Police Association leaders ordered back on the street
Following a court order regarding union release time, the Phoenix labor relations administrator said all full-time release time employees should return to their previous department and no labor group should use city paid time to provide representation during grievance or discipline meetings, negotiate agreements, attend union-related seminars or functions, lobby on legislative or political issues or manage union activities or elections.
The decision has huge implications for police associations whose leaders are on full time release with their salaries paid by the city even though they are working fulltime for the association or union.
The order came down as a result of a long legal battle waged by the Goldwater Institute against the city of Phoenix and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. In the court order in the case of Cheatham v. Gordon, Judge Katherine Cooper ruled full-time release employees are not on city business and, therefore, should not be paid using taxpayer funds, writes Allison Hurtado in the Ahwatukee Foothills News.