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2006 OUTLOOK FOR NEGOTIATIONS ORDER
A COPY TODAY (it is free) (click on the Link above)
Oceanside police get 12%
salary raise Pay scale will rank about
3rd in county From
The UNION-TRIBUNE, January 12, 2006 OCEANSIDE
– Police officers got a 12 percent raise, to be awarded in three segments,
last night. As
expected, the vote was 3-2, with Mayor Jim Wood and Councilwomen Esther
Sanchez and Shari Mackin in favor and Councilmen
Jack Feller and Rocky Chavez opposed. Six
people addressed the council, four speaking against the raise. Opponents
noted that Wood, Sanchez and Mackin had been
supported in their council campaigns by police and fire unions. But
resident Kay Parker said anyone who lived in Oceanside 10 years ago would
understand the importance of public safety. In 1995, there were two dozen
homicides in the city. In recent years, that number has greatly diminished. Even
in the 1960s and '70s, Oceanside was known as a crime town, but now it's a
city of $1 million condominiums, said Mayor Wood, a police officer for 31
years. He
said the new wages will rank the city about third in police pay in San Diego
County. Mackin showed a chart that ranked Oceanside 10th among
14 cities of similar size in the state. Resident
David Shore called the increase exorbitant, saying it should instead mirror
the 3 percent increase given other city employees. Sanchez,
a public defender for 18 years, said, "I make a lot more than they
(police officers), and I don't put my life on the line every day." Sanchez
said she did not think the salaries would be an issue if this were not an
election year. On
the opposite side, Chavez said, "Just like a father for his children, he
cannot give them everything they ask for but only what he can afford." In
an unusual move, Chavez asked City Treasurer Rosemary Jones, an independently
elected official, to weigh in on the subject. Jones said she doesn't begrudge
police the increase, but she wishes the raise could be less for the sake of
the city's financial future. The
agreements with police and harbor police will cost the city $1.1 million this
year and $1.3 million the next fiscal year. It
gives officers a 12 percent pay boost and sergeants a 16 percent raise over
two years. The raise is divided into 6 percent now for officers, 3 percent in
July and 3 percent in January 2007. For sergeants, the figures are 8 percent,
then 4 percent on each of those later dates. Brian
Kammerer, city personnel director, has said that
Oceanside officers at the top pay scale would make $75,408 annually beginning
in January 2007, compared with $67,056 currently. He
said entry-level officers would earn $53,004 annually on that date, compared
with $47,136 currently, and sergeants would make $96,984, compared with $83,028
currently. The
agreement was approved by the Oceanside Police Officers Association on Dec.
29. John
Anderson, association chairman, said last week that although the pay itself
would put Oceanside officers near the top scale in the county, they would not
maintain that status when benefits were considered because they would pay a
greater share than other departments. Anderson
said Chula Vista, for instance, pays 100 percent of officers' medical
benefits. Most Oceanside officers pay $200 to $350 a month. Recruits on the cheap That's
"bad public policy," according to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly
- who called on the city and the police union to boost starting wages. In
his strongest comments on the salary issue, Kelly called for higher pay in
the next round of contract talks with the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.
"I
think it has to be rectified," Kelly said after the swearing-in ceremony
at Brooklyn College in Midwood. "It has to be
taken on as the No. 1 issue." The
incoming class will earn $15,000 less than the class that was sworn in last July.
Kelly
blamed the salary plunge on a state arbitrator and said it will hurt
recruitment; yesterday's class of 1,121 applied before the Patrolmen's
Benevolent Association contract was settled last year. "I
lay this squarely at the feet of the arbitrator," said Kelly, who added
that 63% of the new class lives in the city. "It's just simply bad
public policy to reduce the starting salary by $15,000." The
pay cut covers a 10.25% raise over two years for officers already on the
payroll. After six months in the academy, rookie salaries are bumped to
$32,700. Mayor
Bloomberg pinned the pay plunge on the PBA. "Unfortunately, the PBA
chose binding arbitration," Bloomberg said. "I've always thought
and said it repeatedly that negotiations should be done face to face without
third parties." Union
officials said the city first suggested lower starting salaries to fund the
pay raises. "We go to arbitration because the city refuses to negotiate
from across the table," said PBA President Patrick Lynch. The
salary is much lower than that of other area police forces. For example, the
Port Authority starts rookies off with $32,500. The
number of applicants taking the NYPD's eny test in
February is down 30%, a sign the slash in pay may be driving away future cops.
