Boston Cops' Pay Spat May Be Fixed by Convention

[Judi Lynn]

Boston Cops' Pay Spat May Be Fixed by Convention
Mon Jul 19, 2004 05:48 PM ET


By Greg Frost
BOSTON (Reuters) - A dispute between a Boston police union and the city that threatens to disrupt next week's Democratic National Convention could soon be resolved after a state labor board on Monday ordered the matter into arbitration.

Disgruntled members of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, who have been locked in a protracted pay struggle with the city, had planned to hound and heckle Boston Mayor Tom Menino during the four-day convention, opening in one week.

The union had also planned to make life awkward for many of the more than 4,000 Democratic delegates by forcing them to choose whether to cross picket lines at various convention-related parties and events.

But the Massachusetts state labor management board, acting under a new chairman, voted unanimously to name an independent arbitrator to sort out the matter by Thursday. The arbitrator's decision could be binding for both sides.
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=5709972