Keeping you informed July 2011
Keeping you informed July 2011
Ah summertime, time for vacations, relaxation, and putting it all on the shelf for a little while. A time for family cookouts, summer concerts, and did I say vacations…I guess you can tell where my mind is.
The first of July also signals a milestone for some, a time when after years of dedicated service some of our members reached their targeted retirement date. One person in particular is Sgt Detective and Vice President Detective Superiors Jim Fong.
If you haven’t read it, Jim’s Retirement and resignation letter is posted on our website www.bpdbs.com. In his letter Jim talks about his 20 years of service to the BPDBS 12 years as a Director and 8 years as the VP. I have to stop and wonder if a simple Thank You is enough for 20 years. I hope Jimmy knows how appreciative I am for his 20 years especially for all his help to me this past year. On behalf of all the members of the BPDBS, Jim I’d like to thank you for everything. Whether bargaining, grievances, labor management, the Christmas party for “our kids”, or the retirees’ cookout Jim always gave 100%. We wish you a long healthy and happy retirement. As we say good bye to Jim we welcome Sgt Det Dan Keeler to the position of Superior Detectives Vice President. As some of you may know the Superior Detectives appointed Dan the interim Superior Detectives Vice President. Gerry and I look forward to working alongside Dan. Dan can be contacted at 339-235-3980 or
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Quinn Bill Update…
With our Quinn Bill case still pending at the SJC, I wanted to update you on what’s been going on in conjunction with that. Paul Hynes our Attorney has filed a lawsuit to MAXIMIZE our damages if we prevail in our Quinn case. In part the law provides for “Treble Damages” for any lost wages and other benefits as well as the cost of litigation and reasonable attorneys fees. “Treble Damages “permits” a court to triple the amount of the actual / compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff, generally in order to punish the losing party for willful conduct. As more information becomes available I will pass it along.
Your Bargaining, Grievance, Election, and Labor Management committees continue to meet and work for you. The bargaining committee met as recently as today 7/6/11 with the City. The process is long, however your bargaining committee is working just as hard as when the process began. A Step III hearing was held on the 30th of June in regards to shift changes and circumventing overtime. As of this writing we have not received a decision. Also up and running is the election committee. An election is being held for Superior Detective Director on July 12th. In the next few weeks the election committee will be gearing up for our annual elections on the ballot this September will be the positions of Vice President, Vice President Superior Detectives, Treasurer, and Directors at Large. If you are interested in any of these positions or have questions about qualifications you can contact either Lt Det.Mike Galvin at A-1 or myself at the union hall or on my cell.
I recently posted on the website (www.bpdbs.com) a brief summary of the Public Safety hearing held at City Hall. On the website you will also find a second article from “Universal Hub”. Both of these articles will give you an idea of how the hearing went. Our hope is that these issues will be resolved sooner rather than later. The BPDBS would like to thank City Council President Steve Murphy and all of the councilors who publicly supported the Boston Police Department having jurisdiction on the waterfront.
There is a lot going on in your union and hopefully we’ve been doing a good job at getting the word out. The website is updated on a regular basis, and as of this writing Junes “keeping you Informed” was viewed over 300 times. Please let your co-worker know about the sight and encourage them to browse. If you are interested in posting an article please contact me at
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A final thought, the warm weather is here and as evident by this past weekend’s violence it could be a long summer. Take care of yourselves, take and enjoy your time off, life is too short.
Stay Safe.
“Keeping you Informed”
Tom Famolare
