As you may know, PLEA has been served with a lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute challenging that part of our agreement with the City to provide release time to your PLEA representatives. An attack of this nature on PLEA is an attack on all Phoenix officers, not to mention every other labor unit in the city of Phoenix. PLEA has had full time release rights since our first contract with the city was negotiated. We will vigorously defend against this attack on your rights to be represented.
We have the support of every certified representative organization in the City. As the City has also been named as a co-defendant, we anticipate that we will work together to hold onto the benefits which the City and its employees derive from the labor relations plan so carefully established by the Meet and Confer ordinance in 1975.
We and the City realize that adequate representation is the only way to secure for the City the benefits of the Meet and Confer ordinance. Release time is essential for the ordinance to work as intended and essential for those benefits to be realized.