Du Quoin police sergeants want to join union

The Du Quoin Police Department's four sergeants are petitioning the Illinois Labor Relations Board to be included in the collective bargaining unit that includes the city's patrol officers and the dispatchers.

The city and the police union are in the midst of negotiating a new contract, but that and the sergeants' petition are two different processes.

Gary Bailey, an attorney with the Illinois Federation of Police Labor Council, said the council has filed a petition on the sergeants' behalf with the state labor board and they are awaiting the city's response.

Mayor Guy Alongi on Monday would not divulge the city's response, which will be given to the labor board through the city's representative, Carbondale attorney Rhett Barke.

Alongi confirmed that the city and Barke have had several conversations, and that they are on the same page. But Alongi added he makes it a practice not to discuss labor issues publicly.

If the city chooses to fight the petition, the labor board will hold a (remote) hearing and make a ruling, Bailey said.

Whichever side loses the ruling can appeal the decision, directly to the Illinois Appellate Court.

Bailey said that in roughly one out of every three or four Illinois departments, sergeants are included in collective bargaining. He said it is more common in smaller departments, where patrol officers and sergeants work so closely together.