Miami FOP President Armando Aquilar was noticbly absent from the negotiations
The Fraternal Order of Police and City of Miami have reached a tentative contract agreement that gives the officers a 3% raise in 2014. If the deal is approved by the membership, then the city would change the way it calculates retirement benefits and newly hired officers would pay more into the retirement fund. For up-to-date news accounts of this story, photos and to post a comment, please access the links below:
Miami Police Department Message Board
09/11/2012 - City, Miami police union reach tentative contract accord that includes salary hikes in 2014
09/05/2012 – City of Miami, police union consider pension changes to help balance budget
08/25/2012 – Miami Mayor Regalado: Furloughs may be needed to balance the budget
Well, I for one am very suspicious over this reported deal. I have both concerns and doubts in reference to it.
For starters, the proposed 3% raise is not until April 2014…that’s 19 months (over 1 1/2 years) away. Also, are there contingencies built into the raise? Does it strike anyone as strange that a lot of City budget performances are released about that time? In April the City of Miami should be finding out how much money they made or lost in fiscal year 2013. So, if there is a stipulation that the City must make a certain level of profit in 2013 or have a certain amount of money in reserves or the economy/cost of living needs to be at a certain level…well, need I say more? Fat chance of seeing a raise!
If Miami officers get a 3% raise in 2014, how much does it offset the pay reduction from 2010? Is it a wash, do they come out ahead, behind?
Finally, financing a raise for current employees off the backs of new hires is a bad move. This has been resisted by other unions. Sure, existing employees will keep their pension contributions at 10%, but raising the contribution level of new hires to 13% will create problems for everyone. You will now have two classes of employees, they will treat each other differently and behave differently. Also, you are now limiting your pool of potential employees because they can go somewhere else and get more while paying less. Remember, you get what you pay for. It’s no secret that Miami has had a long history of problems with corrupt politicians and even some cops. Heck, even the union for that matter. Your making it harder to get the cream of the crop to come to the City of Miami and you’ll get the leftovers (candidates who couldn’t cut it elsewhere) instead. Good luck with that!
Armando Aguilar should have been at the negotiating table and I figured he was not because, after he was defeated in his bid for the Florida FOP presidency, he announced that he was NOT going to run for reelection as the Miami FOP president. Now he announces that he is considering a reelection bid? Really? Seems suspect that, after Javier Ortiz got a potential contract (which I’m still suspicious of and do not support), Armando seizes what he believes is an opportunity to ride on some coat tails back into the presidency favor of the troops.