Attorney James Mets addressed
“Interest Arbitration.”
Vince Foti provided a “Financial Analysis.”
Attorney Frank Crivelli spoke about
“Preparation for the Negotiation Process.”
their negotiations,” O’Brien noted.
And from a presenter standpoint, well…
“We have the finest labor attorneys in the
entire state of New Jersey bar none,” O’Brien
stated. “We have Paul Kleinbaum, the chairman of the labor department of the New Jersey Bar Association opening up the seminar.
We have Kevin Lyons who does part of the
seminar under Health Benefits. (Lyons) goes
all over the country going to seminars to be
kept up to speed to bring back that information to the membership. We start off hitting
home runs from the first batter all the way
through.”
Yet the score still seems lopsided, and not
in favor of the visiting PBA team.
“Unfortunately the governor and legislature have neutered many of the things that
we have previously worked for,” O’Brien
commented. “They didn’t do it through the
negotiation process; they did it through legislation.”
Although O’Brien works year-round to
put this seminar together, he is the first to
admit he cannot do it alone. And to make
the 2015 edition a particular success, he
relied on the relentless effort of new NJ State
PBA Collective Bargaining Committee
Chairman John Cernek and his team.
“I have the greatest committee in the
world,” O’Brien declared. “They come, they
do the work, they’re intense (and) we’re
embracing what the legislature has dealt to
us and we’re dealing with it and teaching our
members how to deal with it so that not
everything is in dollars and cents. It’s in benefits and time. There are many directions
that we can go that we can successfully
negotiate contracts and provide benefits to
members.”
One of those members is Edison Township Local 75 Sergeant-at-Arms Mike
Michalski, who attended his first Collective
Bargaining Seminar this year.
“You have no idea until you are in a place
like this what all goes into it and what you
have to think about,” he said. “All these
experts in their respective fields… they bring
up some really great points on innovative
ways to, for example, reallocate money or
show how you can take the same amount of
money and turn that into a raise. They put it
all in pretty good layman’s terms; they break
it down for you and simplify it nicely so that
you can understand it.”
Regardless, O’Brien offers some solace to
the member for whom legalese is beyond a
www.njcopsmagazine.com
n
MARCH 2015
47