Council expected to approve city, police union agreement

East Lansing residents could benefit from continued quality public services due to a tentative agreement the city and one of its labor unions reached peacefully.

The agreement between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police Support Services Union is expected to be approved by the City Council at 7 p.m. at tonight’s work session, which will be held in Conference Room A of City Hall, 410 Abbot Road.

This is significant because the city and the labor union worked well even with the poor economy, said George Lahanas, director of administrative services for East Lansing, who helped negotiate the contract.

“I think that it’s really a partnership,” Lahanas said. “We’ve had a long period where we’ve both worked on a relationship.”

While the employees and the city benefit from the smooth negotiation process, it is the residents who are the primary beneficiaries, said East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton.

“(The residents) have dedicated and motivated public services delivering high-quality service,” he said.

Councilmember Kevin Beard said two important things in a city are stability and predictability.

“Smooth negotiations that reach a satisfactory agreement without prolonging it is a good thing for the delivery of our … services,” he said.

The Fraternal Order of Police Support Services Union is one of three unions that have reached tentative agreements with the city.

Though the negotiations with the East Lansing unions have gone peacefully, the state of the economy does produce more pressure at the bargaining table, Lahanas said.

With prices increasing, employees rightly want their personal wages to keep pace, but the city has to be responsible to make sure it still has money to cover emergencies, he said.

“That’s the benefit of a good relationship — we have credibility,” Lahanas said.

“When we say that’s what we can afford, (the unions) believe us that that’s what we can afford.”

Steven Lett, general council for the Fraternal Order of Police, said overall he is satisfied with the contract.

“Everybody would like to get more money, but in this economy, it’s not happening,” he said.

The agreement will be effective July 1, 2008-June 30, 2011. The employees will receive a 2 percent wage increase each year.

The contract is expected to pass because before the city’s negotiations with the labor unions began, the City Council was briefed on the city’s limits, Staton said.

“The council essentially approved the direction (the city) was going to take with collective bargaining, and (it) followed that direction,” he said.

Published on Monday, June 9, 2008