economics. The NBER is the same organization that announced the end of the 1990-1991 recession two weeks after Clinton defeated the first Bush – the same recession that actually ended eighteen months earlier. The NBER may have an impressive lineup, but its credibility as an honest monitor of recessions is suspect.

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