Writer's Direct Dial 612/676-2301
jmichels@ricemichels.com
October 16, 2006
Mayor R.T. Rybak
City Council Members:
3rd Floor City Hall
350 South 5th Street
Minneapolis Minnesota 55415
Dear Mayor Rybak and Council Members:
I am writing in response to the so called “reform” agenda for the Police Department circulated by Council Members Glidden, Gordon and Hodges. Specifically, I am concerned about the first proposition “to separate managers from rank and file employees in the Minneapolis Police Federation.”
Please be advised Minn. Stat. §179A.06, subd. 2, expressly provides that the following classes of public employees are entitled to include supervisors and rank and file employees in the same bargaining unit: firefighters, certified emergency medical service employees; 911 system public safety dispatchers, peace officers; guards at correctional facilities; and employees at hospitals other than state hospitals.
Please be further advised that Minn. Stat. §179A.13, subd. 2, provides that the following actions by employers are unfair labor practices:
(1) interfering, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in sections 179A.01 to 179A.25;
(2) dominating or interfering with the formation, existence, or administration of any employee organization or contributing other support to it;
As long as Minn. Stat. §179A.06, subd. 2, permits police sergeants, lieutenants and captains to be organized in the same bargaining unit as patrol officers, any effort by you or your employees to pursue an agenda of splitting the supervisors from the same bargaining unit as patrol officers is an unfair labor practice. You are hereby placed on notice that the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis will promptly and aggressively exercise its legal rights under Minnesota Law for injunctive relief and monetary damages in the event you take any action to pursue or implement this “reform.” This includes any effort to make support of this agenda item a condition of employment for Chief Dolan.
The fact that this proposal has even been advanced demonstrates a complete ignorance by the proponents of the legislative purpose underlying Minn. Stat. §179A.06, subd. 2. The classes of employees specified in that statute are “essential employees” under PELRA, meaning that they do not have the right to strike. The general prohibition against including supervisors and rank and file employees in the same bargaining unit exists solely for the purpose of protecting employers from enabling a single bargaining unit to completely shut down an employer’s operations in the event of a strike by that unit. Since essential employees cannot strike, there is no need for such protection with regard to the unions that represent them.
Moreover, the proponents of this ludicrous proposal make no assertion as to how its adoption would improve accountability within the Minneapolis Police Department nor do they cite any evidence demonstrating that a problem even exists that necessitates such a “reform.” Since the proponents do not call for such a division of the bargaining units representing firefighting personnel, 911 personnel or other public safety employees, one can only conclude that the proposal is merely further evidence of their demonstrated animus against the police officers they employ and the union that represents these officers.
The proposal to split the ranks of the Federation is not original. It was first advanced in the report authored by Michael Browne which purportedly was written as an analysis of the Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority. The City of Minneapolis has already expended nearly 300 hours of staff and elected official time pursuing Mr. Browne’s agenda by creating a work group to consider the proposals in his report without first undertaking any effort to examine the validity of the report. In fact, the report contains numerous factual and legal errors and the recommendations and conclusions consist of nothing more than Mr. Browne’s personal viewpoints about the Minneapolis Police Department. While he is certainly entitled to his views, Mr. Browne is neither an expert on policing nor labor relations and thus his opinions should enjoy no special standing or consideration. Although Mr. Browne and his disciples clearly believe that the biggest threat to public safety in Minneapolis is the Police Department, the residents of and visitors to Minneapolis would be better served if the City’s elected officials (or at least a majority of them): 1) publicly recognized, as Mayor Rybak and Council Member Samuels recently have, that the problem is crime and not the men and women dedicated to fighting it; and 2) allocated your time and the City’s resources accordingly.
Sincerely,
James P. Michels
cc: Jay Heffren
Tim Dolan
Tim Giles
John Delmonico
