The
And
City
of
Interest
Arbitration
Arbitrator: Michael E. de Grasse
Date
Issued: 07/05/1984
Arbitrator:
de Grasse; Michael E.
Case #: 04941-I-83-00108
Employer:
City of
Date Issued:
BEORE THE ARBITRATION PANEL CONSISTING
OF MICHAEL E. de GRASSE, ALICE DALE AND
CABOT DOW
In the Matter of )
the
Interest Arbitration )
between )
)
THE CITY OF
) PERC
No. 4941-1-83-108
Employer, ) AWARD
)
and )
)
THE
)
)
This matter having been submitted to the arbitration
panel
following a
hearing, briefs of counsel, extensive consideration of
the
issues by the panel and the chairman haying made written findings
of
fact, the chairman now makes the following written determination
of
the issues in dispute, based on the evidence presented.
1. SALARIES: The base salaries established in Appendix A
of
the parties' 1983 contract shall be increased 5.40%, effective
2. EDUCATIONAL
INCENTIVE AND PREMIUM PAY:
A. This is a
new provision in the parties' contract and shall
become
effective
B. Educational
incentive and premium pay shall be a sum
paid
as a premium in addition to the officer's base salary. It
shall
not be included in the base salary for purposes of computing
call
back, court time, overtime, the cost of living increase,
holiday
pay, sick leave, vacation leave or other premiums.
C. Each
officer who has or is awarded an associate degree
from
an accredited institution of higher education shall receive
2%
of his or her base salary.
D. Each
officer who has or who is awarded a bachelor's
degree
from an accredited institution of higher education shall
receive
4% of his or her base salary.
E. Each
officer who has or who is awarded a master's
degree
from an accredited institution of higher education shall
receive
6% of his or her base salary.
F. The
incentive and premium pay for each degree shall not
be
cumulative. Thus, an officer who has an
associate degree and
a
bachelor's degree shall receive 4% of his or her base salary,
and
not 6%.
G. No officer
shall receive educational incentive and
premium
pay until he or she has had three years of experience on
the
In the case of officers who
have had Police experience other than
with
the
exercise
of his or her discretion may reduce the foregoing
qualifying
period to one year.
H. To
continue to receive educational incentive and premium
pay
after qualifying initially, the eligible officer must continue
to
receive satisfactory performance evaluations.
I. To
continue to receive educational incentive and premium
pay
after qualifying initially, the eligible officer must maintain
a
program of continuing education in police science where the
officer
completes at least 3 college hours or the equivalent of
course
work in police science or an equivalent field at an
accredited
institution of higher education or its equivalent
This minimum continuing
education requirement must be satisfied
within
two years after the officer initially qualifies for
educational
incentive and premium pay; it must be satisfied during
each
2-year period thereafter. The parties
are directed to meet
and
confer to develop standards for determining that which is
equivalent
to: 3 hours of course work; a police science
curriculum;
an accredited institution of higher education.
3. INSURANCE: There shall be no change in the provisions
for
insurance currently contained in the parties' 1983 agreement,
provided
that the parties are directed to meet and confer to
develop a
cost containment program incorporating some or all of
the
following: (1) a requirement for
mandatory second opinions
for
particular surgical procedures, including hysterectomies,
hernia
repair, cataract removal, heart bypass and heart valve
repair;
(2) encouragement of out-patient treatment by structuring
benefits
provided employees or by structuring funds paid
physicians;
(3) negotiation of fixed fees for all major surgical
procedures
with health care providers; (4) introduction of
fitness
or wellness programs in the employee's daily activity;
(5) consideration
of premium pay for nonsmokers or for particular
levels
of fitness or wellness; (6) preventive care for cardio
vascular
victims, or for those employees whose family backgrounds
make
them higher risks for particular types of diseases; (7)
payment
to employees of incentives if they are able to secure
health
insurance through their spouses' place of employment;
(8) encouragement
of home care or day care alternatives to
inpatient
care; (9) increase in insurance deductibles; (10) re-
vision
of coinsurance.
4. COURT
AND CALL BACK OVERTIME: The parties
shall
continue
the arrangement contained in their 1983 contract.
5. OVERTIME
AVERAGING FOR DETECTIVES: The
parties shall
continue
the arrangement contained in their 1983 contract.
6. SICK
LEAVE CONVERSION: The parties shall
continue the
arrangement
contained in their 1983 contract.
7. MAXIMUM
SICK LEAVE ACCUMULATION: There shall
be an
increase
in maximum sick leave accumulation for officers covered
by
LEOFF II to 960 hours.
8. HOLIDAYS: The arrangement contained in the parties'
1983 contract will be
retained, unless an additional legal
holiday
in honor of Martin Luther King is established resulting
in
an additional paid holiday for federal or state employees,
in
which case the number of holidays will be increased to twelve.
9. CANINE
PREMIUM: The current arrangement of one training
day
per month for canine officers shall become a part of the
parties '
contract.
10. CALCULATION
OF PREMIUMS: Calculation of premiums
shall
be
based on a percentage. Motorcycle
officers shall receive a
premium
monthly of 2.5 percent of their base salary.
Detectives
shall
receive a premium of 3.3 percent per month of their base
salary,
except for those detectives covered by Article IX, para-
graph B
(1)(a) of the parties' 1983 contract.
Senior patrol
officers
shall receive a monthly premium of 3.3 percent of their
base
salary.
