An Omaha City Council member wants to rescind the mayor's longstanding authority to lead negotiations on city labor contracts.
Councilman Chris Jerram added a proposal to Tuesday's council agenda that would put the council in charge of labor negotiations. The move comes as an impasse festers over a proposed contract agreement with the city's fire union.
"Maybe it's time for us to start over, start from scratch, and consider taking over the negotiations with our representative and our negotiating team," Jerram said.
Omaha's city charter grants the council the authority to negotiate labor contracts, but the council delegated the responsibility to the Mayor's Office in the 1970s.
Fire union president Steve LeClair declined to comment until he had read Jerram's proposal.
Sgt. John Wells, police union president, said such a change wouldn't matter to his union.
"We're not really concerned with who we negotiate with, but that there has to be a clear-cut leader," Wells said. "We have to know who we're negotiating with, and that who we're negotiating with is the actual decision maker."
— Juan Perez Jr.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
