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POWER, INFLUENCE & PERSUASION POLICE CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY OCTOBER 25 & 26, 2007
POLICEPAY.NET
SERVICES (Click on service name for information and
pricing) Police get
33.8% pay hike over 4 years From the An arbitrator awarded police officers in The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, which
represents 2,900 officers statewide, will announce details of the agreement
at a news conference at 2 p.m. today at its office at SHOPO president Tenari Maafala said union
officials and representatives of Gov. Linda Lingle
and the four county mayors met with arbitrator Russell Higa
from May 8 to 11. "This is long overdue for us," Maafala
said of the pay increases awarded by Higa. "It
closes the gap and will help address our concerns about recruitment and
retention of officers in The agreement covers July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2011. Under the new agreement, the starting pay of police officers
will be increased from $38,000 to $43,000, not counting overtime, said Maafala. The highest base-salary level will be $76,000. The agreement also includes a uniform allowance. "Most officers have three sets and the price of one is
between $125 and $150," Maafala said. NYC Council
Speaker Backs Pattern Bargaining From WNBC, May 23, 2007 Appearing on Wednesday morning's "News Forum Now" on NewsChannel 4, Quinn agreed that the $25,100 first-year
pay for rookie NYPD officers was a big problem and cited Police Commissioner
Ray Kelly's recent testimony that the low salary has led to a severe shortage
of police recruits and therefore a shrinking police force. "I don't think the answer to that is an end to pattern
bargaining," Quinn said. "I think the answer is for everybody to
commit to get themselves back to the table and try to find a solution to a
fair contract." Pattern bargaining is the century-old process by which all the
uniform services (e.g. Fire, Sanitation, Corrections, Police) essentially get
the same overall deal in terms of total percentage pay increase, although the
details of each contract are different. On Monday, Kelly raised eyebrows at City Hall by saying that
pattern bargaining wasn't working for the NYPD. Mayor Michael Bloomberg
disagreed when asked on Monday and Tuesday, his aides telling reporters that
ending pattern bargaining would inevitably "break the bank." Apparently, Quinn, who may very well be hoping to get the
mayor's job in 2009, agrees.
Mayor plans to block scheduled 2008 raises From The
Monitor, May19, 2007 PHARR — Last
weekend’s vote to repeal collective bargaining rights for the city’s police
and firefighter unions may also cancel future pay increases approved in both
groups’ current contracts, Mayor Leo “Polo” Palacios said. Police union demands raises, car parity From the Representatives of the The Fraternal Order of Police offered counter-proposals on 10
articles, including their rate of pay and other salary add-ons. The two teams were able to reach tentative agreement on three of
those articles, and came very near agreement on the language in some others,
which still require a little more fine tuning of minor provisions. The FOP's proposals regarding salary
and other economic benefits for police officers, on the other hand, became
the subject of considerable discussion, and will require further analysis and
evaluation by the city administration before a response will be offered. "Our reference point," said FOP Staff Representative
Bill Hastings, "is the city's own pay study
done by Evergreen Solutions. They recommended that employee pay be
competitive with market averages in the area, so that is how we have arrived
at our proposed figures." 'Show me the money'
The union is asking for wage increases of 7 percent across the
board for each of the three years of the contract. In a negotiating session
last month, the city had offered increases ranging from less than 1 percent
to 5.3 percent for various steps in the pay plan, based on its interpretation
of market comparables. In response to the city's proposal to maintain top-out pay (the
one-time annual amount given to officers who have reached the top step of
their pay grade) at $1,200 per year, the union has proposed increasing it by
an additional $100 in each of the last two years of the contract. Then, after completing 15 years of service under the FOP
proposal, officers would begin receiving an automatic 7-percent increase to
their base pay rate instead of the top-out bonus payment. In addition, the union is asking for a monthly "automobile
benefit parity" payment of $300 for any police officer who does not have
a take-home vehicle provided by the department. That would include nearly all
of the officers. 'Parity' Reviving one of the more controversial issues from negotiations
three years ago, the union takes the position that most other area law
enforcement agencies provide a take-home car for each officer. Understanding
that the city is not interested in that concept for several reasons, union
officials still feel that the value of the benefit being realized in other
agencies should be added to the pay of "If the city doesn't do something in this regard,"
said Hastings, "they will eventually pay the price, both as people begin
to leave the organization to work elsewhere, and as applicants refuse to come
here in favor of other employers." The city's lead negotiator, Administrative Services Director
Brenda Digges, responded by reminding the union of
the uncertain economic situation now facing local governments in "You are all aware," said Digges,
"of the pending legislation in "It's bad timing," she said. "It would be
extremely difficult for the city to entertain a proposal of this magnitude
under the circumstances. I just don't know where the money would come
from." The next negotiating session is scheduled for Wednesday, June 6,
at 1:30 pm, at which time Digges assured the FOP
that the city would have a comprehensive counter-proposal for its
consideration, including a response to its economic demands. From THE JOURNAL NEWS, May 14, 2007 According to the agreement, officers will be given a 2 percent
salary increase every six months under the contract covering January 2006 to
December 2007. In addition, all members of the PBA,
regardless of their appointment date, are entitled to have their medical and
dental insurance fully paid by the town for life. The insurance includes
dependent coverage, which will also be fully paid by the town for life. The contract includes a $50 increase in all longevity steps. The Town Board unanimously approved the contract at a meeting
last week. "Having been in my first negotiation I learned a lot,"
Supervisor Phil Marino said Friday. "It was a hard work. I certainly had an idea what I would
have liked to have for the town. I think the PBA
had ideas of (what) they thought the best for its membership. And we met somewhere in the middle," Marino said. Sgt. Edward C. Schoales, president of
the PBA, could not be reached for comment. Residents such as Rita Ladoue were
disappointed the town gave salary increases and new perks to police officers.
"That's absolutely ridiculous," said Ladoue, whose husband, Joseph, is a retired New York
Police Department officer. She said that compared to NYPD officers, she thought town
officers were paid too much. According to the current salary schedule before the increase,
police officers' average base salary is more than $90,000. Marino agreed "I sleep well. My daughter, my grandchildren and my
son-in-law who live in town, we all sleep well because we have this
excellently trained police department. Do they do dangerous jobs? Yes, they
do. They do a difficult job," Marino said. "And Marino said the town did not go into binding arbitration because
there's always a chance it could lose. "It's better to compromise rather than someone else decides
for you," he said. |
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