Media.Knet.Ca

From Kenora Daily MIner and News

Treaty Three Police and officers' union exchange ideas on how to end labour crisis 

By Alan S. Hale - June 18, 2013

Treaty 3 police officers and Public Service Alliance of Canada representative Judith Montieth-Farrell (far right) in Kenora on Monday, June 17, to meet with the regions chiefs to discuss the labour crisis. ALAN S. HALE/Daily Miner and News

After hours of discussions on what to do about the Treaty Three Police Service's deficit situation, the police force's management and chiefs from the region's 23 different First Nation communities met Monday with a representative from the officers' union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, for the first time since the police force imposed wage and benefit cuts which violate their officers' collective agreement.

The meeting had been requested by the union last week and it was scheduled to coincide with a meeting of the region's First Nations chiefs in Kenora. Both sides are glad the meeting happened at all, but they are still far away from a solution to a crisis which could cause the end of the aboriginal police service.

"This is a positive step. This is the very first time that the employees have heard first-hand from the chiefs ... I'm glad they're here and I hope common sense will prevail," said Police Chief Conrad DeLaronde.

The meeting was short, and was largely just an exchange of ideas from either side for solving the labour crisis.

The chiefs told the union it needs to concede defeat on the challenge to jurisdiction and register as a provincial union, then negotiate a new collective agreement that allows the police force to stay inside the budget it has been given, and finally drop its unfair labour practices complaints sparked by the police force's unilateral cuts.

"Failure to give our request favourable consideration will give us no choice but to wait for the Canadian Industrial Relations Board and the unfair labour complaints decisions to be made. If the decisions are in favour of the union, we can guarantee you that we will not be paying awards or penalties as we will not be able to afford them and we will be forced to shut down the police service," said Chief Wayne Smith, the chairman of the Treaty Three Police Service's board of directors.

The list came as a surprise to the union representative, Judith Montieth-Farrell, who came to meet with the chiefs.

"It was interesting to hear their perspective. We were not expecting any kind of proposal from them, we just wanted to open up a dialogue because you don't solve anything without communicating, Let's hope we can move forward," said Montieth-Farrell.

The union gave the police force and the chiefs its own list of ideas, including more open communication about the financial situation of the force and how to handle it and the withdrawing the police force's jurisdictional challenge.

Instead of nullifying their collective agreement by stripping the union of jurisdiction, the officers are offering to renegotiate the current agreement early in by November. But they also want an independent audit done on the police's finances before those negotiations.

After hearing the police force's side all day, the union made sure the chiefs heard how the imposed cuts have affect their officers and morale inside the ranks of the police.

Leilani Redsky is a 10-year veteran with the Treaty Three Police who has to come back to work even though her second child is only five months old after the force stripped her of paid maternity leave.

"I feel attacked, why should my family pay the price for the spending that has got us in the hole, such as the legal fees (the police force has spent challenging the union's jurisdiction and) from fighting our grievances every step of the way."

Redsky said the fact the police force imposed the cuts on officers without consultation or consent has destroyed morale.

"I'm not even back yet and I know how poisoned the workplace has become in the communities with the officers so stressed out. So worried about their job and about their bills. We never had a say, they never asked us," said Redsky. 

++++++++

From Kenora Daily Miner and News

Chiefs ready to pull the plug on Treaty Three Police if deficit situation cannot be fixed

By Alan S. Hale - June 18, 2013

Chief of Naotkamegwanning First Nation, Joyce White (front), sits at her table with other attendees at the Treaty 3 chiefs meeting to discuss the future of the Treaty Three Police Service.

Something in the standoff between the Treaty Three Police and their officers' union has to give. This was the message from the chiefs of Treaty 3's aboriginal communities on Monday. If it doesn't, there won't be a Treaty Three Police Service anymore.

"We could survive another year to two years, but then we will have to fold. If we're hoping for the union to compromise or the federal and provincial governments to hand over more money, we are dreaming," said a frustrated Chief Earl Klyne of Seine River.

Chiefs from the region's 23 First Nation communities met in Kenora on June 17 to discuss the aboriginal police service's dire financial situation and determined if the force can't find a way to stay within the budget it is being given by the provincial and federal governments, the only option will be to disband the Treaty Three Police Service and return to using the OPP.

"This is not sustainable. If we continue going this way and try to meet the union's demands we're going to be $2.8 million in debt at the end of this fiscal year. Once we arrived at that kind of debt we have to start developing an exit strategy. I know nobody wants to see that," said Chief Simon Fobister of Grassy Narrows to his fellow chiefs.

Fobister's opinion was a common one among the chiefs who came to the meeting. The Treaty Three Police Service presented new financial projections showing a $2.8-million deficit at the end of this fiscal year if management hadn't imposed the unilateral cuts to wages and benefits which violated the officers' collective agreement. With the cuts in place, the deficit is expected to be about $640,000 which can be covered by the police force's $1-million line of credit, which they could only get if they made the cuts the bank wanted.

