PPA Contract Negotiations with City of Portland

Wed Jan 13, 2021 negotiation session with the Portland Police Association rank and file 'union', starting at 9am Pacific

a few notes on recent negotiations, how this all works

(also see Hardesty office FAQ below) https://twitter.com/JoAnnPDX/status/1347278356023103489

2 sides have a bargaining team, the City of Portland, and the PPA

back in early 2020, the sides came together to start bargaining, and held 2 or so Ground Rules sessions that were open to public viewing, because of community pressure/Hardesty office. i attended those sessions /2

Today's session

This session today is remote, over Zoom
As of yesterday, about 350 ppl had registered to watch.
There are ground rules. Most of those rules seem to be copy-pasted from rules agreed to in early 2020, for in-person meetings. Some may seem strange
3/

The PPA agreed to the ground rules around February 2020, before George Floyd and before Covid-19 became a huge thing in the US

The PPA can WALK AWAY from the ground rules any time, because of bargaining rules

4/

The bargaining teams:

Think of it as The City vs The PPA

What this looked like was two long tables, about 12-20 feet apart, facing each other, with about 8 or so people on each team

When we watched, there were chairs behind a rope for observers, who agreed to follow rules

5/

The city's bargaining team is led by an outside attorney (pardon spelling) Steven Schuback.

Also on the team are 3-4 city officials from different offices (city attorney, labor relations, HR, that kind of thing), plus a member of Hardesty's office, plus ~2 PPB commanders...

6/

(PPB commanders - chief, captain, etc - are in a separate union the COA, or PCOA.. Commanding Officers Association)

The outside attorney was hired by the City Council after Hardesty brought it to a vote and won unanimously. This doesn't usually happen in PDX.

7/

The city set aside money to pay Steven to be their outside counsel for this process.

How long is this process? It's lengthy. Bargaining should last 180 days, before the sides likely seek mediation/arbitration

Sides aim to formally meet once every 2-3 weeks for 6 mos.

8/

On the PPA team:

PPA Lawyer Anil Karia
PPA brass (president Brian Hunzeker, former president Turner, etc)
Bargaining help like former Portland City official Anna Kanwit who was hired by PPA
Other PPA officers

Again, about 8 or so people

9/

Speaking of former PPA heads, I can't remember if Mayor Wheeler's "public safety advisor" Robert King, former PPA head, has been present at the negotiations we saw in public

10/

The two lead attorneys

The attorneys ostensibly seek to serve their clients
Steven serves "City of Portland"
Anil serves "PPA"

They are both professionals who do this kind of negotiation ALL THE TIME with different police/city negotiations. They know each other's work well

11/

The PPA seeks to acquire and maintain advantages for their side. If the city wants to claw something back, like the 48-hour rule, the PPA seeks to extract concessions (money)

The PPA team leaders appeared to be very friendly with multiple people on the city bargaining team

12/

The PPA recently underwent an official leadership change from Daryl Turner to President Brian Hunzeker, but officials I spoke to still expect Turner to be a presence through this process

From what I saw on twitter, Hunzeker presents on Facebook as a white MAGA guy

13/

Based on stuff I previously saw.. here's how today could go:

- The City brings up a section of the contract they want to address
- PPA asks if there's a proposal
- City hands it over
- PPA says we will break to discuss

They retire to private rooms for 1hr

14/

So attendees could be sitting watching 5 mins of action followed by 1 hour (or more) of nothing.. followed by counter-proposal for 5 mins, and another hour of recess.

By current agreed-to ground rules, every other session is public. 1 hosted by city, 1 hosted by/in PPA

15/

The last formal bargaining was, I believe, exactly 10 mos. ago on Friday March 13th 2020, hosted privately by PPA.
A number of activists held a small vigil/ceremony and picket line outside PPA building on Lombard.

The negotiations then were halted for 1 yr, now are resuming

16/

In exchange for the PPA contract being extended from summer 2020 until summer 2021, the PPA agreed to not contest City's (Hardesty's) desire to not house incoming Portland Street Response employees in the PPA.

Goal of PSR is to field calls that PPA officers were doing.

17/

The upcoming schedule could look like this:

Hypothetical bargaining dates
public Jan 13
private (PPA-hosted) Jan 27
public Feb 9
private Feb 23
etc

BUT.. will PPA try to revoke bargaining sessions from public view, and walk away from 1 or more ground rules?

18/

The City has a list of bargaining priorities, some provided from community organizers (and formally endorsedj/signed by many community groups), some from formal/informal community input, and their own internal political desires.

19/

The City and PPA may address 1 priority at a time

And some priorities are messy, or up in the air.

For example, a new "oversight board" was voted on at the end of 2020.
Plus, state-level legislation is being floated.

Both intersect with contract issues.

20/

So let's say the City brings up one section of the contract...

And PPA says ok we'll agree to that if ________

And they hammer out a temporary working agreement

The ground rules say the public will get some idea of what that agreement is (posted publicly?)

21/

Additionally, the two sides agreed to co-write and co-sign a public statement after each (?) session of bargaining, to keep the public informed, at a level both sides agree to

Again, the PPA can walk away from these ground rules any time, which the City's attorney knows

22/

It's now 8:50am, and I'm going to watch the session on Zoom at 9am, with all its observer rules.

So long for now!

END