By Bryan Dean
The Oklahoman
OKLAHOMA CITY — A judge has ruled that an arbitrator who mediated a contract dispute between Oklahoma City and members of its fire union overstepped his authority by throwing out the city’s final contract offer.
The arbitrator decided the city had to give its firefighters a 1 percent raise, which city officials said would lead to further cuts and potential layoffs in a tough budget year.
The court ruling means the city doesn’t have to worry about the raises and won’t face such a harsh decision from an arbitrator in the future, Assistant City Attorney Dick Mahoney said.
Union President Phil Sipe could not be reached for comment.
Police and firefighters aren’t allowed to strike. Instead, state law requires the city and its police and fire unions go through a binding arbitration process if they reach an impasse in contract negotiations. The city and the fire union did just that during fiscal year 2009-10, which ended June 30.
Both sides in negotiations submit their last best offers to a panel of arbitrators, who choose between them. Each side picks one arbitrator and the third is mutually agreed to by a process of elimination. It is the impartial arbitrator who generally decides.
The city offered to roll over the previous contract while firefighters demanded a 1 percent raise.
The impartial arbitrator ruled the city’s offer was invalid because it included a clause that was not discussed by the two sides in earlier negotiations. Because the union’s offer was the only one that remained, the arbitrator ruled it the winning offer.
Public vote disallowed
The city filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court challenging that decision. They also scheduled an election which would have allowed city voters to decide between the two offers.
The arbitrator again stepped in, saying the city’s offer could not be included on any ballot put before voters. Instead, the ballot would have simply allowed city voters to check a box selecting the union’s offer.
“The ballot did not even allow the public to vote no,” Assistant City Manager M.T. Berry said.
The city also challenged the arbitrator’s ruling on the ballot but had to cancel the election, which had been scheduled for May, because the matter was not settled by the courts in time. State law only allows a vote on the contract before the fiscal year’s end.
The city council, believing the arbitrator’s decision was illegal, ignored it, rolling over the previous year’s contract as they had offered. If the court had ruled in the union’s favor, the city might have been forced to come up with back pay for the firefighters to comply with the 1 percent raise.
Mahoney said the ballot issue is still in front of the court. Although an election is no longer possible, the city wants a court ruling invalidating the arbitrator’s decision to settle the matter for future contract negotiations.
City Manager Jim Couch said the court ruling invalidating the arbitrator’s decision is a major victory for the city, which could not afford to give across-the-board raises.
“I think it validates what we’ve already done,” Couch said.
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