Labor issues simmering underneath banner flap
Somerville police union sent letter day before arbitration
About 200 police officers and their backers rallied at the steps of Somerville City Hall yesterday to demand that a Black Lives Matter banner that has hung there for a year with Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone’s support be taken down, while hundreds of others turned out for a nearby Black Lives Matter counterrally.
Curtatone and Michael McGrath, president of the Somerville Police Employee Association, have been feuding since McGrath sent Curtatone a letter last week asking for the banner to be removed. McGrath argued the banner suggests racism in the department and supports a group associated with people who have massacred officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La.
But Curtatone has adamantly said the banner will remain where it is, and has questioned whether the union fully backs McGrath’s letter.
But in the background is another union struggle — the SPEA has been without a contract for nearly four years and is in arbitration with the city, and McGrath sent his letter the day before what was to be the final day of arbitration before another was scheduled in August, according to the city’s Chief Labor Counsel, Robert Collins.
Aside from disputes over salary increases, Collins said the arbitration process is also addressing the city’s demands for officers to wear body cameras, for their cruisers to have GPS and for alcohol testing that would define .02 BAC as positive.
When asked about the timing of the letter, Curtatone admitted a “cynical” interpretation could be to influence bargaining.
“If I wanted to be cynical I’d say yes, but I don’t know,” Curtatone said after the rallies. “You’d have to ask (McGrath).”
McGrath denied any connection.
“Absolutely not, one thing had nothing to do with the other,” McGrath said, adding that he doubted Curtatone believed they were connected. “If he truly believed it — he’d say it.”
Both Curtatone and union officials made references to a city union divide when addressing reporters yesterday.
“What you have is the head of the patrolman’s union who has been and continues to fight against every opportunity to institute, deploy and undertake the most progressive forms of community-based policing,” Curtatone said at a press conference before the rally. “If he had his way, he’d turn back the clock on policing in Somerville.”
Harold MacGilvray, head of the umbrella organization Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition, which includes 26 unions and more than 1,500 members, said: “The mayor’s attempt to divide and conquer the SPEA is anti-labor and he has failed. The SPEA is stronger and more unified than ever.”
Many of those gathered in front of City Hall belonged to those member unions, as well as Somerville Fire Department unions and unionized Verizon workers. McGrath said he had the full backing of his union and said the mayor’s insinuation otherwise was “patently false.”
Curtatone and police Chief David Fallon vehemently denied allegations that the city was intimidating officers.
“That’s not true and it’s absurd,” Curtatone said. “We believe in everybody’s right to express their opinion.”