Today was a complete and total victory for the men and women of the River City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge # 614. The Officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department challenged Mayor Jerry Abramson in Court and prevailed. Last month the Mayor tried to take away two health insurance polices without notifying the Board of Directors of his intentions. We felt that this was a direct violation of several areas of our contract and immediately filed a grievance and sought an injunction in Circuit Court. We asked that the grievance be advanced to the arbitration level so that no member would be in danger of losing any benefits.
None of this could have been accomplished without the help and support form all of our members. FOP #614 is the 11 th largest FOP in the nation. We have almost 2200 members and we proved today that by standing together we can achieve anything. Today the arbitrator, Mr. Beckman ruled in favor of the FOP in all areas. The Mayor stated that he would abide by the decision of the arbitrator and that the two plans would continue to be offered. Special thanks go to all of our members that came forward to help us. We would also like to thank Judge Stephen Ryan for granting the injunction to stop this illegal action so that it could be heard by the arbitrator. Special thanks also go to Lodge Attorneys Mark Miller and Mary Sharp for their professionalism in representing us in this action. The decision of the arbitrator is vindication for us. We were confidant that the violations to our contract would be proven and that the Mayor once again made a bad decision without considering the long term consequences of his actions.