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Panama City, Fla:
Panama City law enforcement officers are ready to unionize, but they’ll have to wait a little bit longer.
The Panama City City Commission voted Tuesday to hold off on recognizing the Teamsters union until the officers take a vote. More than 50% of the officers signed representation cards, and the City could have taken that as a pseudo-vote in favor of unionization. Instead, Panama City Mayor Scott Clemons and the rest of the city commissioners called for a secret ballot.
“Each person should have the opportunity to have a secret ballot, make their own decision, and not feel any pressure from anybody else,” Clemons said.
Teamsters representatives, however, say it’s just another stall tactic from the City.
“I guess the City thinks it needs to be private. These people signed these cards in private, so we’ve already met that obligation of having an election,” said Teamsters Business Manager Jim Gookins.
Mayor Clemons says he just wants to make sure it really is what a majority of officers want.
“It’s my hope that the police officers would feel like there is a close enough relationship with management that they don’t need a third party intervention to negotiate contracts. But, that’s their decision and we want to give them that opportunity through a secret ballot,” Clemons responded.
According to the Panama City Teamsters website, they anticipate a vote will happen within the next 30 to 45 days.
Click here to learn more about the Panama City Teamsters.
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