Jeff German: Final say on police pay rests with arbitrator

Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

The cops say they're confident they're going to get the pay raises they want in the end.

Sheriff Bill Young says it's going to be a "crapshoot."

And county officials aren't talking a whole lot on this subject.

But everyone has finally agreed on one thing -- the bitter police contract dispute is going directly to binding arbitration for the first time in the history of Metro Police.

That was the unanimous decision Monday of the Metro Fiscal Affairs Committee, which oversees the department's budget.

After all the fuss the county made about wanting to first go to fact-finding -- an independent evaluation of the contract that would have dragged out the dispute for weeks -- the county ended up going along with the will of the five-member panel.

County officials say there was no point in holding out any longer because both the sheriff and the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the union that represents some 2,400 officers, made it clear that nonbinding fact-finding would have been a waste of time.

"I think they've come to the realization that their actions have put them in this position, and they have no recourse but to go this way," PPA Executive Director Dave Kallas says.

Kallas is still bitter at county officials for persuading the Fiscal Affairs Committee last month to kill a new collective bargaining agreement that would have guaranteed the cops a 25.6 percent hike in wages and benefits over four years.

Young, whose department negotiated the deal, also still harbors some ill feelings.

He says a "bad precedent" is being set by going to arbitration because it's taking collective bargaining out of the hands of the parties.

"It's a process of gotcha," Young says. "It's just a crapshoot. Half the time the union wins, and half the time management wins.

"If I had the final say, I would have made the parties ... stay at the table."

But that's not going to happen here.

The arbitrator, who is set to hear the case the first week in January, will now have the final say on the pay raise.

This is how the system is supposed to work, county officials insist.

"If you cannot agree, this provides a way to get finality," County Manager Thom Reilly says.

Young, however, can't stop wondering whether the county's reluctance to go along with the new contract has set the stage for arbitration to occur in future contract negotiations.

Upcoming talks next year with the Police Managers and Supervisors Association -- the union that represents some 450 sergeants, lieutenants and captains -- are likely to follow the same route, the sheriff says.

"I'm very, very fearful of this," he adds. "We're stuck with it now."

* * *

They may look stuffy in their black judicial robes as they deliberate the state's burning legal issues within their sterile confines.

But at least one of the justices of the Nevada Supreme Court demonstrated recently that she can loosen up on occasion.

Chief Justice Nancy Becker, along with two former justices, Miriam Shearing and Deborah Agosti, were among the 14,000 fans attending the Rolling Stones concert Nov. 18 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The trio sat in the second row just right of the stage, rocking to the hits of Mick Jagger and company.