By Erin Lynch - Fairfield Citizen - elynch@bcnnew.com ...

After nearly 25 years of representation, the Police Department’s labor union severed its ties with the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.

The quarter-century relationship, according to Officer Grant Dalling, police union president, has ended due to a recent “lack of representation.” The defunct IBPO Local 530 is now known as the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees Local 550, but the labor union switch didn’t run smoothly, in fact it took about five months of litigation with the state Board of Labor Relations to finalize.

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Over the past year, Dalling said, a lot of the services that were offered by the IBPO started to dwindle, making paying the $900 a week in dues from members not worth it.

Of the lack of services, Dalling said, “The Bridgeport office, located on Main Street, had reduced their hours and when you call, a phone machine would pick up. After one o’clock, there was no one there. They had a Connecticut director and they eliminated that position … so we had no representation.”

Out of frustration, Dalling, along with the police union’s executive board, decided they should look into switching unions and met with COPS Executive Director Ronald Suraci to discuss their options and the kinds of services he could provide.

Suraci began his career in law enforcement in 1989 when he joined the Branford Police Department. Thirteen years later, he suffered a serious injury, forcing him to end his career. After his retirement, he became an advocate for the rights of public safety officers and became a national representative for the IBPO.

While working at the IBPO, he said, he noticed “a lot of problems” such as the lack of public safety officers employed at the IBPO. “They paid more attention to making money,” he said, and they lost “sight of what’s really important,” which he said is each local union’s ability to make its own decisions.

It was while working at the IBPO, Suraci said, he decided to start COPS, which he hoped would create an independent labor organization that would protect the rights of public safety officers and their families.

After listening to what Suraci had to say and hearing the mission statement -- which is, “We are dedicated to servicing your everyday concerns and protecting your rights twenty-four hours a day” -- it seemed like music to Dalling’s ears.

So on March 30, the Fairfield union members conducted an election to get a sense of what organization they wanted to be with, but those election results were put on hold due to objection by the IBPO.

“Basically, the election asked if [our members] want to stay with IBPO, do they want to go with COPS or other,” Dalling said.

The history of the dispute began, according to Suraci, on Jan. 10, 2005, when COPS filed a petition with the State Board of Labor Relations seeking to represent the Police Department.

On Jan. 31, COPS, the IBPO and the Police Department’s union members entered into an Agreement for Consent Election, which was conducted on March 30. After the election took place, the Board of Labor Relations’ findings state, “a question was raised concerning COPS’ status as an employee organization.”

Dalling believes the dispute between the IBPO and COPS began because Suraci is a former employee of the IBPO. “That is what I think burned IBPO; they were upset with the fact that he branched off because he didn’t like things that were taking place, similar to what our problems were,” Dalling said.

Because of that question of COPS’ validity as a union representative the ballots were then impounded and sealed and remained so until July 27, which is when the results of the election were made public, but only after a series of hearings with COPS, the IBPO and the labor board were conducted.

The Board of Labor Relations’ findings state that four days of hearings were conducted and that all parties were able to “present evidence, examine and cross examine witnesses, request subpoenas and make argument.”

Fairfield wasn’t the only Connecticut town that was in a union dispute with the IBPO, according to the Board of Labor Relations’ findings. The Woodbridge, North Branford and Stonington police departments and the Branford and Clinton 9-1-1 Telecommunications Technicians were all seeking to break away.

On July 27, the Board of Labor Relations ordered the Fairfield ballots to be opened and counted for certification. Fairfield voted 61-8 in favor of switching over to COPS. All six of the public safety departments involved in the dispute, including Fairfield, were then allowed to switch over to COPS.

Suraci said the ordeal between the IBPO and COPS is pretty cut and dry. “They had 25 years to prove themselves and they haven’t … If they did their job, then we wouldn’t exist today.”

Suraci said the official union switch should be final within “the next couple of days” and that certification is pending from the Board of Labor Relations and once the IBPO turns over all its case files concerning Fairfield to COPS.

“I’m looking forward to working with Ronnie and with COPS because whenever I call Ronnie he gets back to me ASAP. I look forward to having them show us what they’re going to do as far as providing us services,” Dalling said.

A representative of the IBPO was unavailable for comment before press time yesterday.