Recently Negotiated MOU's
Upland POA went into negotiations facing an uphill battle. The City was using the League of Cities playbook and maintaining its position that "given the economy" it would not be prudent to provide increases "at this time." A review of the City's finances showed that although they did not want to give their police officers an increase "given the economy," the City had no problem spending money on building new City buildings, including over ten million on a new animal shelter that the City's own study said was not needed.
Led by the outgoing POA President, Marcello Blanco and the incoming President, Jim Potts, the POA decided it was time to take the fight to the public. Given the economy, we of course did not complain to the public about compensation but instead pointed out all the realities that were occurring as a result of the low compensation package. We put an information campaign together to let the public know that many officers had left Upland to go work at other higher paying agencies and as a result, public safety programs were being cut. Gang enforcement, bike patrol, DARE and several other areas the public cares about were all cut as a result of the staffing shortage.
The Upland City Manager was interested in properly compensating the City's police officers but did want to put it off as long as possible when the economy would be in better shape. With the public campaign, the politically astute City Manager decided that it should be done sooner than later and came to the table to make a deal happen. The end result was a three year contract. In year one of the contract, several important no cost items were put into the MOU, including binding arbitration for discipline cases (a great thing if you can get it), purging of personnel files of disciplinary records older than five years, a "960 plan" that allows retirees to come back and work up to 960 hours in a fiscal year and increasing the compensatory time off bank from 80 to 240 hours. In the second year of the contract, a raise of 5.4% is provided and a $30 increase in the monthly allotment for medical insurance is added. In the middle of the third year another 5.4% raise comes with another $30 increase in medical. Finally, at the end of the third year, another $30 increase in medical is provided and a salary survey of the higher paid surrounding agencies will be performed, taking Upland to the average (estimated to be another 3% to 5%). In these "economic times" a pretty solid deal was achieved by Upland POA.
In Maywood, the City finally brought in some high caliber leadership that recognized that if you want to truly have a high quality police department you have to pay for it. Unfortunately for Maywood, they were not lying when they said they could not afford it. Many POA's would give up at this point, but Maywood POA, led by its President, Emil Florez, saw an opportunity and seized it. The police officers were due a long awaited raise of 4% in the second to last year of their contract. The City was asking the POA to give up that raise (they too read the League of Cities playbook) given the "economic times."
City management was convinced that if it was going to make Maywood PD a high caliber agency it had to significantly increase compensation as it was one of the lowest paid in the area. It simply was not in a financial position to do it this year. A deal was hashed out whereby the POA did give up the 4% raise for this year, agreeing that would get a previously agreed raise of 5% next year and added to the contract that in July 2011, Maywood officers' pay would be brought to the average of the surrounding cities. This is expected to be between a 15% and 23% increase in July of 2011. The City saw the economy coming back and was open to giving the officers fair compensation when it could afford it in exchange for the POA helping out the City now. They should add this to the League of Cities playbook as it may help out those cities that are truly hurting for funds right now. Maywood POA turned a bad situation into a golden opportunity.
Bell POA also fought the "economic times" argument at Bell but was still successful in obtaining a huge benefit for its members. Bell POA, led by its President, Jaime Baltazar and POA Board Member, Mark Logan, convinced the City Manager to provide a benefit that most cities are trying to negotiate away, lifetime medical. Since the City did not want to spend money now, given the "economic times," the POA showed that by providing lifetime medical coverage, the City would only have to start paying very little now with a gradual increase over the years that it could plan for. The City agreed. The POA members now have lifetime medical coverage for the employee plus a dependent after 20 years of service in Bell. In addition, it was shown that the City could save money by allowing employees who could obtain medical coverage with a spouse to opt out of the City's coverage. To incentivize such action, an "opt out" benefit was created that provides an employee one-half of the employees medical allotment if he/she waives the City's medical insurance. Given this was only a one-year contract, allowing the POA to return soon for other compensation items, the membership agreed to the good one year package.
Placentia POA took a look at the City's finances prior to commencing negotiations and had the unfortunate realization of the City's bleak financial condition. Despite the City's finances, the Police Association leadership was able to convince the City that it needed to place more priority in retention of its police officers who had recently been a leaving to other agencies. The end result was a three-year contract. The biggest movement came in medical insurance. The POA was successful in having the City move from its traditional private sector model of health insurance to CalPERS for medical. Along with the switch came an increase of over $300.00 per month making the maximum City contribution $1,151.00. The contract provides a salary increase in year one of between 2.5% and 4% depending on the Consumer Price Index for Los Angeles and Orange County. In the second year of the contract an additional increase of between 2.5% and 4% will occur, again depending on CPI.
A team approach was developed to determine the compensation increase for year three. The City will survey the community to determine the viability of a tax revenue increase to fund public safety. If a positive response comes out, the City will place such a measure on the ballot for the voters and of course the Police Officers Association will support the measure. In the event of new revenue being approved by the voters, the officers would receive in the third year of the contract an increase of between 3% and 8% depending on their compensation position in Orange County compared to the other police agencies at this time. Additionally, reopeners in the medical insurance are provided for each year with the City picking up at a minimum one half of any increases in the CalPERS insurance rates.
