Former officer, Grants at odds
over PD union

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Police Officer Steve Roberts recently resigned from the Grants Police Department, saying he cannot make enough money to pay his bills on the $12.83 per hour the city is paying. He is the president of the Grants Police Association, which is attempting to unionize to gain higher pay and benefits.

He said the city is being uncooperative and using delaying tactics to keep the officers from organizing.

The city’s labor board met July 2 to determine whether sergeants may be included in the union as part of its collective bargaining unit, which has the authority to negotiate and agree to contracts.

The board ruled that sergeants are supervisors 50 percent of the time.

The ruling stated that sergeants may be members of the union, but may not be allowed to participate in collective bargaining, attorney William J. Tryon, who represents the police officers, said.

Tryon said that a letter which details the board’s decision from attorney Dina Holcomb, of Management Associates of Albuquerque, does not accurately reflect what the board actually decided.

Holcomb, who represents the city of Grants, said she wrote an accurate version of the decision.

The police union states the letter does not match the board’s decision ... the city states it does.

No tape provided

The city has not provided the police union with a copy of the taped proceedings, which is public record and should be made available, Tryon said.

“The city required a written public records request and then after several days, said it was lost,” Tryon said.

When a second public records request was submitted, the city said it could not copy the tape locally and had to send it to Albuquerque.

“You can sit and record what is on the tape by using another tape recorder and a hand microphone,” Tryon said. He said the city declined to allow the union to do that.

“We have tried for (more than) four weeks to get a copy of the tape — the city would not make a copy for us, would not let us make a copy ourselves — and now has told us they have sent it to Albuquerque to be copied,” Tryon said.

“At some point that tape is going to disappear,” he said, claiming the city does not want an accurate recording or transcription of the board’s decision to be released publicly.

The 50 percent issue

Tryon said the board’s decision included comments about the 50 percent of time sergeants are supervisors, which made those comments part of the decision.

He said Holcomb’s letter included nothing about the 50 percent issue.

“I, in no way, shape or form agree with the letter that Ms. Holcomb wrote,” Tryon said.

He said since no one submitted testimony or evidence about sergeants being supervisors 50 percent of the time, the board’s decision will be appealed ... as soon as the union can acquire an accurate copy of the tape.

“The board president’s decision was arbitrary and capricious, and we have told the city we are going to file an appeal in district court,” Tryon said.

Also at issue is that an election to see whether officers will approve the union or not has not been scheduled, Steve Harvey, president of the New Mexico Coalition of Public Safety Officers said. Boyd agreed there has been no election set, saying the board cannot set a date for an election without a signed decision by both the city and the officers.
“I cannot believe how much the city is delaying this,” Tryon said.

Witholding pay raise

“The city is withholding a 4 percent raise for police officers as punishment, because the officers are trying to unionize, Tryon said.

Holcomb agreed the city has withheld the raise, but not for the reason Tryon states.

“The city is withholding the raise, but not because the union is trying to organize, but because state law requires it when a collective bargaining unit has not been determined, she said.

“And, there is no written agreement between the labor board and the officers,” she said.

“The decision is just not what they ‘want it to look like,’ ” Holcomb said. “I am waiting for their response, the ball is in their court now.”

“The city does not want us to file the appeal in district court because they know it is reversible,” Tryon said.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 285-4560 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.