Dade County PBA Holds Firm
The Dade County PBA’s battle to get a contract for their 5,000 members drags on, with some observers saying negotiations could continue well through 2015—and maybe longer. The county has settled with a little more than half of the county’s unionized county employees, who are now working under new three-year labor contracts. But the Dade County PBA—which represents all the county’s sworn law enforcement and corrections officers, along with fire, transit, and water and sewer workers—is holding out.
Union leaders and county officials don’t sound encouraging about the prospects of wrapping up anytime soon, with no talks between Miami-Dade and the labor groups since late 2014.
The extended negotiations for the hold-out unions add another contentious element to Miami-Dade’s political mix as elected leaders prepare for the last full budget cycle before the mayor and seven commissioners face reelection in 2016.
PBA President John Rivera, who has been very vocal in his criticisms of Mayor Gimenez, said his negotiating team wouldn’t mind seeing the contract talks overlap with the mayor’s reelection effort.
“We’d love it to be right in the middle of his campaign,” said Rivera.
Gimenez knows he’ll face union opposition in 2016, and the contract battles could give him a chance to reprise his 2011 election theme of fighting for lower taxes instead of higher government paychecks. But with police and fire unions still at odds with his administration on workforce pay, he also risks being branded a mayor who wants to skimp on public safety.
Gimenez last year proposed police cuts for 2015, but then backed off in the face of criticism from commissioners and residents. He’s counting on higher property values to avoid another bruising budget process, since some of the gaps this year were filled with one-time revenue sources. But the labor stalemate already has Gimenez aides warning of consequences.
In their new deals, all unions were offered a new healthcare option, which county officials expect to save Miami-Dade money while still lowering premium costs for employees’ family members. The adopted contracts also provide for a one-percent pay increase in 2017 if property-tax revenues exceed forecasts—raises that would come on top of the compensation boosts that are essentially automatic as employees extend their time on the county payroll.
To give raises beyond what he proposed, Gimenez claims property taxes would need to increase. In his interview, Rivera was asked if he thought Miami-Dade needed to raise property taxes. “Oh yeah, I think they do,” Rivera replied. “You’ve got services that are suffering. At the end of the day, it’s matter of quality of life.”
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
