U. Police work without contract during talks

University Police officers have been working under the terms of an expired contract since the beginning of August, and negotiations between the University and the Fraternal Order of Police have not yet produced a new agreement. The outcome of the negotiations will determine if the next contract will apply retroactively back to August. "Things are getting worse, not better," said Dianne Sheppard, the lawyer representing the FOP. "It looks like it's going to be an all-out war, so let the chips fall where they may." According to Sheppard, the University wants the right to unilaterally change the benefits package it provides the officers, which includes policies like medical insurance and scheduling procedures. "They're asking us to bargain away our right to collective bargaining," she said. "There's not a union in the world that will agree to that." Managing Director of Public Safety Thomas Seamon, Chief of Police Operations Maureen Rush and University spokesperson Ken Wildes declined to comment on the negotiations, citing an earlier agreement with the FOP not to discuss the contract talks. Sheppard said the FOP prefers a contract that guarantees its members "comparable terms" if the University decides to change any part of it. Under a contract with a comparable terms clause, an arbitrator would decide if a change alters a "term" of employment and if it does, whether it would be comparable to the original contract, she explained. The FOP has requested an increase in officers' pay and pension packages, she added. Sheppard said Penn Staff and Labor Relations Director John Heuer sent a "nasty" four-page letter to the FOP last week, blaming the union for being uncooperative and holding up the negotiations. She added that in the letter, Heuer comments on a confidential meeting between him, Sheppard, FOP President Dave Ball and Chief of Police Operations Maureen Rush in early October. Copies of the letter went to members of the University's bargaining team and others who did not know about the meeting, Sheppard said. The letter came, she said, after a University Police superior told officers at a roll call Wednesday that the University would make an offer satisfactory to all parties. Ball said he plans to contact State Senators David Williams and Vincent Hughes, who represent local districts, today to ask for their help in putting pressure on the University to make the FOP a better offer.