Sources
said the NYPD had set a goal to hire 1,400 recruits for this class, and some
cops attribute the shortfall to the pay cut. Despite
the cut, 325 members of the new class have four-year college degrees, 275
have associate's degrees, 14 have master's degrees and one has a doctoral
degree. More than 20% are women and 54% are members of minority groups. Union negotiation hits
snag Mediator will guide talks
between peace officers, Shasta County, courts From
The Record Searchlight, January 11, 2006 A
union seeking raises of as much as 18 percent over two years for Shasta
County peace officers has reached an impasse with the county and the Superior
Court, it announced Wednesday. A
state mediator will be called in to assist the 165-member Deputy Sheriff’s
Association and the two government entities, which have been negotiating
since June. The
talks Tuesday and Jan. 25 will focus on salary and benefits for affected
employees, who include sheriff’s deputies, sergeants, correctional officers,
deputy marshals and district attorney investigators. The
union is requesting a two-year contract with 4 percent annual raises for all
its members plus two additional salary steps, which would benefit more than
50 of the longest-term employees, Executive Vice President Jon Ruiz said. "We’re
asking these things for a couple of reasons — to attract more people to the
county and to retain the people we do have," said Ruiz, a deputy
sheriff. "Our salaries seem to be maintaining at the status quo while
other like departments keep going up. That’s going to affect our draw and
retention of people." Neither
county Resource Management Director Joann Davis nor court administrator Susan
Null would comment about negotiations Wednesday. Acting
sheriff Larry Schaller said he’s not a part of the talks, but he hopes they
achieve a resolution quickly. "I’m
certainly anxious to see any outstanding issues resolved so that we can
minimize any distractions that outstanding labor issues create,"
Schaller said. According
to Ruiz, the county’s latest offer was for raises of 4 percent, 2 percent and
3 percent over successive years of a three-year contract. The courts’ offer
was similar, he said. In
addition to the higher increases, the union wants the county to pick up as much
as 70 percent of employees’ family medical premiums rather than the 50
percent the county now contributes, Ruiz said. The
association initially wanted the county to erase what it termed a 28 percent
pay disparity between deputies and Redding police officers, Ruiz said.
Subsequently, the union asked the county to match the mean salary of 17
similar law enforcement agencies in the north state that were surveyed, he
said. That
average is about $55,200 a year, versus an average salary of $46,800 for Shasta
County peace officers, he said. The
association is seeking a two-year contract rather than three years because
many of the 17 agencies studied are going into negotiations, so "the
disparity is quite likely going to increase again," Ruiz said. The
union announced the impasse to let people "know where we stand and that
we’re not trying to hide anything," he said. Police contract signed From
THE FLINT JOURNAL, January 06, 2006 OWOSSO
- The city's police patrol union has signed a three-year contract awarding
wage increases of 3 percent a year retroactive to July 1. The
contract signed Thursday includes changes in health care deductible costs and
pension contributions. Under the contract, employees will start paying a deductible for major medical costs. Deductibles are $250 for singles and $500 per family with out-of-pocket expenses maximized at $750 for singles and $1,500 for families. The city will reimburse employees $150 for singles and $300 per family.
The
new pension provision calls for the city to contribute up to 4 percent of
employees' salary with employee contributions varying and employees
picking up the cost after the cap is reached. Currently employees
contribute 6 percent with the city contributing nothing.
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