No Respect

It has been awhile since I last wrote here and sorry to say little has changed at work, in fact things are worse. We have been fighting an up hill battle to get a shift schedule that will remove some of the overtime that we have each month. We have had as much as 1000 hours with 700 being about average each month. The biggest reason is that we are short of people. Last year the department spent over $300,000 for overtime in dispatch. and this year really doesn't look much better. Back in January we were promised that the administration was going to do something about it and soon. Well, here it is the 4th of March and still no new shift. In fact the decision was put off again today at the supervisors meeting.
The sticking point is the shift. We have been working 4, 10 hour shifts with 3 days off. It seems that is one of the least efficient uses of the limited manpower we have. The shift right now that makes the most sense and has the least amount of overtime is 5, 8 hour shifts with 2 days off. You can believe me that is not a popular idea but, most of us realize that it is necessary for the time being. We have been promised that it is only a temporary fix till we get some of the 10 people that are in training out and on the floor. I for one believe them when they say that. Right now we have only 37 dispatchers that are working. The last time we had only 37 dispatchers was in 1987. So we need to get those people trained and if working 8 hour shifts helps that happen and takes away some the the overtime then lets do it.
The problem seems to be a combination of the Sheriff and a series of outright lies that are being spread around by the Boise Police Department. The Boise police are saying that the dispatchers will mutiny if we are put on 8 hour shifts. I'm not really sure were they got that one but what a load of rubbish. They are the only ones I have ever heard of using work slow downs and the blue flu to get what they want. The Sheriff received several e-mails from dispatchers saying that they were unaware of the shift change. This is an outright lie. The shift change has been the only topic of discussion on the floor for over a month. The Sheriff by dragging this out and listen to all the untruths that are floating around is only making what is a difficult decision worse. He is also undercutting the authority of his supervisors by not listening to the information that they have been giving him about the different shift schedules that are up for discussion. He is being disrespectful of the workers and our needs to know just what is happening to our jobs and to plan how we are going to make this work for our families. The Sheriff needs to make a decision and make it soon. He talks a big battle about leadership well now is the time to back up his works with action.