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| Vince Lombardi - Hoboken PBA President |
Vince Lombardi confirmed the Hoboken Patch story angle yesterday from his point of view. He said that the Patrolmen's union had a scheduled meeting yesterday morning which was followed by the Supervisor's union. He stated that the purpose of the meeting was to see where both unions were with respect to contract negotiations and that no mention of the pending announcement was made to them. Both Unions found out later through their attorney's that there would be a layoff announcement right before the press conference. Vince told me he took exception to the way things went down and felt that not telling the Union in the morning was a "low blow" in his opinion. He does not feel the the City has negotiated in good faith. Vince also relayed to me that from his understanding of the plan there would be an elimination of 11 sergeants as well as 18 patrolmen and that this would lead to a reduction in 7 patrolmen overall when union bumping rules have the sergeants moving down to patrolmen. Editor's Note: In the City's release it emphasized that "Through redeployment and civilianization, there will be no reduction in the number of patrol officers policing Hoboken's streets." There will be a slight reduction in the total number of patrolmen when you do the math.
Another point Vince Lombardi wanted to make as head of the Hoboken PBA is that he wants the Mayor to participate in the next meeting that is schedule with the union in August. He felt the head of the City Government should be present at the negotiations and not just Business Administrator Arch Liston. Vince said that the layoff plan will go to the State and given the change in leadership at that level the plan will get approval. He referred to the layoff plan approval process these days as a "rubber stamp". Once the plan is approved a 45 day notice will be put out and result in the actual layoffs happening around an October time frame. This will be in time as Vince put it to politically have an "impact on the 2011 budget".
Vince said he would submit a formal letter to the Mayor and if he copies me on it I will post.
Note: I do have to believe the union knew that layoffs were likely imminent given the credibility of Timothy Caroll and the number of sources in the story in his piece on Hoboken Patch on July 14, 2010. Feel free to share your thoughts below but do understand that Vince Lombardi's role is to stand up for the lower level officers. ◦
