Arbitration Decision Today (UPDATE)

And an interesting admission from the people who keep track of this stuff:

• After going nearly three years without a contract, Chicago police officers expect to learn Friday how much of a raise they’ll get when an arbitrator releases his decision.
  
  Officials with both Mayor Richard Daley’s administration and the Fraternal Order of Police said they expect to receive the decision by 8 a.m. Friday. Both sides said they plan to brief reporters later in the day.
  
  Police have been working without a contract since the end of June 2007. The matter went to an independent arbitrator last year after negotiations broke down.
  
  Although the arbitration technically only applies to rank-and-file officers, lieutenants and captains will get the same raise because of clauses in their recently-approved contracts.
  
  Police also are expected to get back pay as part of the decision. City Hall has set aside $70 million to cover the costs of the decision and a similar one expected for the city’s firefighters, said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a government budget watchdog.

$70 million set aside for costs. Seems like some of the 'Lympic money was set aside after all. Anyone know what the interest is on a $70 million Certificate of Deposit?

We're going to try to keep the readership informed as the day goes on. Obviously, the percentages are going to be the biggest news. Here's a couple of links that might help out:

• FOP Current Updates - FOP SITE DOWN! Try this stripped down link here
  
  
• Five Frank Retro Calculator - hopefully, they're updating their calculator.

After it's all said and done, the only question remaining is when does the City Council approve it? Or whether or not they try to delay implementation.

We imagine they'll forgo consideration at the May meeting claiming Beale has to put his committee together and read the decision and get his marching orders from Shortshanks. That means June at the earliest for approval. Raises won't hit until 01 July, meaning the 16 July check. Retro by August? September? Last time the Arbitrator set a date by which check had to be issued or the City would have to start paying interest on monies held. We expect that might be in the decision and the City will take every one of those days to issue checks.

UPDATE: OFFICERS SCREWED. Again. And again.

• Rank-and-file Chicago police officers will get a raise that is significantly less than the one Mayor Richard Daley pulled off the negotiating table last year under an arbitrator’s decision released this morning, a source familiar with the decision said.

• The raises average 2 percent a year for five years. That's less than the 3.2 percent a year for five years that Mayor Richard Daley pulled off the negotiating table in March 2009. That offer had been on the table for a year, but the Fraternal Order of Police was trying to get more. FOP President Mark Donahue declined to comment, saying he would speak at a 3 p.m. news conference.

More later.