Group hopes to bring issue to voters next year after registrar officials verify signatures
Nearly 10,000 city residents signed a petition supporting a provision to remove forced contract mediation and binding arbitration from the city's charter, said one member of the group leading the charge. The group, calling itself the Committee to Remove Binding Arbitration from Vallejo Charter, had until early next month to secure about 7,000 valid resident signatures. Committee members say binding arbitration takes decisions out of local lawmakers' hands and, in effect, holds a "hammer over the city." "Binding arbitration has been one of the forces that has cost the city of Vallejo a lot of money over the years," said Libien, a petition author.

Nearly 10,000 signed petition to end binding arbitration

Group hopes to bring issue to voters next year after registrar officials verify signatures
By JESSICA A. YORK/Times-Herald staff writer

Vallejo's decades-old mechanism for resolving employee contract disputes may be left in voters' hands next year.

Nearly 10,000 city residents signed a petition supporting a provision to remove forced contract mediation and binding arbitration from the city's charter, said one member of the group leading the charge.

The group, calling itself the Committee to Remove Binding Arbitration from Vallejo Charter, had until early next month to secure about 7,000 valid resident signatures.

Petition authors J.D. Miller and James Libien said Tuesday that they had sent the thousands of signatures to the city clerk's office in early September. The Solano County Registrar of Voters now has 60 days to verify those signatures, said Lindsey McWilliams, assistant registrar of voters.

"We did the random selection of signatures for verification, and that was inconclusive, so now we're having to verify every signature," McWilliams said.

Though Vallejo's is the only petition the county is verifying, it is also dealing with new voter registration deadlines that have caused a flood of recent forms, McWilliams said. He anticipated the county, which has had the petition signatures since Sept. 11, would need several weeks to complete its verification process.

Binding arbitration is used if Vallejo and its employee contract bargaining representatives cannot agree on a negotiated issue. City law says that a deadlocked dispute must first go to a mediator, and then an arbitrator, if needed. Anarbitrator chooses between offers from both sides, but may not compromise or modify either. The decision is legally binding.

Signature gatherers had intended to bring the issue to voters during this year's presidential election, but found that six months was not enough time for signature gathering, organizers said.

"It's actually probably better that it's going to be next year because it's going to be something every single candidate will have to talk about," said petition author Miller, referring to next year's Vallejo City Council race.

Committee members say binding arbitration takes decisions out of local lawmakers' hands and, in effect, holds a "hammer over the city."

"Binding arbitration has been one of the forces that has cost the city of Vallejo a lot of money over the years," said Libien, a petition author.

Employee union members say the arbitration process is fair and has worked effectively.

"In both the private and public sector, binding arbitration has proven to be a productive problem-solving tool," said Mat Mustard, the Vallejo Police Officers Association vice president.

"The people of Vallejo have supported binding arbitration on at least three separate occasions during the election process, and maybe as many as four. If the petition is valid, we look forward to a discussion over the benefits of binding arbitration in avoiding strikes and labor disputes in the community."

Vallejo City Clerk Mary Ellsworth said the last time the city considered modifying the city binding arbitration requirement was 1989, during a charter review commission discussion. Two city charter changes have been made since that year, and neither dealt with binding arbitration, she said.

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