Bargaining Team,
First off, I would like to thank you each for being a member of this team that will represent the members of STAN for the upcoming bargaining session. I really appreciate what you all do during this time and the sacrifices you make for it to happen.
I have just a couple items that I would like for consideration during the bargaining meetings. I’m sure that a pay raise for everyone is at the top of the list, as it usually is the main topic of bargaining. I definitely don’t want to downplay an increase to each pay line, but in addition to that, I would like to see the following implementations as well:
* Personnel that have not been advanced on steps during the contracts when only the pay lines were increased and no steps were awarded, need to be caught up on their pay steps. I think that all personnel (Sgt. and Trp.) should be on the appropriate step to match their years of service. So anyone with 15+ years of service should be on step 15, 14 years of service should be on step 14, and so on, down to step 1. For Sergeants this would go by their sworn in date, not years as a Sergeant. There are some instances where Sergeants earn less than the Troopers they supervise, and this would alleviate some of that issue.
* Carrier Enforcement Sergeants and Troopers should be included on the ISO and EP pay lines, as they are specialty positions as well. The Carrier Enforcement Division does not get Troopers assigned to it out of camp anymore due to the fact that they must learn additional knowledge, attend additional classes, and gain additional certifications in order to properly perform the daily functions within the division. The Carrier Enforcement personnel are required to have this additional knowledge and perform these additional duties all while still performing all of the basic Trooper duties.
* This has been discussed with the Colonel’s office and Command Staff before and they are in support of it. They have just said it needs to be brought to the table by our bargaining committee and it is something that they would agree to. This would be a benefit to all of our ranks, as it would give everyone the opportunity for the increase in pay if they transfer to the Carrier Enforcement Division, and it would be a detriment to no one. If the command staff has already said it is something they would agree to, I see no reason why it shouldn’t be presented during bargaining.
Thank you for time and consideration.
Eric Pfeiffer
