East St. Louis police union wants judge to rule on back pay dispute dating to 2015

Police union members in East St. Louis say they are tired of waiting for the city to give them the back pay and interest they won in arbitration, and they have filed a petition asking a St. Clair County judge to settle a contract dispute that dates to 2015.

City leaders say they have been willing to settle with the Police Benevolent & Protective Association, but the union members are not willing to accept a settlement made by an official of their previous union, the Fraternal Order of Police.

“The city attempted to cut a deal with the (Fraternal Order of Police) attorney, but the East St. Louis members rejected it,” said David Amerson, the union’s current attorney with the Police Benevolent & Protective Association.

The Police Benevolent & Protective Association says the city owes $1.6 million to police officers as well as retirees and spouses of retirees while the union’s attorney reports that the city says it owes the officers $148,000.

Amerson said the city has never given the union the paperwork showing how the city arrived at the $148,000 amount, which is about $1.4 million below the union’s figure.

Because the parties haven’t resolved the issue, Amerson filed a petition in St. Clair County court in July to confirm the arbitration awarded to the union on Aug. 2, 2021, by Jacalyn Zimmerman.

City responds to police union

City Attorney C.J. Baricevic was asked for comment on the petition filed by the union. Here’s his response:

“The city is proud to be represented by the officers in its department and has had great experience working side by side with their union.

“Although it is unfortunate that the union has decided to take what we considered a resolved matter to court, the city looks forward to satisfying its agreement with the union as soon as the union permits it.

Baricevic added, “The city looks forward to continued cooperation with the police union and all its other fantastic employees.”

The petition, which names East St. Louis Mayor Charles Powell III and the city of East St. Louis as respondents, states that the city and the union members were unable to reach an agreement over a collective bargaining agreement covering years 2015 to 2019 so they went to arbitration with a mutually selected arbitrator.

The officers won their back pay for those years in the 2021 ruling by Zimmerman. The arbitration ruling did not indicate how much the retroactive pay would total.

“The singular issue submitted to the arbitrator was the question of wage increases in which the arbitrator ordered a 2% wage increase in each year of the contract,” the petition states.

No party “has submitted a written request for modification of the arbitrator’s award,” the petition also says.

More than 90 days has passed since the arbitrators award was given to union members and the city has not filed a motion to vacate or modify the award.

In lieu of this, the East St. Louis police union is seeking to have the arbitrator’s award confirmed.

The petition says the city has persistently not cooperated with union members in providing the required information that they have requested, including information relating to the precise calculation of damages, nor have they provided any reason why they have not done what is their legal duty to do.

In their petition, union members are asking for the amount they are owed and reasonable attorney fees incurred in this proceeding. Also the union wants the city to provide itemized accounting of how much money is owed to each impacted police officer.

Union members frustrated

Tia Mitchell, the union president, said the members are frustrated that city leaders have not done the right thing by them and forced the officers to seek relief in the court system.

“Union members are only asking for our just due,” Mitchell said. “We’re not asking for anything that is not owed to us. We’re not asking for any handouts. We don’t understand why it’s so hard to do right by us. We are continually servicing the citizens and will continue to do that. But, it is disheartening to know that the city is failing us.”

They said the money the city has offered is less than that they won in arbitration and does not include retired police officers, or their spouses.