Arbitration Award

Former Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez, who was convicted on public corruption charges, has won $70,947 for unused vacation and sick time. The Hartford Courant reports ( http://cour.at/rBq1Xj) that an arbitrator awarded the money for Perez's 8 ½-year tenure. However, he rejected about $24,000 of the ex-mayor's claim for time he said he worked as mayor during his trial last year. The arbitrator compared Perez's claim with making work-related phone calls or emails while on vacation because the focus is vacation and vacation time would be used.

Special Town Meeting is scheduled to assemble at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Wareham High School. Voters who attend will be asked to approve a collective bargaining agreement between the town and library employees; fund an arbitration award to the Wareham Police Union; and spend $19,900 to purchase a 2012 Dodge Ram to replace a police pickup truck that was totaled in a crash. They will also consider a petition that would require candidates seeking office to be registered to vote for at least a year before elections.

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Scituate town officials this week will begin to spend over $324,000 to pay for firefighter wage increases for 2011-2013 that the Scituate Firefighters Union won in an arbitration award earlier last month. Under the agreement, firefighters would receive no increase for FY10, a 1.5 percent increase for FY11, and a 2 percent increase for FY12 and FY13. Scituate officials will vote on several budget transfers this week to support an arbitration award, which will add $48,000 to FY11 wages, $113,000 for FY12 wages (with overtime projected)

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Scituate town officials this week will begin to spend over $324,000 to pay for firefighter wage increases for 2011-2013 that the Scituate Firefighters Union won in an arbitration award earlier last month. Under the agreement, firefighters would receive no increase for FY10, a 1.5 percent increase for FY11, and a 2 percent increase for FY12 and FY13. Scituate officials will vote on several budget transfers this week to support an arbitration award, which will add $48,000 to FY11 wages, $113,000 for FY12 wages (with overtime projected)

A Superior Court judge considered arguments yesterday in the lawsuit filed by the city of Somerville against the local firefighters union and a state agency over an arbitration award in a contract dispute dating to 2007. Middlesex Superior Court Judge Thomas Murtagh did not say when he would have a decision. Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said after the proceeding that his administration will comply with state law requiring that he submit an appropriation for the nearly $4.3 million in back pay awarded in December to Local 76 of the firefighters union by the Joint Labor Management Committee.

Special Town Meeting is scheduled to assemble at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Wareham High School. Voters who attend will be asked to approve a collective bargaining agreement between the town and library employees; fund an arbitration award to the Wareham Police Union; and spend $19,900 to purchase a 2012 Dodge Ram to replace a police pickup truck that was totaled in a crash. They will also consider a petition that would require candidates seeking office to be registered to vote for at least a year before elections.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - It's a high-stakes game of chicken at this point for the Red Sox and David Ortiz. The sides are scheduled to meet in a hotel conference room in St. Petersburg today to present their salary arbitration cases to a three-person panel. The Sox have offered $12.65 million, with Ortiz and agent Fernando Cuza seeking $16.5 million. Negotiations can continue right up until the hearing starts. But at that point, the panel will listen to arguments and any chance of compromise is lost.

By Matt Byrne, Town Correspondent The Somerville Local 76 firefighters union is calling for their members to turn out in force for a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen tonight. On its website , the union said the special meeting  is a forum for the board to discuss a December arbitration award that would end a longstanding deadlock between the union and the city that began in 2007. The decision, by the state Joint Labor-Management Committee , calls for retroactive pay increases of between 2 percent and 3 percent each year...

Viacom Inc., the owner of Paramount Pictures, MTV and Comedy Central, on Thursday posted a 65 percent drop in net income for the latest quarter, as it took a charge related to the "Rock Band" series of video games. Revenue was below analyst estimates, sending its stock down. Viacom earned $212 million, or 38 cents per share, in the October-December quarter, down from $610 million, or $1 per share, a year ago. The New York-based company took a charge of $379 million to cover an arbitration award won by the original shareholders of...

Venezuela plans to leave the World Bank's international arbitration body and try to settle disputes with foreign companies within its own judicial system, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Sunday. Ramirez also announced that Venezuela would seek to renegotiate dozens of international investment-related agreements. "We do not accept impositions and we are going to rescue our national sovereignty," said Ramirez, speaking during a televised interview. Ramirez said disputes with foreign companies, including an unsettled disagreement with...

