Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/policefire/page/171/)
The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
Jan. 5, 5:42 p.m.: A shoplifter was detained at Target along with her 2-year-old child. Security saw the woman putting items in the baby carriage and try to leave the store without paying. Police found $133.58 in items from Target and $127.99 in merchandise from Carter’s.
The Town Council’s decision to reject the fire union’s contract may be felt come November’s Town Election. The vote on Dec. 9 rejected the arbitration award decided by a neutral panel. It also raised the ire of many in the Fire Department along with friends, family and others who thought that the Watertown Firefighters deserved a new contract and after 5 1/2 years. Tuesday’s meeting again drew scores of firefighters and other unions, who rallied before the meeting asking the Town Council to reconsider its vote.
Labor unions had a strong showing in front of Watertown Town Hall Tuesday night before the Town Council meeting, but councilors did not reverse their decision to reject an award for the town’s firefighters approved by a state arbitrator. The rally came about after 8 of 9 Town Councilors voted to reject the arbitration agreement on Dec. 9, saying that the proposal that included 2.5 percent raises in Fiscal 2012 and 2013 and an increase for EMT training and would cost the town $2.74 million in back pay. Firefighters have been without a contract for more than 5 1/2 years. The deadline to file to reconsider the vote on the contract passed before Tuesday’s meeting, said Town Council President Mark Sideris.
At Tuesday’s Town Council meeting Town Manager Michael Driscoll addressed the situation with the Local 1347 firefighters union contract and the Council’s vote in December. Here is his statement:
In recent weeks there have been media articles and Letters to the Editor written about the Town Council’s decision on December 9, 2014 to reject a request to fund the arbitration award that was issued in connection with the Town’s efforts to reach a successor collective bargaining agreement with the Fire Union. Some of that discussion has included comments that the Union and the Town Manager followed a process – the arbitration process – and suggested that the Town Council’s vote somehow violated that process. Contrary to what some would have the public believe, however, the Town Council, by state statute, was also given a role in the overall process and that was to decide whether to fund or not fund an arbitration award like the one that was issued in this case. As set forth in Chapter 1078 of the Acts of 1973, once the Arbitrator issued his award the Executive Branch – in this case the Town Manager – was required to submit to the Legislative Branch – the Town Council – a request for an appropriation necessary to fund the award.
We have heard several Town Councilors tell the public that funding the arbitration award for the Local 1347 would not have been fair to other public employees. They have cited the fact that all other unions agreed to accept their predetermined parameters of no raises for two years and that the arbitration award did not meet that same criteria because of an increase in EMT / Defibrillator stipend pay. Comparing the outcome of previously negotiated contracts to the outcome of an independent, third-party review such as arbitration is both deceptive and disrespectful. Town officials made a decision in 2009 to treat all public employee unions as one during the negotiation process. The town failed to realize that each separate labor union has a right to not accept those bargaining terms. The town took a risk in using this negotiation tactic as their sole collective bargaining strategy, and the result of this gamble is a lack of a negotiated contract for local firefighters. In my opinion, the town setting these parameters and expecting that all unions comply does not meet the definition of negotiation.
A nighttime thief struck a Watertown car dealership, stealing a dozen tires from trucks left on the lot. Sometime on the night of Jan. 10 or early hours of Jan. 11, a thief or thieves struck Watertown Ford on Pleasant Street, said Watertown Police Lt. Michael Lawn. “Someone stole 12 tires and rims from three trucks on the property worth $1,000 to $1,200 each,” Lawn said.
Recently, the Watertown Town Council voted against a third party arbitrator’s award. This award would have settled a contract with our firefighters, who have been working without a contract for over five years. Prior to the vote, a majority of the councilors stated, “…that it would not be fair to other unions in Watertown…” as a reason not to settle the contract. We are writing to set the record straight and state that a false assumption has been made in the logic that (all) the other unions in Town would be offended if the Town settled with the firefighters. To be clear, the Watertown Educators Association, the Police Association, the Police Supervisors, the Town Hall Associates, the Custodians and Food Service Workers support the Town of Watertown accepting the arbitrator’s decision and thereby settling the firefighters’ contract.
The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
Dec. 29, 6:39 p.m.: Police served a warrant on a Belmont Street resident and arrested a 47-year-old Watertown man on three warrants. Dec. 30, 3:59 a.m.: A resident reported two people breaking into cars in the area of Warren Street and Elmwood Avenue after seeing someone in his car that was parked in his driveway.