Lois Henry: It's all about the politics
| Tuesday, Jun 02 2009 06:23 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jun 02 2009 06:23 PM
So, Alexander Haig is alive and well, and apparently serving on the Bakersfield City Council in the guise of Zack Scrivner.
Lest there was any question, Scrivner answered it last Wednesday with a Haig-esque "I am in control here," op-ed piece about just who's pulling the strings on negotiations with the police union (fire too, I presume, but he didn't mention them).
"Let's be clear -- the city manager is an agent of the City Council; he follows the council's direction," Scrivner wrote in reference to a recent ad campaign by the Bakersfield Police Officers Association lambasting City Manager Alan Tandy for holding up negotiations over the 3-at-50 retirement benefit in which an officer retiring at 50 gets 3 percent of his salary for every year worked.
Okaaay, Mr. Vice Mayor, you want credit for this mess, you got it.
The police union leadership has publicly stated that they'd be willing to negotiate ways to help save the city money on 3-at-50, a program that so rankles a certain faction of the Council (Scrivner and Ken Weir), if only the city would talk to them. And the fire union even made formal offers to save the city money including giving a percentage of any pay raises to help defray costs and having new employees pay the city-funded portion of their pensions to CalPERS.
At every turn the city's response -- I guess that'd be Scrivner's response -- has been a resounding "POUND SAND!"
Police have been without a contract for two years and are now at impasse.
Firefighters have been without a contract for over a year, but are still in negotiations.
Wow, excellent work, Scrivner!
While he was asserting his authority on this matter, Scrivner also included a little IED in his editorial.
In earlier negotiations, the city had been demanding that new hires for both unions begin with a 3-at-55 retirement benefit.
But in his op-ed column, Scrivner said: "Other plans are available, such as returning to the formula of 2 percent at 50, which was the rule until December 2003; that guaranteed a 30-year employee 60 percent of his salary. This was a generous benefit; returning to it would save the city millions."
Union presidents told me that a day or so after his editorial, they both received notice from the city that a letter to withdraw all previous offers would be on its way.
Hmmmmm. Lets review the timing:
* May 20, the City Council met in closed session and voted to give their negotiator new directions.
* May 27, Scrivner's column appears, casually mentioning a 2-at-50 retirement benefit.
* May 28 or 29, both unions get notice that 3-at-55 is off the table.
"We're still waiting to see if they're going to pull the trigger on that," police union representative Bill Ware told me. "If they do, we'll be looking at the legality of these kinds of shenanigans."
It could be considered regressive bargaining, or bad faith, agreed fire union president Derek Tisinger. His union's lawyer is taking a close read of the editorial as well, which Tisinger characterized as a "huge blunder."
I called Blunder Boy for a comment, actually called all three of his phone numbers and left messages as well as an email, but received no communication back.
I've said numerous times, I think 3-at-50 is overly generous.
But changing it to 55 or even 2-at-50 isn't going to save us money now, during the current fiscal crisis, which Scrivner alludes to as the reason for wanting to change the benefit.
If the city accepted the union's offers to increase employee contributions or possibly give back a percentage of their raises to defray retirement costs, that would save the city big dollars right now when we need it most. As we go forward, the city could continue to negotiate more savings, which the unions have said they're willing to do.
But having a healthy dialogue that saves the city money now and in the long run isn't a part of Scrivner's real agenda.
He wants to be the guy who broke the 3-at-50 benefit, which would be a first in the state and would virtually guarantee Scrivner ascent to higher office.
And that, shudder, has always been Scrivner's true goal.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
