Labor Agreement

Members of the Baltimore County Police Executive Corps have agreed to higher pension contributions and less sick time in exchange for job security over the next three years. Under the agreement, announced Tuesday by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, the members are guaranteed no layoffs or furloughs between fiscal years 2013 and 2015. The bargaining unit is made up of 34 sworn officers ranked captain and above. They are not unionized. As part of the deal, current members will contribute an additional 1 percent of their salaries to their pensions starting July 1. They now contribute between 7 and 8 percent.

The case often argued against project labor agreements (PLAs) - that they are somehow exclusionary, allegedly favor union contractors and union workers, etc. - misses the mark. The true test of PLAs, which are single-site craft labor agreements used for large construction projects, should not focus on contractors or workers. The true worth and value of PLAs must be examined through the viewpoint of the project owner. After all, the owner is the one paying tens of millions of dollars (or hundreds of millions or even billions)

There is speculation that the contract Jesse Orosco agreed to last week would be voided if owners approve baseball's proposed labor agreement today, but Orioles officials say the reliever's deal is final.Orosco is one of a group of free agents who could be offered salary arbitration because they were subject to repeater rights by their 1996 clubs. The proposed labor agreement would eliminate repeater rights, and those players would become unrestricted free agents.However, two of the repeater rights players have agreed to new contracts -- Orosco and Chicago Cubs reliever Bob Patterson.

Members of the Baltimore County Police Executive Corps have agreed to higher pension contributions and less sick time in exchange for job security over the next three years. Under the agreement, announced Tuesday by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, the members are guaranteed no layoffs or furloughs between fiscal years 2013 and 2015. The bargaining unit is made up of 34 sworn officers ranked captain and above. They are not unionized. As part of the deal, current members will contribute an additional 1 percent of their salaries to their pensions starting July 1. They now contribute between 7 and 8 percent.

Right fielder Bobby Bonilla probably will be tied to the Orioles for at least one more year, unless players and owners reach a labor agreement soon.Bonilla has been under the impression all summer that he would become a free agent after this season. However, Bonilla was told by his agent, Dennis Gilbert, yesterday that this may not happen because of service time the players lost during the strike of 1994-1995."We are aware of [the Orioles'] position," Gilbert said yesterday, "but we don't care to comment any further at this time.

Correctional officers at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center voted yesterday to accept a one-year labor agreement that gives them at least a 5 percent pay raise effective July 1. The vote was 89-7, said Clifford Thrasher, president of Local 2911 of the Communication Workers of America, which represents the county's 220 correctional officers. "We've had people here for 10 years, and this is the highest raise they've [ever] received," said Thrasher, adding that the pay increase will allow the Detention Center to keep more of its employees.

The Glendening administration is considering pro-union work rules for the project to replace the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Prince George's County, over the objections of nonunion builders and the Republican governor of Virginia. At stake in the debate is a guaranteed role for unionized workers in the construction of the bridge, which, at an estimated cost of more than $2 billion, will be one of the biggest public works projects ever in this country. The Maryland Department of Transportation, with the blessing of Gov. Parris N. Glendening and the Clinton administration, is studying the implementation of a Project Labor Agreement (PLA)

After 10 1/2 months -- the longest any major American orchestra has ever performed without a labor agreement -- the musicians and management of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra yesterday announced that they have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract.The musicians have been rehearsing and performing in concerts without a contract since Sept. 16 -- when the previous agreement expired. No details about the new agreement, which still needs to be ratified by the members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 40-543, were available because both parties have agreed to a "news blackout" so negotiations can be conducted in private.

Negotiators for NFL owners and the players union renewed efforts yesterday to hammer out an extension of the collective bargaining agreement that largely serves as the blueprint for how the league operates. The deadline for agreeing on an extension was 12:01 a.m. yesterday, but it was extended for 72 hours as both sides try to avoid going down a path that is fraught with economic peril for management and labor and could lead to a destabilization of the NFL's vaunted competitive balance.

The Bush administration rejected yesterday Maryland's request that a pro-union labor agreement be required for construction of the Woodrow Wilson bridge project. The decision leaves Gov. Parris N. Glendening with a choice of ending his push for a "project labor agreement," or PLA, or pursuing a legal challenge that could lead to months of construction delays. "We're reviewing what the impact of the [Bush administration's] decision will be," a spokesman for Glendening said late yesterday.

