The city of Biddeford and three of its employee unions are in disputes over contract negotiations that have led to picketing, an abruptly canceled City Council meeting Tuesday night and allegations that city officials are unfairly targeting employees’ pay and benefits.

Members of the police union and public works union picketed outside City Hall on Tuesday night to draw attention to what union leaders characterize as “draconian-type” proposals to cut pay and benefits. City officials say they have to reduce the cost of benefits in labor contracts that are overly generous.

After picketing outside City Hall, union members overwhelmed Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Determining that council chambers was above its capacity, the councilors asked some people to leave so they could proceed with the meeting, then abruptly canceled the meeting when no one did.

Bob Mills, a city councilor who voted against adjourning the meeting, was disappointed the council would cancel a meeting so readily because of the contentious atmosphere. He believed some people would have moved out to the hallway so that council chambers was not over capacity.

After the vote to adjourn, union members and their supporters chanted “shame on you” to city officials.

Contracts for the police, firefighters and public works employees expired June 30, and the city has filed a complaint that the union representing firefighters has refused to negotiate a new contract. The case goes before the Maine Labor Relations Board on Thursday.

Negotiations between the city and the unions that represent 60 Police Department employees and 50 people from the Public Works Department fell apart after four meetings. The city declared the negotiations at an impasse, and both unions are scheduled to meet with the city in mediation in the third week of August.

At the center of the tension between the unions and city are proposed changes to the contracts to reduce sick time, eliminate five paid holidays, increase employees’ share of health insurance costs and eliminate a retiree health care plan.

“It’s all about trying to contain costs for the taxpayers of Biddeford,” said Michael Wing, a consultant who is the city’s lead negotiator. “These are very rich contracts and Biddeford is not a very rich city.”

The city provides 12 sick days per year and employees can accumulate an unlimited number of sick days over time, something that creates a significant cost to the city when an employee resigns or retires, Wing said. The city is proposing to cut the number of days per year in half and end the provision allowing unused days to be carried into future years.

Union workers now pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums, while the city proposal calls for them to pay 30 percent.

Sgt. Phil Greenwood, the police union steward, said union members were insulted by the city’s “outrageous” initial contract offer, which included a change to the Police Department pay scale that he says would have caused large pay cuts for some officers and frozen wages across the board. Wing said that part of the offer has since been withdrawn.

“The city is looking to hurt us,” Greenwood said. “This is a direct assault on our wages and benefits – the things that take care of our families – without regard for the consequences.”

Greenwood said he believes that some officers will leave the department if a new contract includes benefit cuts. It is already difficult to recruit officers to work in a department that is dealing with a heroin epidemic, prostitution, drug trafficking and mental illness on a daily basis, he said.

“This is not policing Cape Elizabeth. This is inner-city policing,” he said.

Ray Cote, business agent for Teamsters Local Union 340, said the unions’ counterproposals sought a 3 percent cost-of-living increase each year for public works employees and a 5 percent increase for police officers. He said the unions have tried to meet the city halfway, to no avail.

“The city is not negotiating in good faith,” Cote said.

Wing, the city negotiator, said mediation is a good way to try to reach a settlement.

“We don’t view mediation as a failure,” he said. “We think this is an appropriate next step.”

The city filed a prohibitive practice complaint against the firefighters’ union because union leaders did not respond to requests to negotiate a new three-year contract, Wing said. In a letter to the Maine Labor Relations Board, Wing said the union has made a “blatant attempt” to circumvent state law by not agreeing to bargain with the city.

“The union is aware that the city has put forward proposals to other city bargaining units asking for some concessions so if the union does not meet with the city they will never have to receive and consider the city’s proposals,” Wing wrote. “Further, the mayor and all of the city council seats are up for election in November 2105. The union obviously feels that it will be better off with a potentially new group of elected officials.”

But Tim Sevigny, a firefighter and president of the union, said the union doesn’t want to negotiate at a time of uncertainty for the department. He said the union wants a one-year continuation of its contract to give the city time to hire a new fire chief and allow flexibility for any changes a new leader may want to implement.

The Fire Department currently has an interim chief.

“We don’t want to sign a three-year contract right now because we don’t want to tie a new chief’s hands for three years,” said Andrew Stevenson, vice president of the union.

Sevigny said employees in all three unions are frustrated with the City Council and the tension around negotiations. “Every employee in the city is under attack,” he said.

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