Fraternal Order Of Police President Responds To John Cannon's Letter

We have reviewed the response of Wicomico County Council President, John T. Cannon, to an editorial appearing in the Daily Times concerning a referendum providing for collective bargaining with binding arbitration for the County Sheriff’s deputies. This referendum was thoroughly and publicly debated by the representatives of the Wicomico County government and the Fraternal Order of Police prior to being considered by the voters of Wicomico County in 2006. The referendum was approved by an overwhelming majority consisting of two-thirds of the voters casting a ballot.

As a result of the passage of the referendum, the voters directed the County Council to amend the County Charter to provide for a labor code that would ensure that a process be put in place to elect a certified collective bargaining agent for sheriff’s deputies and to bargain a labor agreement setting forth wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. The Charter Amendment also mandated that the County Labor Code provide for binding arbitration in the event that the County and certified collective bargaining agent failed to reach agreement on any items being considered for inclusion in the Agreement.

In an effort to subvert the will of the electorate, the elected County Council has crafted a labor code that guts the decision of the voters to establish binding arbitration to resolve disputed items to be included in a labor agreement. The Council’s action is disingenuous at best and an outright attempt to mislead and trample the will of the voters at its worst. In an effort to mislead the voters into believing that the labor code actually comports with the referendum, the Council has attempted to hide behind the Constitutional concept of separation of powers between the legislative branches of Wicomico County government. The labor code suggests that any award granted through binding arbitration shall be binding only on the County Executive since he/she sets the budget and not the County Council. According to the Council President, all the Council can do is delete items in the Executive’s budget, however, he fails to mention that the Council’s power to delete items includes negotiated pay raises, pension benefits, health benefits and other items contained within a labor agreement. This attempt at a legislative sleight of hand surely will not fool the two thirds of the electorate who voted for binding arbitration. The referendum did not provide for binding arbitration to apply only to the executive branch of the Wicomico County government allowing for the Council to circumvent the process by deleting funding for negotiated items.

In closing, the President and members of the Wicomico County Council should be directed to look 30 miles to the east at Ocean Cityty>, MD where voters passed a virtually identical referendum culminating in the Ocean City Town Council enacting a labor code with binding arbitration on both the Mayor and Town Council. That code has enabled Ocean City, Maryland to bargain two labor agreements with FOP Lodge No. 10 without any limitations on an arbitrator concerning the Ocean City Council’s ability to disregard an arbitrator’s award. The Labor Code proposed by our County Council will force the County to expend County tax dollars to contest litigation seeking to uphold the will of the County’s voters and taxpayers. If the Council President and his elected colleagues on the Council either mislead or disregard the wishes of the two-thirds of the voters of Wicomico County who approved the referendum, they should be prepared to face these very same voters, as the council has not respected their collective will, by exempting themselves from binding arbitration.


Respectfully submitted,

Wicomico County Fraternal Order Of Police Lodge 111
Mark Wagner, President