By Jim Cline and Jordan L. Jones
The Arbitrator held in City of Memphis, 133 LA 612 (Skulina 2014) that a police officer’s discharge for “inciting officers to strike” should be reduced to a 10-day suspension since the discussion with another officer was about a past and not a current strike.
The police officer (grievant) was hired in 2009 after graduating in the top five of his police academy class and was discharged in 2013. The discharge was the result of other officers, including supervisors, overhearing the grievant and another officer discussing a strike that had occurred in 1978. The grievant was subsequently required to meet with a psychiatrists who reported that “psychologically, (the grievant) should make an excellent candidate for a career as a police officer.”
The Arbitrator noted that the CBA contained a “no strike” clause. Despite the management right to prohibit strikes and related activities, the Arbitrator found that the discharge in this case was too severe and that a 10-day suspension would be more appropriate.
The discussion at roll call and in the parking lot of this sensitive issue was certainly improper. There was serious concern over the unilateral pay cut all the officers endured. The officers in hearing the strike discussion were in effect a captive audience. This indiscretion, in view of the prohibitions against strike in the agreement with the City, does merit discipline.
However, the Arbitrator noted that the grievant was discussing a past and not current strike and that “[d]ischarge, however, is too severe, where in fact; there was no effort to recruit officers to participate in a strike. Two officers would not shut down the police operation.”
This seems to be a classic compromise result. Reviewing the facts, as presented by the Arbitrator, gives you the sense that the exact nature of the conversations between the officers couldn’t really be ascertained. The Arbitrator gave the officer the benefit of the doubt in concluding that it was a vague discussion about a past strike rather than a discussion about a possible new strike. But since the Arbitrator still imposed time off, he must have concluded that something noteworthy was said.
