7/30/2019 Summary of the LaborManagement Situation

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Summary of the LaborManagement Situation

On June 30, 2007, the three-year labor agreement between Louisville/JeffersonCounty Metro Government (management, hereafter called Metro) and the River

City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge # 614 (the union, hereafter called FOP)

expired. As contract negotiations began on March 30, 2007, the atmospherebetween the FOP and Metro might be described as cordial, but tense, and far moretense than past negotiations in recent memory. The FOP, with 1,175 members in thebargaining unit, was the largest of 27 bargaining units recognized by Metrogovernment, and thus the negotiations would be closely watched by all the otherunions as well as nonunion employees. The officers and sergeants represented bythe FOP believed they had taken a step backward in the last negotiationthe firstsince the merger of city and county governments and thus the first since the mergerof the former city and county FOP Lodges. Both sides anticipated a difficultnegotiation process, and thus they added new negotiators to their teams.

Although the current collective bargaining agreement (Art. 6, Sec. 3) as well as statelaw provided a no-strike situation for the FOP, the FOP members, like many policedepartments, enjoyed a high level of public support, which helped level the playingfield, or provided negotiating leverage, between the two sides. The FOP hoped togain increases that would make up for lost buying power realized over the pastthree years of low negotiated annual increases. The FOP has historically demandeda traditional, distributive bargaining process at the table, and it has resisted pastattempts at two-tier wage increases or benefits because of a strong sense ofsolidarity and equity among the members. When pressured by Metro, the FOP hasappealed for, and often received, at least moderate public support.

State law requires that the Metro Government operate each year with a balancedbudget, and both sides realize that Metros tax revenues have been flat and even

experienced a decline of about 2 percent in recent months because of local andnational economic conditions. Over the past 20 years, Metro revenues averaged 4percent very consistently, but the stagnant national economy caused an unexpected$9 million shortfall in the current years revenues that led to a hiring freeze andmidyear budget cuts in all departments, as well as the possibility of employeelayoffs. Members of the FOP, however, were not subject to layoff because the currentcontract contains a no-layoff clause.

In 2003, during the first round of labor negotiations as a new merged government,

Metro adopted a formula for determining the annual pay increase to propose tobargaining groups. The initial contract with the FOP and all other contracts settledby Metro with its labor unions had the formula increase: a percentage increase

equal to half of the percentage increase in tax revenue with a guaranteed 2 percent,which is the same as Article 24, Section 2, 3 of the expiring FOP contract.