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WILKES-BARRE — The city and the Wilkes-Barre Police Benevolent Association say they’re still working towards settling complaints of unfair labor practices the union filed against the city earlier this year.
The state Department of Labor & Industry and an attorney for the union said two hearings scheduled for Friday and next Monday have been continued. The PBA’s attorney, Anthony Caputo of Harrisburg, said the continuances were requested “to give the parties a little bit more time to talk.”
Caputo said Sgt. Phil Myers, president of the PBA, has been handling the discussions with the city.
Calls Monday to Myers and city attorney Tim Henry were not immediately returned.
The PBA, which represents members of the city police department below the rank of captain, turned to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board after a rocky start with then-interim police chief Marcella Lendacky. Mayor Tony George appointed her as the first woman to lead the department after he took office in January. She served in an interim capacity until then-chief Robert Hughes officially retired in March.
Lendacky put in place new policies that the union said should have first been bargained. Among the policies the union has claimed are unfair labor practices are a dress code requiring detectives to wear ties, restrictions on the use of chewing tobacco to a designated area and elimination until May 5 of bidding by seniority for steady assignments, days offs and vacations.
Settling the labor issues has cost the city thousands of dollars. According to a draft of the June monthly financial report, the city budgeted $25,000 for legal fees of labor relations for the police administration. It spent $11,805 or 47 percent of the total by mid-year.
