Employee union renews contract

The Security Police and Fire Professionals of America — a union that includes Art Museum and Firestone Library staffers and non-sworn Public Safety officers — concluded negotiations with the University administration Oct. 14 to renew a contract that expired last June. The resulting changes in both pay and policy will remain in effect until the contract expires in July 2006.

"We would have liked to wrap it up a little sooner," said Chief of Police and Public Safety Director Steven Healy. "There were a couple of issues we went back and forth on." But he added that they felt no need for a mediator. "We did it amongst us," he said.

Chief Steward David McKenry said Public Safety employees will receive a 3.75 percent raise this year and a 1.75 percent raise for the two years after that, in addition to a 2 percent merit raise given to officers who demonstrate high performance. McKenry led the negotiations for the union side.

"We try to link the pay increases to a person's performance," Healy said, though every member receives some kind of increase every year. "Every department has to establish its standards of performance."

Shift supervisors evaluate each officer's performance quarterly and will do so later this month, Healy said.

"At the end of the year, they're not hearing anything new," said Healy. "For the most part, we have wonderful performers who in many cases go out every day and put their lives on the line."

McKenry, however, strongly disagreed with the merit system.

"It tends to pit the employees against each other," he said, pointing out that if one person gets a raise, another faces a cut. "You might think about ratting out your fellow employees."

He explained that the system also does not motivate officers to work harder, because supervisors are generally in the office and cannot always observe how officers perform in the field.

"If you do a good job on security, nothing happens, and you don't stand out," he said.

He said he believes officers sometimes receive credit for fixing problems they should have prevented. "But they're the ones the supervisors notice," he said.

He also questioned the subjectivity of the process, as a simple personality clash may result in a poor evaluation.

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Healy, however, disagreed. He said he or another designated officer review all the evaluations and any officer can appeal an "unfair" evaluation.

"The overall goal of the program is to coach everyone to exceptional performance because we realized that the reputation of our department is dependent upon the quality of the interaction between individual officers and community members," Healy said. " I believe our program is currently strong, but we are constantly looking for ways to improve it."

In the last 21 months, Healy has made several "unilateral changes," McKenry said.

"These really aren't all bad changes," he said, describing the Community Policing Initiative, which requires every officer to join a group in the Princeton community, for example.

However, McKenry added, "We haven't got too much input on how it's done."

Healy and McKenry stressed the importance of compromise. Both said they approved of a new policy that pays officers extra wages if they have special skills, such as EMT training or if they spend time training other officers.

"It's an incentive for other people to get that certification," Healy said. "It's good for the union, it's good for the management and it's good for the University as well." He added that the community also benefits, as officers will be better able to respond to emergencies.

McKenry said the best thing that came out of the negotiations, besides the pay raises, was a change in policy regarding the campus shuttle bus.

"They were making employees drive that don't have a CDL license," he said. "Once we get into an accident, the state has to come in and investigate, and we can have all kinds of problems. The employee can actually be liable."

The new contract, he said, forbids the University to even ask an unlicensed officer to drive the bus.

Healy said both parties came out of the negotiations relatively satisfied because of compromises on both sides.

"That's really the only way you can be successful," he said. "When you go into negotiations with an 'us — against — them' attitude, you're already in a lose-win situation."

"We're all trying to provide safety for students, staff and faculty," he said.

McKenry said he would continue to push for improvements in uniforms, including the acquisition of bulletproof vests and for changes in the merit-raise system, but he also said he understands budgetary limitations.