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by TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
NEW YORK -- Police and fire unions will enter binding arbitration with the city to help the two sides resolve their contract dispute, according to a published report.
Yet the unions said they would still demonstrate during the Republican National Convention next week, hoping to pressure Mayor Michael Bloomberg to raise wages before arbitration begins, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
"Even if we're in the middle of arbitration, up to the very last moment the city can still make a better offer that we might accept," Al O'Leary, spokesman of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, told the Times.
The arbitration would be overseen by a three-member panel, to be named by the two sides.
In recent weeks, union members have trailed the mayor to his public events seeking a significant pay raise, and last week dozens of off-duty police officers and firefighters staged a noisy demonstration outside the mayor's house at 1 a.m. Their leadership planned to file a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday seeking to stop police from using barriers and other tactics to prevent pickets from coming within 30 feet of the mayor and his home.
The police and fire unions have not ruled out staging an illegal strike or sickout during the Republican National Convention. The convention, during which President Bush is to be renominated, will be held at Madison Square Garden from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.
On Monday, the police and fire unions said they want President Bush to intercede with Bloomberg, a Republican, to help the unions win raises in the dispute.
"As incredibly busy as you must be, it may have escaped your attention that New York City's police officers and firefighters _ the heroes of 9/11 _ are engaged in a bitter contract dispute with the city's Republican mayor," the letter begins. "For that reason, we are taking the unusual measure of writing to you to inform you of our predicament and to make a personal appeal for your help and support in the effort to correct what has become a perennial injustice inflicted on these crucial first-responders."
Said White House spokesman Ken Lisaius: "We encourage all parties to come to an agreement on this issue."
The unions have been working without contracts for more than two years.
Bloomberg, who has maintained that the city can not afford to give its workers large raises, dismissed the letter.
"We don't get federal monies that have anything to do with our ability to pay our municipal workforce," he said. "And none of it is up to the federal government. The federal government, I'm sure, would never have a conversation with the city over that. It would be inappropriate."
Several other city unions, including District Council 37, the city's largest, have accepted a 5 percent raise plus a $1,000 lump sum payment over three years. One percent of the raise is in the form of a so-called "productivity enhancement," which range from being required to work longer hours to accepting fewer health benefits.
In addition, the unions have the option of receiving another 2 percent in productivity enhancements if they choose as the contract progresses.
The Bloomberg administration has offered the police and fire unions essentially the same deal. The police and fire unions, however, have denounced productivity enhancements as "givebacks," and they said they will not accept them.
The unions maintain that because of the dangers of their work, they deserve more significant pay hikes than other city workers.
Police have been without a contract since July 31, 2002, and firefighters since May 31, 2002. The situation fits a pattern of retroactive contracts and negotiations that routinely ignore expiration dates and end in arbitration.
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