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Hearing to be held for Binding Arbitration for Local Corrections |
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Written by Larry Orlowski
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Thursday, 22 May 2008 |
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Well people, the date is here. On May 27, 2008, the House Labor
Committee chaired by Rep. Fred Miller (D-Macomb Co.) will hold a hearing and
take testimony on the bill he introduced providing for binding arbitration for
local corrections officers.
The hearing will be held at the House Office Building across from
the Capital in room # 308 commencing at 9:00 a.m.
WE NEED LOCAL CORRECTIONS OFFICERS TO ATTEND THIS HEARING!
Both DSAM Legal Counsel Jim Akhtar and I will be providing
testimony. The Police Officers Association of Michigan (POAM) will also
be present. We would like other
local union representatives to present testimony. I'm sure all
of your local unions support this measure. There will be cards
available for local union representatives to fill out and turn in stating
their support if you do not wish to testify. Your card will be
entered into the record.
Your testimony should be your first hand experiences at the
bargaining table and why you feel Local Corrections Officers deserve this
process.
I am also asking all of you to personally contact your sheriff by phone
or in person and ask if he supports the measure and request that he attend the
hearing in support of it and perhaps testify. If the sheriff is not
available, suggest that he send a command officer to speak for
him and fill out a card indicating his support.
Click the "Read More" link for more information and directions!
Consider this request as "General Quarters; All Hands on
Deck". This is your time. This is what you've waited for
since September 17, 1985 when then Ingham County
Sheriff Davis testified against his own corrections officers telling the
Michigan Employment Relations Commission Administrative Law Judge
that his officers were not a necessary part of his jail operations and
they could be replaced without interupting services. His testimony
belittled your profession and subsequently began the chain of events that
has caused you and your peers to be treated as 2nd class citizens at the
collective bargaining table. That case was decided by the Michigan Court
of Appeals on December 17, 1985. The attorney presenting the case
against corrections officers for Ingham County at that time was Peter A.
Cohl. You should know that the current Ingham County Sheriff Gene
Wrigglesworth and his alter ego, Undersheriff Matthew Myers, went on record
opposed to the Local Corrections Officer Certification and Training Act (P.A.
125 of 2003). Their attorney was none other than, yes, Peter A.
Cohl. Expect to see these names surface again throughout the
proceedings.
Again, THIS IS YOUR TIME. Jim Akhtar,
our legislative consultant Brett Henderson (GCSI) and I can only do so
much. This is your profession, the one you chose. Step forward and
speak highly of it. Come to the hearing and bring as many of your peers
as you can. It is critical that you have dialogue with these
legislators. Feel free to forward this information on to your peers and to
other local corrections officers at other departments you know.
Hearing Attire
Your uniform of the day if you are allowed or professional business
attire with breast badge if you have one.
Meeting Location
Plan on meeting at 8:30 a.m. next Tuesday, in the offices of
Governmental Consultant Services Inc.(GCSI), 120 N. Washington Square, Suite
110, Lansing, Mi. 48933 Telephone - 517-484-6216. There is
road construction in the City of Lansing currently taking place.
Below is a link to a map which will help you get you to the meeting site. There
is public parking next door to the Radison Hotel which is kitty corner from
GCSI.
See you all next Tuesday.
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