There has been a lot said and written about a project labor agreement (PLA) being implemented for the proposed Maryland offshore wind energy project. When the time arrives for investments to be made in the construction of this critical project, there will be essentially two business models from which the state of Maryland can choose to place its scare resources. The first is a business model that is epitomized by the use of PLAs. PLAs are a market-based tool that offer increased job-site efficiencies, productivity, and on-time, on-budget results through a steady, local supply of the world's safest, most highly trained and productive skilled craft workforce - a workforce that has been developed through almost $1 billion a year in private investments in craft apprenticeship programs.

If you study the history of American business, one thing you quickly learn is that billionaires don't typically amass their wealth and power by innovation alone. They often do it by imposing their will and flexing their financial might. Negotiating deals worth billions of dollars is not for the timid, and it also doesn't require that both sides play nice. That's why it wasn't a surprise to see the NFL owners attempt a savvy bit of public relations Thursday night when they tried to pressure the NFL Players Association into signing a new 10-year labor agreement.

St. Louis -- At 1 a.m. on Saturday, there was just one final wrinkle in baseball's new labor agreement. Players wanted to raise the luxury tax to some exorbitant amount that probably wouldn't have penalized a single team, not even the New York Yankees. They didn't get their way, the sanctity of the luxury tax was upheld and four days later, when union leaders and the Major League Baseball brain trust gathered to announce the new collective bargaining agreement, they had nothing but love to share.

DETROIT -- While Major League Baseball is hosting its showcase event, the World Series, its representatives have reportedly reached a new, five-year labor deal with the players union to guarantee the show will go on through 2011. The Associated Press, citing a source with knowledge of the negotiations, said a tentative deal was struck during talks Friday and Saturday in New York. Specific details were not included, but the report said lawyers were resolving the language and that it could be made final today or tomorrow - with an announcement from commissioner Bud Selig possibly later this week when the World Series is in St. Louis.

Negotiators for NFL owners and the players union renewed efforts yesterday to hammer out an extension of the collective bargaining agreement that largely serves as the blueprint for how the league operates. The deadline for agreeing on an extension was 12:01 a.m. yesterday, but it was extended for 72 hours as both sides try to avoid going down a path that is fraught with economic peril for management and labor and could lead to a destabilization of the NFL's vaunted competitive balance.

WITH ORDERS for steel plunging and the new owners of Baltimore County's Sparrows Point steel mill scouting for places to cut costs, labor leaders and management at the plant sat across a table from one another in May and did something that rarely happened in the 87 years the plant was operated by Bethlehem Steel. They agreed. Gone were the days when the two sides could afford the kind of stalemate that doomed the once-mighty industrial giant to bankruptcy and cost thousands of Maryland workers their pensions and health care benefits.

Conceding defeat yesterday, Gov. Parris N. Glendening abandoned his yearlong fight to impose pro-union work rules on the $2.4 billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement project. Glendening dropped his push after the Bush administration made clear that it would not provide federal funding for the project if contractors were forced to comply with such labor agreements. Challenging the federal directive would have risked major construction delays. "Our focus is to get the bridge built on time so that the hundreds of thousands of motorists who use it every day will have relief from congestion," said Michelle Byrnie, a spokeswoman for Glendening.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. plants at Sparrows Point in Baltimore County and elsewhere are expected to become some of the lowest-cost producers of American steel under a new labor deal that will significantly reduce Bethlehem's work force. The deal announced yesterday between the United Steelworkers of America and Bethlehem's buyer, International Steel Group Inc., would drastically loosen traditional work-rule restrictions in the plants and tie worker compensation to productivity and profitability.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. plants at Sparrows Point in Baltimore County and elsewhere are expected to become some of the lowest-cost producers of American steel under a new labor deal that will significantly reduce Bethlehem's work force. The deal announced yesterday between the United Steelworkers of America and Bethlehem's buyer, International Steel Group Inc., would drastically loosen traditional work-rule restrictions in the plants and tie worker compensation to productivity and profitability.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos spent a lot of time on Amtrak's Acela Express the past few weeks, commuting between Baltimore and New York to play a major role in the negotiation of baseball's new labor agreement. He returned last week confident that the sport finally is on the right track, though he admits that the contract ratified by baseball owners on Thursday is not going to solve baseball's financial problems all by itself. "I was pleased that the two sides were able to fashion an agreement and able to avoid a strike that would have been disastrous to both sides," Angelos said.