MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Memphis Police Association President Mike Williams might not be sending any Christmas cards to Mayor A C Wharton this year. “They’re trying to union bust,” Williams says. The Mayor says you can’t bust something that’s not legal. He thinks a binding agreement, a contract, agreed to by all, including voters in 1978, is illegal in Tennessee. “That’s not something the city is only contending,” Mayor Wharton says. “That’s the law in the state of Tennessee.”
It's a law that nobody bothered to challenge apparently in thirty four years. It’s the reason why the Memphis Police Association has started a television campaign called “Wake Up Memphis.” The thirty second spots talk about the changes the city wants. “They don’t want individuals to have the ability to negotiate,” Williams says. “They want to take all of the revenue that they can and gear it toward economic development. That’s what they really want to do.”
All of this is coming because of a lawsuit filed by city employee unions, claiming last year's 4.6 percent pay cut ordered by the Wharton administration was illegal. The case is still being battled by lawyers on both sides. It has led to a relationship between Mike Williams and A C Wharton that’s about as warm as the inside of a Frigidaire. Oh, Wharton will tell you, he’s seen those police association ads. “I’ll tell you what,” the mayor says, “I don’t know who did that commercial for them, but I’ve talked with some really politically astute people and nobody really understands what they’re saying.”