11. CALCULATION
OF OVERTIME: The arrangement
contained in
the
parties' 1983 agreement shall be retained.
12. TERM OF
AGREEMENT: The parties' agreement
shall be two
years
in duration from January 1, 1984 through December 31, 1985.
All provisions of the
agreement shall remain as stated in the 1983
agreement
of the parties, except as modified above, unless other-
wise
agreed. The general salary increase
shall be effective
January 1, 1984. Effective January 1, 1955, wages set forth in
the
parties' new agreement will be increased by a percentage
equal
to the average rate of increase in the Seattle, CPI-W
between
1983 and 1984 for the following months:
July-July,
September-September,
and November-November.
13. CONTINUING
JURISDICTION : The panel of
arbitrators
shall
retain jurisdiction of this matter for forty-five days
following
this decision to resolve any difficulties presented
in
implementing this award. This continuing
jurisdiction is
made a part of this award pursuant to the parties'
stipulation.
Dated
this 5th day of July, 1984.
Michael E. de Grasse
Neutral/Chairman, Arbitration
Panel
BEFORE THE ARBITRATION PANEL CONSISTING
OF MICHAEL E. de GRASSE, ALICE DALE AND
CABOT DOW
In the Matter of the )
Interest
Arbitration between ) PERC.
No. 494l-I-83~l08
)
THE CITY OF
) OPINION AND FINDINGS
Employer, )
)
and )
)
THE
)
Union. )
)
NATURE OF PROCEEDING
This matter arose from the parties' inability to
negotiate a
collective bargaining agreement to succeed
their
agreement that was effective through December 31,
1983. After the Executive
Director of the Washington
State Public Employment
Relations Commission concluded
that
an impasse had been reached, the panel of arbitrators
composed
of Michael E. de Grasse (neutral chairman), Alice
Dale (partisan arbitrator for
the Olympia Police Guild)
and
Cabot Dow (partisan arbitrator for the City of Olympia)
was
formed. The chairman was furnished with
a statement
of
the issues to be resolved.
A hearing was held in Olympia, Washington on April
18 and April 19, 1954. The above-named panel of arbitrators
presided
at that hearing where the Guild was represented
by
Will Aitchison and the City was represented by Otto
G.
Klein, III. A verbatim transcript of the hearing was
prepared
by Aitchison Court Reporting. The reporter at
the hearing
was Peggy Aitchison, Will Aitchison's
Spouse.
The parties stipulated to the
acceptability of Peggy
Aitchison as the reporter in this
proceeding.
Following
the
hearing, extensive briefs were submitted by both
parties,
and the matter has been deemed submitted on May
29,
1984, for a final decision by the panel.
A proposed decision was drafted by the chairman
and
mailed to the partisan arbitrators. The
entire panel
then
met in Portland, Oregon to discuss the proposed
decision
on June 14, 1984. Following this meeting, a
proposed
opinion, findings and award were prepared by
the
chairman. The proposed opinion, findings
and award
were
discussed by the chairman and the partisan arbitrators
telephonically
before this matter was formally determined.
To the extent that the final
determination of this matter
has
absorbed more than the statutory period of thirty
days
following submission, the parties have stipulated
to
that additional period of time necessary to resolve
this
case.
STIPULATIONS OF THE PARTIES
1. This
matter is arbitrable under RCW 41.56.
2. This
matter is properly before the hearing
panel
composed of Michael E. de Grasse, Alice Dale and
Cabot Dow.
3. All
procedural objections to arbitration of
this
matter pursuant to RCW 41.56 are waived, including
the
timetables set forth in RCW 41.56.450.
At the hearing,
the
thirty-day time limit for rendering a decision was
not
waived. This waiver occurred after the
hearing.
4. The
partisan arbitrators may have contact with
their
respective principals during the course of the
hearing
and before the decision is rendered.
5. Any
contact or communication with the chairman
of
the arbitration panel by the other members of the panel
or
by the parties will be a joint communication, or will
be
with prior notice to the other party or panel member,
which
party or panel member will have the option of
participating
in the communication or contact.
ISSUES PRESENTED
1. Whether
base salaries should be increased,
and,
if so, how much of an increase should be awarded.
2. Whether
officers should receive incentive and
premium
pay for educational attainment or for longevity,
or
both.
3. Whether
the health insurance benefits should
be
increased by the City's assumption of 100% of the
premiums
for dependents' coverage, or decreased by the
officers'
assumption of those premiums
4. Whether
court and call back overtime benefits
should
be increased.
5. Whether
detectives should continue to be paid
for
overtime as worked or whether detectives should receive
a
fixed, monthly premium of $100.00 in lieu of overtime.
6. Whether
officers should be permitted to convert
accumulated
sick leave at the rate of 50% to cash upon
retirement.
7. Whether
maximum sick leave accumulation should
be
unlimited or increased to 960 hours for officers covered
by
the Law Enforcement Officers' and Firefighters' Retire-
ment System after October 1, 1977 (LEOFF II).
8. Whether
the number of holidays and the method
of
holiday compensation should be changed.
9. Whether
canine officers should receive a
monthly
premium of 8 hours of compensatory time.
10. Whether
premiums for motorcycle officers,
senior
patrol officers and certain detectives should be
changed
from a fixed dollar sum to a percentage of base
pay.
These premiums will be effective January 1, 1984.
11. Whether
overtime should be averaged or con-
tinued to be paid as worked.
12. Whether
the agreement should be for one or
two
years, and, if the latter, what salary increase should