Next up at City Council, 2/14/07

This is a sweetheart of an agenda, if you can think of something better to do on Valentine’s Day than watch City Council. No consent agenda and no emergency ordinances, since two of the five members will be absent. And nothing at all on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday.

About the most exciting thing on the list is that the Council is not taking a position on something –

133 – Amend City 2007 Legislative Package and direct the Office of Government Relations to take a neutral position on state legislation designed to enhance the collective bargaining rights of public safety personnel by allowing them to bargain for staffing levels that provide for their safety (Resolution introduced by Commissioners Adams, Leonard, Saltzman and Sten)

It’s interesting that former firefighter Randy Leonard is co-sponsoring this resolution, former police chief Tom Potter is not. The bill at the Legislature would require management to have to discuss safe staffing levels during union contract negotiations with public safety bargaining units. The resolution says “provide for their safety”, meaning the staff, but safe staffing levels also affect public safety. It’s very hard to do CPR and at the same time provide other emergency services and rescue transportation with just two people, for example. Overtime due to low staffing levels is expensive in the budget, and in decreased capacity to function optimally when workers are tired and stretched. It’s the front-line workers who know best who does what in emergency situations and when caring for people in the community, and therefore how many officers are needed on a team in various situations, so the staffing levels should not be set by management alone.

If I sound biased, I am. The Oregon Nurses Association passed Safe Staffing legislation in both the past two legislatures, and that was definitely A Good Thing for both nurses and patients. Think of it in terms of whether if you’re hospitalized, you want enough nurses taking care of you, and ones who aren’t working 16 hours of mandatory overtime. The people who know best whether there are enough nurses at the bedside, are the nurses at the bedside.

I wonder whether the resolution the Council will pass (there are four listed sponsors; it will pass) is more supportive of the concept of employees helping to determine safe staffing levels, or less, than the “Legislative Package” being “amended”.

Other than this resolution, there are a few routine items like funding the previously-planned skatepark at Gabriel Park, and sundry other minor stuff. Not one I will be watching, even on cable.