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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) SFPD officers to see pay increase From
the Examiner, May 30, 2007 With
the double-digit salary increase, The City’s police salary costs would
increase next fiscal year alone by $9 million, from the $263 million spent on
police compensation this year. On
July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year, wages for The City’s 2,237
police officers — from frontlines officers up to deputy chiefs — would
increase by 4 percent on July 1. First-year officers, who are paid about
$65,000, would receive an additional 4 percent raise — for a combined 8
percent raise — on July 1. On
Dec. 29, an across-the-board raise of 2 percent would kick in and salaries
would increase again in the first half of each of the subsequent three fiscal
years by 7 percent, 6 percent and 4 percent. “It’s
a market wage. We didn’t give them more than what the market dictated,” said
Steve Ponder, compensation manager with The City’s Department of Human
Resources. The
current four-year contract, which expires June 30, had granted pay raises
totaling 15.2 percent, according to Ponder. Mayor
Gavin Newsom’s Chief of Staff Phil Ginsburg said The City is losing about 115
officers a year, mostly to retirement, and there is a need to stay competitive
in terms of compensation to be able to recruit and retain officers. The City
aims not only to backfill those positions, but also add more police officers,
he said. Ginsburg said police departments nationwide are losing a large
number of officers to retirement. Ginsburg
praised the contract for including a pilot program to encourage officers to
live in The City by offering up to $20,000 as a forgivable loan for
first-time homebuyers and $5,000 for rental or relocation assistance.
“Our
police officers are 11 percent underfunded when you
compare them to other jurisdictions in the Bay Area,” Elsbernd
said. “If we are going to recruit officers into the finest police department
in the country, we’ve got to pay them appropriately.” Supervisor
Chris Daly said he is against the contract. “The mayor wants to hand a golden
contract to the POA in an election year. It’s good politics for Gavin Newsom but bad public
policy,” Daly said. He added, “I think it’s a little bit too much given all
the other competing priorities in the budget.” Police
Officers’ Association President Gary Delagnes
characterized the salary increase as fair and equitable. “It puts us at a
level where we are going to be able to compete with The
Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee may vote on the
contract as soon as June 11. Police, firefighters OK new pacts From the After months of legal and political wrangling,
police and firefighters will see health care changes and pay raises, and Police
Chief William McManus will enjoy significantly more freedom in choosing his
top staff under collective bargaining agreements overwhelmingly approved
Friday. The
police contract also grants McManus at least six new leadership positions. The
passage comes after initial contracts failed by large margins in November,
firefighters filed a lawsuit alleging the city wasn't bargaining in good
faith and police officers set up a Web site slamming some components of their
contract. Much
of the criticism focused on the city's early attempts to increase the amount
firefighters and police pay for health care. But
the heads of both the fire and police unions Friday said they were pleased
with the final results. "It's
very good," said Teddy Stewart, president of the San Antonio Police
Officers Association. However, he conceded: "You're going to have a
vocal minority of people who are going to be unhappy with everything." Chris
Steele, who heads the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association and
has criticized the city's dealings with his union in the past, called the
contract "proof that (City Manager Sheryl Sculley)
really does care for the firefighters." Of
those who voted, 72 percent of police officers favored their contract and
firefighters approved theirs by a landslide of 95.56 percent. In
a statement, Sculley called the agreement a
"great accomplishment" and said it will "allow us to focus our
attention on further improving the high level of service." On
the police side, an initially contentious part of the contract expands
McManus' oversight by giving him at least six new commander positions to head
each of the city's substations — at a total cost of $1.1 million. Captains
currently direct those stations, but McManus wanted to appoint higher-ranking
commanders as leaders, arguing it would make them more accountable to him and
to the city. Civil
service rules constrict how and where you can move officers who have been
promoted to certain ranks; for instance, captains who don't perform to
satisfaction can't necessarily be demoted. Appointed
commanders, however, aren't bound by such constraints. They also can work
longer, tailor-made hours and aren't bound by contract rules that require
captains to work specific hours. "The
chief was looking to move away from that and get more command in the field
and at night," said Capt. William Smith who represented McManus during
the negotiations and helped push the proposal. McManus
said in a statement that the "24/7 operation" of running a substation,
overseeing dozens of patrol officers and detectives and dealing with the
increasing community relations aspect necessitates a "greater level of
authority" that the commander rank would provide. The
proposed new leadership drew the ire of many rank-and-file officers, who
balked at yet another level of management at a time of chronic shortages in
the numbers of patrol officers and detectives working the streets. To
appease those concerns, police union leaders pushed for a clause that would
keep McManus from appointing any commanders until 200 more officers are out
on the street and the department measures a strength
of 2,194. To
reach that number is difficult, however, because training must keep pace with
the hiring of new officers, Smith said. Also, 113 officers currently have
served 30 years or more, considered the ideal retirement age, he said. "As
you try to fill the bucket, you see the hole," Smith said. Still,
he characterized the situation as a "win-win," one that would give
the city "an incentive to fill those positions, which are badly needed,
and give better and more effective direction in the field." McManus
also will have more latitude in making his appointments — previously, chiefs only
could pick from the rank below the position they wanted to fill, but now he
