Yahoo Finance Dixmoor hasn’t sent union dues collected from police officers to Illinois Council of Police, union says
A dispute in Dixmoor over whether union dues from part-time police officers are being deducted and sent to the Illinois Council of Police has led to the state union calling for an Illinois State Police investigation.
The council is asking the state to investigate where the money, which is used to fund the officers’ union expenses and other benefits, such as life insurance, has gone, according to a news release.
Alexander Dunn, an attorney and executive director of council, said he’s gathered employee pay stubs to create a record of the collected union dues and will schedule a meeting with the state police division of criminal investigation.
“These aren’t highly paid employees to begin with,” Dunn said. “It truly adds insult to injury when not only are they doing a thankless job with little pay but you’re taking their money and not sending it where it’s supposed to go.”
Dixmoor Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts said he was made aware about the union’s calls for the union dues Wednesday night. To his knowledge, Roberts said the village hasn’t collected dues from police officers.
“My attorney said if we owe them anything we will send it,” Roberts said. “This administration isn’t the type to sit back and not pay what we owe. We’re going to take care of whatever we need to take care of and make sure it’s all right.”
In a statement Friday, Roberts said the village sent the union a letter.
“There is no need to escalate this situation,” Roberts said in the statement. “We want to sit down with the union and get an accounting of what if anything is owed and resolve this matter. I want to be clear in stating the fact that our intention is to make this situation right. We just want some clarity on what is owed.”
Dunn said typically city and village officials who have members in the Illinois Council of Police send the union a roster of police officers, how much money was taken from each officer’s check for union dues and a check with that dues money, Dunn said.
Beginning in April 2021, the union had not received union dues funds from Dixmoor officials, Dunn said. When the union reached out in July 2022 about the missing payments, the village sent a check for $6,615, which the union received the next month, he said.
But since August 2022, the union has again not received a check from Dixmoor, Dunn said. The union has reached out to Dixmoor officials, Dunn said, but no one has responded.
“They don’t send anything. The only way we know they are taking money is because our members send us their checks showing the money is being taken out,” Dunn said.
The part-time police officers in Dixmoor have worked without a contract since 2019, Dunn said. The union negotiated a contract through 2020 and early 2021, he said, and a new contract was agreed to but the village won’t sign or acknowledge it.
Under the previous contract, the officers made $13.29 an hour, Dunn said, and the pay rate agreed to in the unsigned contract is $18 an hour. Union dues are $11.50 a pay period, he said.
In August 2021, the union filed a labor board charge against the village for not signing or implementing the contract, Dunn said.
“The fact that they’re taking the dues money without acknowledging the union is unfair,” Dunn said.
Roberts said it “doesn’t sound right” that the village hasn’t honored the police contract.
“Any problem they have they can reach out to me or the attorney and we’ll make sure it’s done the right way,” Roberts said.
