Negotiations between the two sides have been fitful. According to a memo and "update" Ryan published on the FOP's web site in December, the city's negotiators met with the union in March 2016, when it asked for the civilians on the trial board. There was another meeting on May 4, 2016, after which negotiations stopped until October. At that meeting, management "reiterated its desire to eliminate the 4/10 work schedule and replace it with a 5/2 schedule with permanent shifts and permanent days off," union president Gene Ryan wrote, referring to the schedule in which patrol officers work four 10-hour shifts instead of five eight-hour shifts.