The local police union has withdrawn its grievance filed with the State Labor Relations Board after reaching an agreement with the town.
Under the agreement signed Jan. 10, the practice of allowing police to work overtime construction projects in Portland when that town’s officers were unable to fill the positions has been reinstated.
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"I'm glad that we won our road jobs back," said officer Mike Salafia, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, Local 524.
Salafia filed the grievance against the town and Police Chief Matt Reimondo on Oct. 28.
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The complaint charged that the town violated the Municipal Employees Relations Act (MERA) by intimidating and retaliating against bargaining unit members for exercising their rights to grieve issues relating to the collective bargaining unit and through the unilateral blockage of overtime work assignments.
Salafia, International Brotherhood of Police Officers representative Concezio DiNino, Union Attorney Douglas Hall, Town Attorney Pat McHale, Interim Town Manager John Weichsel and Reimondo were present for the meeting, which amounted to a precursor to the grievance going before the State Labor Relations Board.
As outlined in the settlement, the parties agreed:
- Private duty and patrol shifts in East Hampton shall take precedence over any private duty job in a surrounding town.
- The bargaining unit member shall be permitted to work a private duty job in a surrounding town if there is an open patrol shift or private duty job available and unfilled in the Town of East Hampton.
- When a private duty job is available in a surrounding town and the conditions above have been met, it shall be first offered to bargaining unit members on the overtime list for whom the shift would occur on his/her regularly scheduled day off.
- The Town acknowledges the rights of bargaining unit members pursuant to MERA.
- By entering into the agreement, the Town acknowledges no contractual or statuatory wrongdoing.
- The Union withdraws MPP 29511.
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