In a sudden resolution to a six-year stalemate between the city and the union that represents its firefighters, both sides on Friday announced they have reached an eight-year contract agreement that includes back pay and future pay raises. The settlement amends an arbitration award handed down March 1 by the Massachusetts Joint Labor-Management Committee. Under the agreement, members of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1011 agreed to waive retroactive pay for the three fiscal years that began July 1, 2006 and ended June 30, 2009, saving the city $514,000.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - It's a high-stakes game of chicken at this point for the Red Sox and David Ortiz. The sides are scheduled to meet in a hotel conference room in St. Petersburg today to present their salary arbitration cases to a three-person panel. The Sox have offered $12.65 million, with Ortiz and agent Fernando Cuza seeking $16.5 million. Negotiations can continue right up until the hearing starts. But at that point, the panel will listen to arguments and any chance of compromise is lost.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - It's a high-stakes game of chicken at this point for the Red Sox and David Ortiz. The sides are scheduled to meet in a hotel conference room in St. Petersburg today to present their salary arbitration cases to a three-person panel. The Sox have offered $12.65 million, with Ortiz and agent Fernando Cuza seeking $16.5 million. Negotiations can continue right up until the hearing starts. But at that point, the panel will listen to arguments and any chance of compromise is lost.

Viacom Inc., the owner of Paramount Pictures, MTV and Comedy Central, on Thursday posted a 65 percent drop in net income for the latest quarter, as it took a charge related to the "Rock Band" series of video games. Revenue was below analyst estimates, sending its stock down. Viacom earned $212 million, or 38 cents per share, in the October-December quarter, down from $610 million, or $1 per share, a year ago. The New York-based company took a charge of $379 million to cover an arbitration award won by the original shareholders of Harmonix Music Systems Inc.,...

Venezuela plans to leave the World Bank's international arbitration body and try to settle disputes with foreign companies within its own judicial system, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Sunday. Ramirez also announced that Venezuela would seek to renegotiate dozens of international investment-related agreements. "We do not accept impositions and we are going to rescue our national sovereignty," said Ramirez, speaking during a televised interview. Ramirez said disputes with foreign companies, including an unsettled disagreement with...

A Superior Court judge considered arguments yesterday in the lawsuit filed by the city of Somerville against the local firefighters union and a state agency over an arbitration award in a contract dispute dating to 2007. Middlesex Superior Court Judge Thomas Murtagh did not say when he would have a decision. Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said after the proceeding that his administration will comply with state law requiring that he submit an appropriation for the nearly $4.3 million in back pay awarded in December to Local 76 of the firefighters union by the Joint Labor Management...

In a sudden resolution to a six-year stalemate between the city and the union that represents its firefighters, both sides on Friday announced they have reached an eight-year contract agreement that includes back pay and future pay raises. The settlement amends an arbitration award handed down March 1 by the Massachusetts Joint Labor-Management Committee. Under the agreement, members of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1011 agreed to waive retroactive pay for the three fiscal years that began July 1, 2006 and ended June 30, 2009, saving the city $514,000.

SOMERVILLE - The City of Somerville is suing the local firefighters union and a state panel that handed up a December arbitration opinion that could force the city to pay the union's members nearly $4.3 million in back pay over the next five years. In the suit, filed in Middlesex Superior Court on Thursday, the city seeks to halt enforcement of the payout, saying the cost would trigger a $1.9 million budget shortfall this year and possibly lead to layoffs and cuts to a "myriad of services to the public," according to a motion filed in the suit.

SOMERVILLE - The City of Somerville is suing the local firefighters union and a state panel that handed up a December arbitration opinion that could force the city to pay the union's members nearly $4.3 million in back pay over the next five years. In the suit, filed in Middlesex Superior Court on Thursday, the city seeks to halt enforcement of the payout, saying the cost would trigger a $1.9 million budget shortfall this year and possibly lead to layoffs and cuts to a "myriad of services to the public," according to a motion filed in the suit.