FAIRBANKS -- An Alaska Labor Relations Agency hearing officer has found "probable cause" that the city of Fairbanks bargained in bad faith with its police union last year when the city council approved a contract in August and reversed that decision in November.
Hearing officer Jean Ward recommended that the matter go to a formal agency hearing, not to arbitration. Ward said the city council approved the economic terms of the proposed three-year contract last summer before submitting it to the police union. The council voted 4-3 in favor of the contract Aug. 25, but voted 6-0 against it in November after the fall election.
"The city calculated the cost of the fiscal note for the tentative agreement. At the time the council rejected the tentative agreement upon reconsideration, the city's financial picture had not changed substantially. During the reconsideration process, questions arose about the cost of the contract and the number of hours the police department employees would work, but the city did not discuss those concerns" with the union before the second vote, Ward wrote in an April 24 decision.
"I find that the allegations, if true, could violate the duty to bargain in good faith," Ward wrote.
After the council rejected the contract, the city offered a new proposed deal that the union has declined to discuss or accept, the hearing officer said. The union argues that the contract was valid and in place as of last August. The city defended the reconsideration process and argued that it did not engage in an unfair labor practice. The public process that led to the reconsideration drew widespread community discussion.
One of the provisions of the contract would offer an alternative workweek of 36 hours, while another increased the amount of the city's part of employee health care premiums to $1,290 per month.
While the city said the contract would lead to an increase in costs of $890,000, later testimony by a former council member said that was based on optimistic assumptions and the final cost could be up to three times higher.
City Mayor John Eberhart and other officials defended the accuracy of the lower figure, saying it had been checked and double-checked. He said the assertion about higher costs was based on incorrect assumptions.