I am reminded of those obnoxious J.G. Wentworth commercials that have been airing on TV for the past couple of months that show the angry people sticking their heads out of windows and shouting, ?ITS MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW!?
This is the feeling of the Officers on the LOUISVILLE METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT these days, they are frustrated and they want answers. After a year of negotiations the Lodge brought an offer from Metro Government to a vote on March 20, 2008. It passed by a slim margin of 74 votes. Once the contract was settled everyone was ready to move forward, everyone except Mayor Abramson apparently.
It has been 3 months now and we still haven't seen our raises. We haven't seen the retro money owed us since July 1, 2007. The only changes I have seen on my paycheck are the increases foisted on us by Metro Government. I made the comment to a colleague last night that I am bringing home less money now than I was this time last year. There is something fundamentally wrong with that.
FOP President John McGuire recently attended the Metro Council's budget hearings, and asked them some pointed questions about why the Officers have not received their raises and back pay, where is the money and when can we expect it. As you can imagine, they had no clue that this had transpired. Like everyone else they assumed that once they ratified our contract that it would go to finance, the numbers would be crunched and as in every contract in the past within a few weeks the back pay and raises would show up on everyone's check.
This isn't the days of accountants with adding machines working late into the night to crunch the numbers. In fact with the new software that is currently being used we know that much of this is automated and supposedly much simpler now.
It seems that now we are hearing that it may be as long as October before Metro Government is going to pay up. What in the hell is going on here? Is this what they call negotiating in good faith? Where is the money? Did Abramson spend the money that the council budgeted for the 2007-2008 fiscal year for raises on one of his pet projects? Someone needs to be held accountable for this. This is an unconscionable act that is bordering on criminality. Is he so arrogant to believe he can spend money on whatever he wants and that he doesn't have to follow any rules whatsoever?
Rumor has it that after the meeting that the next day a call was made to finance from the Mayor's office and they are scrambling to find out where some money is so this will go away. I don't blame Metro Finance be but are we to assume that they were only doing their jobs and were never told about the Police contract settlement 3 months ago and more importantly to run the figures and pay the money? I suppose that might be true, but someone sure as hell informed them to take more money out of my paycheck every month for gas.
This has gone way beyond the way he normally poorly treats us. This has now affected our families and our livelihood to the point where I am probably not the only one bringing home less money than I was this time last year. Who is going to hold him accountable for his actions? :
I will be writing my council member today and I am going to ask why I haven't received my raise when the contract was approved 3 months ago.