Police union talks falter, but Menino foresees pact

By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff, 9/18/2003

Talks broke down between the city and the police union after their first bargaining session in four months yesterday, even as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Mayor Thomas M. Menino were promising that labor unions would not disrupt their party's convention next summer.

The bargaining session ended after about an hour -- the union said it was over in five minutes -- after it became clear neither side was budging, said Boston Police Patrolmen's Association president Thomas Nee. The next bargaining session, scheduled for next week, has been canceled.

"Things do not look [good] for the convention, given what we heard today," Nee said. "The tone and tenor has got to change. We met with people who don't want to work with us. It's the first of three bargaining dates, they come to the table and say they don't want to work with us, and they walk away."

But while Nee was speaking of impasse, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and Menino said they were confident the contracts would be completed soon, and that the convention would go off without a hitch. It starts July 26.

"I don't think the unions would ever disrupt a Democratic National Convention," McAuliffe said. "I talked to the leadership of the AFL-CIO. That would never occur. We are going to have an agreement, and I think that will be done in the next several months."

Contracts were finalized only weeks before the start of the 2000 convention in Los Angeles, he said. Unions, which are as eager to defeat President Bush as the party is, would not hinder the image of party unity with protests, he said. "The mayor has assured me they are making progress and will be resolved clearly by the end of the year, if not in the next month or two," McAuliffe said.

The police patrolmen's contract with the city, which expired in June 2002, has been a matter of much public contention between the city and the 1,400-member BPPA. Nearly all the city's 17,000 workers are without contracts, but negotiations with police have been the most acrimonious.

Police want a contract like the one Menino gave firefighters in 2001, one that was criticized as overly generous -- a 22 percent pay raise over four years. The city says that its dire fiscal situation means it hasn't the money to offer police such a generous pay increase; Nee scoffs at that. If Menino can find the money for a national convention, the union chief has said, he can find the money to pay police officers.

Nee has said the union will shame Menino on the national stage next year if a contract is not won. Although police would not likely disrupt official proceedings, they could embarrass Menino by following him at public appearances around town.

"The city invited us back to the table, led us and the public to believe they wanted to move it forward, and what happened was nothing has changed," Nee said. "It didn't seem productive to continue the talks."

The parties are hung up over just how much money the city has available to pay for police contracts.

"We've remained open and want to settle this at the negotiating table. We're serious about it" said Seth Gitell, spokesman for Menino. "But from today's event it appears the union may not be. They deny reality. They don't seem to recognize the city's real fiscal plight."

Gitell said city officials offered to let a union specialist examine the city's finances to see if the city is telling the truth about its fiscal situation, and that the union has agreed to do it.

Yesterday, Menino and McAuliffe stood together at Dorchester High School as the DNC chairman promised that the convention would be "a spectacular thing for Boston and a spectacular thing for our country." In an interview after the talks had broken down, Menino dismissed talk of disruption, saying he is confident the matter would be resolved before the convention.

"This is an issue with you people," he said, referring to the news media. "It's not an issue with us. We're at the table with BPPA, and we're at the table with the detectives, and with several of the unions."

McAuliffe and Menino were appearing before students at the Academy of Public Service at the high school, to kick off an essay competition they hope will attract young people to the Democratic Party's festivities next year.

Students ages 13 to 18 must write an essay on "how young people can use the political process to make their communities a better place" to enter the contest. One student from Boston, and another from elsewhere in the country, will be selected as winners. One will deliver a speech at the convention, and the other will open the proceedings. Entry forms are available at www.democrats.org/convention/gavelin.html.