By Ed Jacques, LEJ Editor
After decades of consideration and an aggressive internal recruiting campaign, Wayne County Sheriff’s officers have finally affiliated with a police union. The collective bargaining unit numbers approximately 1,000 members and is the second largest police department in Michigan, following the City of Detroit. The group was previously represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The initiative began when an already frustrated group of employees
received details of their published Act 312 award in December of 2007. The local association was unsatisfied with the Arbitrator’s ruling on wages and health care on top of an existing poor pension plan. There were also some significant language miscues by their arbitration team that would eventually have a negative impact on probationary and low seniority employees. Interest cards were disseminated to members and POAM eventually filed a petition for a representative election with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC). A small group of employees (10%) also signed interest cards to have an independent association included on the ballot, the Wayne County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. In an unprecedented move, the current union and employer, ten days before the ballots were to be mailed, tried to rush a last minute contract to the employees for ratification. Members overwhelmingly rejected the contract in their ratification vote. In another futile attempt to block POAM’s now obvious victory, SEIU filed frivolous unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against Wayne County. Wayne County promptly sent pink slips to approximately 85 employees of their immediate layoff and another 85 employees of a layoff 14 days later. Remember that poor language in the Act 312 award mentioned earlier in this article? The employer pointed to that and instituted a “pool” program where they immediately offered work to those laid off employees without benefits. Participation in the “pool” dwindled as employees realized that signing up would only kill any chance they had of recall. MERC has heard arguments on the ULP and also opened the ballots and recorded the vote. POAM received nearly 75% of the vote and upon dismissal of the ULP’s, will be certified as the bargaining agent for Wayne County Deputies, likely in February of 2009. Current board members have committed to working with POAM as a “transition team” before MERC certifies the vote. POAM will certainly negotiate the best possible economic deal for its newest members and many officers are looking forward to how a real police union will handle its day-to-day business. Training for the Executive Board and stewards, the proper filing and follow-through on grievances, the availability of their POAM business agent, and a new set of by-laws to run their local union are going to be welcomed services to the membership. The entire POAM staff is poised and ready to assist the local association on every issue. POAM’s Business Manager, William Birdseye; Business Agent Kenneth E. Grabowski; and Dave LaMontaine have been assigned to represent the group.