COLLECTIVE BARGAINING REPORT
Saving the best for last
Assembling the pre-
senters for the 2019
NJSPBA Law Enforce-
ment Collective Bargain-
ing Seminar was not a
challenge at all. Many of
the state’s top labor attor-
neys have been involved
MICHAEL with this seminar for sev-
FREEMAN
eral of the past 32 years. I
am grateful to all of them
for their time and talents that make this
annual event something special. The
challenge came from developing a new
idea that would allow the attendees to
see what the word that we often use, but
rarely experience firsthand, looks and
sounds like: arbitration.
Several arbitration/mediation groups
have panel discussions, utilizing red
light-green light voting to give a visual
display of the arbitrators’ decision to
deny or uphold a grievance after hear-
ing the facts of the case from a mod-
erator. Each arbitrator is then given an
opportunity to explain the rationale for
the decision.
It is rare that a group of four arbi-
trators will all agree, so it is important
to hear what specific language or past
practice or item in the bargaining histo-
ry was controlling for each arbitrator. As
negotiators, we want to be sure to leave
nothing in the contract up for interpre-
tation. After listening to the scenarios
that were all based on real arbitration
cases, those still in attendance were
stunned to see the votes as they were
cast.
The final presentation was a mock
arbitration session with Artie Cronk,
Bill Comerro, Joe Berg and Joe Savittieri
playing the roles of witnesses in an ar-
bitration case. The PBA was represent-
ed by Jim Mets, and the town was rep-
resented by Brian Manetta. The case
was heard by James Mastriani, who
explained some of the intricacies of the
process as it unfolded. In the end, the
PBA’s grievance was upheld.
It was an extraordinary presentation,
and I would like to give special thanks
to moderator Jim Mets and arbitrator
James Mastriani, who worked together
for several months to develop the pre-
sentation. I would also like to thank
arbitrators Brian Kronick, Alfred Pe-
ters and Sally Fields for participating.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank col-
lective bargaining committee member
Rob Ormezzano for creating the light
display towers. I am excited to get start-
ed on a new set of scenarios for next
year’s seminar. In my humble opinion,
it is something that every PBA member
should see.
In addition to those mentioned
above, I was fortunate to have the assis-
tance of each presenter:
• Paul Kleinbaum
• Merick Limsky and Marcia Mitolo
• Peter Paris
• Robert Fagella
• David Lande and Peter Chamas
• Ray Caprio and Marc Pfeiffer
• Chris Gray and Peter Andreyev
• David Beckett and Kevin Lyons
• Stuart Alterman, Arthur Murray
and Timothy Prol
• Frank Crivelli
• Mary Beth Hennessy-Shotter
Full coverage of the
2019 NJ State PBA Collective Bargaining Seminar
coming in the March issue of NJ Cops Magazine
18
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ FEBRUARY 2019