The San Angelo Police Department is talking and City Council Members say they are ready to listen. Thus was after unanimous approval in today's city council meeting for local police officers to "meet and confer" with council members about labor terms. "Basically what that allows us to do is it allows us police officers to bargain with our city council, with our city government to address any issues we may have. It also allows us to amend certain portions of civil service laws," says Korby Kennedy, President of the San Angelo Coalition of Police. Kennedy says the association will negotiate officer rights and provide legal assistance to officers as needed. As a state affiliate, CLEAT will also provide legislative support at the capitol. "Where we are a union in since is that we have an association of officers and we are out for officers rights. Where we are not like a union is we don't have a strong shop. We can't make union membership mandatory and we cannot strike. As a police officer in the State of Texas if I strike I will lose my job," says Kennedy. Kennedy also states that prior to today's decision, police officers didn't have an opportunity for their voices to be heard. "We didn't have any process before this. Meet and confer was passed in 2005 in the state legislation. Some of your bigger cities like Ft. Worth, Austin, and San Antonio had it and have been negotiating for years. But we have never had anything like that here in San Angelo. So, basically as a police officer we never had a voice and that is what we are doing, brining our voice and our options, and our needs to the city council," says Kennedy.
