POAM’s official opinion of PA 63 of 2011 is that a public employer is not at liberty to unilaterally implement the provisions of PA 63 with regard to public employees within a collective bargaining unit.

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• Grievance Handbook.pdf

It’s not too late to sign up for Wayne State University Labor Studies Center’s workshops being offered during the month of March. We are offering unique and exciting workshops, including “Evaluating a Case for Arbitration,” “Parliamentary Procedure,” “Current Trends: National Label Relations Act” and “Family Medical Leave Act.”

Please take the time to share the attached fliers with anyone who may be interested in attending any of these seminars.

Thank you,
Labor Studies Center
Wayne State University
656 W. Kirby, 3178 FAB
Detroit, MI 48202
313-577-2191

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The website, WoundedBadge.com, is essentially a private online forum for officers to share their experiences with one another and to support those who need it. In our previous post, we discussed how some officers are reluctant to get the help they need for a variety of reasons, but this site could be an alternative. If you are a law enforcement agent who is looking for a private place to talk about your issues, Wounded Badge could be your solution.

Pasciak’s goal is to have a vibrant, supportive online community for police officers to gather and discuss any problems they may be dealing with. As many of you know, being a police officer is a stressful job, and can become even more stressful if you experience a traumatic situation like a shooting. Pasciak knows how you feel since, as a police officer, he was involved in a shooting and understands the stress it can cause.

POAM supports and encourages all officers to get help as needed, and if you’re looking for a non-traditional environment to do so, please take a look at Wounded Badge.

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One of the groups we at POAM work with most is the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Michigan (DSAM). For those unfamiliar, DSAM is an organization dedicating to fighting for the rights of all deputy sheriffs across Michigan through legislative means.

This relationship is the main focus in the latest POAM Podcast Radio Show, which features POAM Director of Member Services Ed Jacques, DSAM President Matt Van Liere and DSAM Legislative Directoor Brian Earle. POAM and DSAM have worked together on several issues throughout the years while fighting for the rights of police officers and deputy sheriffs simultaneously. But unlike POAM, DSAM is not a union organization. It’s purely focused on dealing with legislative issues. Being the Legislative Director, Earle works primarily in Lansing on legislation that protects the rights of deputy sheriffs across Michigan.

The most recent issue they collaborated on was H.B. 4059. If this bill is passed, it will disallow any union-related work from being done while a law enforcement agent is on duty. This bill would severely limit the capabilities of officers to deal with serious situations that require union involvement in a timely manner.

One of the issues DSAM is currently working on is drafting stand-alone legislation that will allow counties to adopt the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code, which provides a “standard for for traffic laws designed to facilitate traffic flow and reduce traffic crashes.” When the MVC was originally drafted in the 1950s, it left counties out of the legislation. This new legislation will allow counties to adopt the MVC, which will better enhance traffic safety within their jurisdiction.

If you are a deputy sheriff and are interested in joining DSAM, you can find all the appropriate information on its Facebook page or website. If you are joining independently of your sheriff’s department, it costs $25 per year as opposed to the $20 per year if an entire department joins. If you have any questions about how POAM and DSAM work together or issues they’re involved with, don’t hesitate to contact us.

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City of Detroit Concession Offer

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POAM Response to City of Detroit

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To All Local Association Presidents and Members:

February 1, 2012 begins the opportunity for POAM members to nominate fellow police officers, who in the year 2011 exhibited behavior that qualifies them for our Annual Police Officer Of The Year Award.

This is also the opportunity to nominate an individual for POAM’s “Horse’s Ass Award.” This distinction is given out annually to Michigan’s worst police executive, who routinely violates member’s rights and is responsible for poor department morale.

Nominations from the membership should be funneled through their local leaders and then to their assigned Business Agent at POAM. All nominations must be received at the POAM office no later than March 30, 2012.

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The City of Detroit has seen its fair share of financial woes, and Detroit Emergency Medical Services is not unaffected. Our brothers and sisters at Detroit EMS potentially face a future in which their services are privatized. This is the primary topic in this month’s POAM Podcast Radio Show.

There have been cries from Detroit City Council and others that the privatization of Detroit EMS would save the city millions of dollars. But as you’ll hear in the podcast, POAM Director of Member Services Ed Jacques and Detroit EMS Union President Joseph Barney point to the contrary.

Detroit EMS Union President Joseph Barney

Detroit EMS is a part of the Detroit Fire Department and is allocated $23 million a year out of the $260 million yearly budget for the DFD. That’s only 8.8 percent, and Barney said Detroit EMS doesn’t even see all of that money. The $23 million budget is allocated for 221 employees, but there are currently only 191 full-time technicians and paramedics on staff, which means the left over money isn’t being used.

“Did we see all of that $23 million dollars? I’m not quite sure,” Barney said.  He continued, ”The EMS money that we receive from our billing and collections does not go back to EMS, it does not go back to the fire department. That money goes back to the general city fund. So even on paper, if it looks like you’re going to save $23 million by privatizing EMS, you’re losing that potential revenue stream.”

This begs the question, how much does it actually cost to run and operator Detroit EMS? The answer is a little surprising because according to Barney, Detroit EMS brought in around $17.3 million in collections revenue last year. Which makes the cost drop significantly, Barney said.

“The actual cost of having your EMS division out there with the 20 vehicles has been somewhere around $6-8 million. Using the city’s numbers, I think it’s far less though if you look at what actual money was spent on EMS,” he said.

The issue of privatizing Detroit EMS is a hot button issue in a city that needs to save as much as it can. But as Jacques and Barney both point out, privatizing emergency services can cost the city a lot more in the long term.

That revenue is not what many people look at when they consider privatizing Detroit EMS, Barney added. He also said that the City of Detroit already has a contract with DMC Care to provide two ambulances to the casinos in Detroit. But the cost of those vehicles is $1.6 million a year for the City. That’s $800,000 per ambulance.

Jacques said that if it takes $1.6 million to provide two ambulances to the casinos in Detroit, but only costs us $5-6 million to provide emergency services to all Detroit residents, the City is getting much more bang for its buck with Detroit EMS.

What do you think? Is privatization worth it, or will it cost the City of Detroit more money in the long run?