The chiefs are very concerned about keeping the police force inside its budget because their communities are liable to pay the police force's debts. With some communities struggling simply to afford housing or even electricity, shutting the police force down is preferable than having to pay millions of dollars a year to keep the Treaty Three Police operating.

"If we comply with what the union is demanding we're going to have to pay $2 million a year. We do not have $10 million over the next five years. We don't even have enough money to run our own schools," said Wabigoon Lake Chief Reuben Cantin, a member of the police service's board of directors.

Treaty Three Police Chief Conrad Delaronde presented the chiefs with a plan that would see the police force pay off its deficit by the spring of 2018, but it hinges on their ability to keep the cuts they have imposed on their officers and staff which is far from certain.

Treaty Three and two other aboriginal police forces are currently challenging the jurisdiction of the officers' union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada. If they win then the union cannot represent the officers and their current collective agreement which is being violated by the cuts will become null and void, allowing for the immediate negotiation of a new agreement that may keep them inside their budget.

If they lose their challenge however, then the union will be free to go ahead with its complaints of unfair labour practices and even a human rights violation for the elimination of paid maternity leave. If that happens, the chiefs are prepared to simply pull the plug on the Treaty Three Police.

While many chiefs expressed frustration with the officers and their union for seeking and receiving an arbitration ruling giving them wage parity with the OPP which - despite the union's claims to the contrary, they argued they could not afford, there was even more frustration with the federal and provincial governments.

Despite repeated lobbying from the Treaty 3 Grand Council and the police force, neither level government has budged on increasing money so the force can actually meet their contract obligations to their officers.

"They've left us holding the bag. It wasn't through irresponsible spending, it was through failed promises that got us where we are today," said DeLaronde.  

++++++++

From Kenora Daily MIner and News

Treaty Three Police impose second round of cuts on officers as support for the force begins to weaken

By Alan S. Hale - June 17, 2013

Officers with the Treaty Three Police Service are being told they have to endure another round of cuts to their wages and benefits which violate their collective agreement if they want to keep their jobs. 

The force's management announced the new cuts on June 10 as doubt increases whether there is enough political will on the part of the board of directors and area First Nations' chiefs to keep the debt-ridden police force operating.

"The (provincial and federal) governments have made it clear at this point and time there will be absolutely no increases (in our funding). So we have to operate within our annual allotted budget," said Treaty Three Police Chief Conrad DeLaronde in a letter to his officers and staff.

"We have to compromise now to survive the next four years or suffer the consequences. Without the support of our chiefs, we will all be unemployed."   

Frontline officers' pay will return to where it was before a binding arbitration decision gave them wage parity with the OPP, effectively undoing the arbitrator's decision. Civilian employees will also see their income fall back to where it was last fall and their work week cut back to 36.25 hours. 

Besides their pay, officers and staff are losing their short-term disability benefits and will have to make due with employment insurance's disability benefits. Their health and dental plans are also moving to a 50/50 cost-sharing model; before it was a full-coverage plan.

The police force is also selling some of its boats used to patrol island communities as well as two crime unit vehicles in order to save money.

Unlike the last round of cuts, the senior management will also be taking home less money. DeLaronde is cutting his salary by 10.34 per cent and his two deputy chiefs by 9.63 per cent. The reason for why their pay wasn't cut last time, according to the police chief, is because unlike the unionized officers they have not received any pay increases in the decade since the police force was founded. 

The second round of cuts violating the officers' collective agreement has once again outraged their union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada. While stopping short of calling for the police chief's resignation, they are suggesting the Treaty Three Police Services board take a hard look at themselves and their management for causing the force's financial problems instead of just blaming officers and the union.

"Frankly, our members are not convinced that allowing people that got us into this mess to continue to manage the organization and to come up with a plan to get us out of this mess is the best plan of action," said Judith Monteith-Farrell from the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

"(DeLaronde) signed the collective agreement in December of 2012, and he did not argue that the police did not have ability to pay (for the pay increases) at the arbitration hearing."

The Treaty Three Police's financial situation is quite dire though. In order to keep the force's doors open, they are running a $1-million dollar deficit paid for with a line of credit.  While they have secured funding from the federal government for the next four years, the force has not received any increase in money. The province also recently replaced money lost after the federal Officer Recruitment Fund program ended, but nothing else.

In interviews, representatives from both the provincial and federal government have said it is the responsibility of the other level of government to increase funding for aboriginal policing.

It now appears the political will to keep the Treaty Three Police Service operating is beginning to weaken. Both DeLaronde and the union will be meeting with the force's board of directors and First Nations chiefs on Monday, June 17, to try to convince them to continue their support for a separate aboriginal police force in the Treaty 3 area.