can choose from two ranks below. Those
constraints were highlighted when McManus made his first major appointment to
replace outgoing Assistant Chief Jerry Pittman and only could pick from his
five deputy chief slots. Other
changes in the contracts mean officers will see a 14 percent pay raise over
the next three years and firefighters a 15 percent raise
over the next four years. A
significant part of the negotiations revolved around health care costs;
specifically, city leaders initially pushed to have firefighters and police
pay monthly health care premiums. Ultimately,
the new contracts do not require them to pay those premiums; however, monthly
payments to their retirement health care fund will increase significantly. Police
and firefighters currently pay about $70 a month to that fund but under the
new increases, could pay up to about $200. They'll also shoulder higher
out-of-pocket expenses, see increased deductibles and be required to seek
only in-network medical care. Newly
appointed Fire Chief Charles Hood said the relief of having the contract
finalized is tremendous. "Now
we can focus on what we need to get done," he said. Unions say Purcell would
break pay raise promise From
the Several
local unions are agitated with Mayor Bill Purcell, crying foul over his
suggestion that Metro not provide step pay increases for more than 3,600
Metro employees this year. Police ecstatic over
contract From the Star-Bulletin, May 25, 2007 Union,
police and county officials hailed the arbitrator-set pay raises for police
officers in "That
will definitely motivate officers," said Tenari
Maafala, Honolulu Police Department officer and
board president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers. Honolulu
Police Chief Boisse Correa agreed. "This
will get us closer to parity with other jurisdictions throughout the
nation," he said. Maafala said police officers in With
annual 6 percent increases for four years, as spelled out in the arbitrator's
award announced yesterday, police officers' pay will be 26 percent higher at
the end of the contract. Officer's
pay on the mainland is also expected to increase. "I
think given where we are today to where we were two or three years ago, it's
a heck of a lot better," said Honolulu Mayor Mufi
Hannemann. Other
provisions in the contract also help. Officers
will continue to get pay raises as they reach the next-higher step in years
of service. Those
with at least 25 years of service will get an additional 4.3 percent raise in
the first year of the contract, thanks to the creation of a new step. Right
now, officers reach their highest salary in a particular pay grade after 22
years of service. Correa
said HPD retains only 3 percent to 4 percent of
officers with at least 25 years of service. In
addition, the starting salary for recruits will increase to a little more than
$42,000 per year from approximately $38,000, Maafala
said. By the end of the contract, starting pay for a recruit will be more
than $52,000. In
January the monthly allowance for officers who use their own cars for work
will go up to $600 for patrol officers and $562 for detectives and those in
special units. The current allowance is $488 and
$530, respectively. Officers
will receive a 20-cent-per-hour boost in their differential pay -- in
recognition that police cannot take certain part-time jobs because of their
standards of conduct -- in the second year of the contract. They also won
reinstatement of their $720 annual uniform and firearm allowance in the third
year. Maafala said the majority of the comments he has
received from officers about the contract have been positive. Officer
Bryson Ponce, SHOPO Kauai Chapter chairman, said "You
hear comments like 'unprecedented,' 'great job,'" Ponce sa By 3-1 vote, From the Sunrise · Despite statewide tax reforms that may put the city in
a financial squeeze, commissioners have approved a three-year employment
contract with the police officers' union calling for raises and benefits
costing an average of $1.5 million more annually. Mayor Steven Feren cast the dissenting
vote, considering new information regarding the state tax proposals. Moore
officials, police union ink new contract From
The Norman Transcript, May 30, 2007
HPD
lures recruits with low cost of living, bonuses From
the Eight
years into his career as a The
cost of living in "The
dollar goes a lot further down here," said McNeil, 38, who was among 500
people to take the Houston Police Department's civil service examination last
month at the While
he is considering both of That
bonus — $3,000 bigger than what is offered in Houston — is cited as a big
reason that the Dallas Police Department employs a record number of officers.
That department has 3,065 officers, and it is on track to add up to 350 more
this year. HPD, by comparison, has 2.1 officers per 1,000
residents, with a goal of 2.8 officers per 1,000 residents. HPD would have to hire 700 more officers to reach that
goal of 5,500. The
two cities' competition to fill their ranks is intense. Unlike
its counterparts around the country, HPD does not
plan to offer signing bonuses to rookie recruits, said Frank Rusinski, head of the department's recruiting efforts. Bonuses
for recruits The
majority of HPD recruits, however, are new to
police work, and departments across the country are offering $5,000 to
$10,000 bonuses to bring in new cadets. Five of seven HPD
academy classes last year were for rookies. HPD's $7,000 signing bonus is only offered to lateral
recruits with previous law enforcement experience, said HPD
Sgt. Nate McDuell. The
lateral cadet classes, however, accounted for about 15 percent of enrolled
cadets last year. Rookie
cadets in "By
upping our salary and offering a bonus, we're trying to make McNeil
makes $80,000 in Brooklyn, but he's willing to take a reasonable pay cut to
live in Also,
since 2004, "That's
significant because recruiters are bringing them in, so you want to process
applications faster," Hill said. Though
its force is not where officials say it should be, HPD did see a net gain in officers last year. In
2006, the But
Most
are from While
HPD is recruiting from across the country, the vast
majority of qualified recruits who enter the police academy — 93 percent —
are from "It's
something I've always wanted to do," said Houstonian Syed
Izhar, 32, who took the entrance exam last month. Izhar is studying criminal justice at Both
departments waive the college requirement for applicants with military
service. The
most recent HPD exam attracted recruits from "I
just wish they could pay him his "We've
got friends in |
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