Garden Grove POA led by its President Jeff Hutchins was very successful, given the current economic climate, in obtaining low and no cost items in a two-year contract. The resulting contract called for a 0% raise in year one with a 2% salary increase in year two of the contract. Medical coverage is to increase a minimum of 5% in year two with a reopener to discuss further increases. The GGPOA was able to increase the cash out of sick time to 75% upon retirement (was at 50%). An additional 10 hour holiday was added along with the ability to sell back vacation hours to the City on an annual basis. Finally two hours per month was added to the sick leave accrual per employee.
As expected in Cypress, with current City Manager John Bahorski the POA knew it would have its hands full in negotiations. Bahorski had come to Cypress from Seal Beach and the Seal Beach police officers had warned Cypress officers that he was unsupportive of public safety. Fortunately for Cypress, the POA had become politically active and was able to cause movement through communications with the City Council directly. As a result, the Association and City ended up with a four-year contract. Year one calls for a lump sum payment of $2,550.00 and an increase in medical of $40.00 per month. Year two calls for an additional lump sum cash payment of $2,500.00 with a 2% raise in salary and a $30.00 increase in medical per month. Year three calls for a 3% increase in salary with a $25.00 per month increase in medical and year four calls for an additional 3% increase in salary with an additional $25.00 in medical.
The contentious item that surrounded Cypress POA's negotiations was the City wishing to maintain the employees' contribution toward the cost of the PERS pension. The police officers have been contributing 6.132% of the PERS contribution since implementing 3 at 50 in 2001. Given that most agencies have eliminated the employee having to pay any portion of the contribution, Cypress POA was hoping to eliminate this as well. Unfortunately, given the current atmosphere in the public toward pensions in the public sector, the POA decided to hold off on the PERS issue for another day.
Culver City officers enjoy one of the highest compensation packages in Southern California based on a salary initiative ordinance that requires their salary to be increased automatically upon salary adjustments for the Los Angeles Police Department or the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. After tense negotiations and disputes over the City's economic position, an MOU through June of 2009 was agreed upon. The MOU calls for salary increases of 13%, a 1% increase in POST Certificate pay to 9.5% for an Intermediate Certificate, 12.5% for an Advanced Certificate, and 15.5% for a Supervisory Certificate (not previously paid). Of significant note was the record high signing bonus obtained for all unit members in the amount of $5,000 upon ratification of the MOU. Negotiations became heated over the City's demand that current retirees begin paying 5% of their medical insurance premiums. To make it even more difficult for the POA, the Firefighters Association agreed to this proposal leaving the POA alone to fight the battle. Fortunately, the POA, led by its President, Jim Raetz, maintained its ground to protect its retirees from any cuts in their retiree medical coverage.
SMPOA is a small POA (20 members) and was among the lowest paid police officers in Los Angeles County. Sierra Madre, like many cities, was not prioritizing public safety and was diverting funds toward other non-essential city services. A city with the population of 12,000 people, under prior City leadership, had committed to providing services usually reserved for much larger cities such as a community swimming pool, youth activity center, senior center, and city library on top of having its own fire and police departments. By providing all of these services, the City was left with little additional funds to properly pay its police officers a fair wage based on the current market.
As with most negotiations, this one started with an effort by the parties to work together to come up with something that both sides could live with. This effort was started with then POA President, Ruben Enriquez, and Vice President, John Ford. The frustration level at the City's reluctance to provide any significant movement caused the Membership to take a more aggressive posture with the City. After impasse was declared, the City refused to comply with Binding Interest Arbitration (SB 440), maintaining that it was unconstitutional. Litigation was commenced to require the City to participate in the binding arbitration process. This litigation as well as reaching out to the community by the POA resulted in a number of city council meetings in which the public strongly voiced their concern for the City's failure to prioritize its police officers.
Given the City's continued reluctance even in the face of public outcry, further extreme measures were required. The most significant tact taken was to develop a ballot initiative to submit to the voters of the City that would require the City to pay its police officers a fair wage and provide fair benefits. The initiative was drafted and circulated by the POA for the requisite number of signatures (15% of registered voters). The ballot initiative qualified and was certified for the April 8, 2008 citywide election.
With the continued public outcry and the City's realization of the fast approaching ballot initiative election, it finally began to seriously consider the POA's position. While the POA felt confident in being successful in the ballot initiative, the polling it had done indicated a growing opposition to the initiative based on a contingent of the community claiming the library would have to be shut down to pay for the cost of the salary and benefit increases that would be required with passage of the initiative. The parties, after several long sessions of negotiations that included the City Manager and the Mayor, finally reached resolution that both sides could live with.
The resulting contract calls for a 32% pay increase over three years spread out to be 15% in year one, 9% in year two, and 8% in year three. Additionally, the City agreed to maintain its police officers' medical contributions at the same level it provides the other city employees during the term of the agreement. Part of the agreement included the POA abandoning its ballot initiative and support an initiative placed on the ballot by the City Council to increase the utility user's tax in order to fund the salary and benefit increases called for in the agreement.
Although Sierra Madre is a small police association, it was able to successfully go through this battle with the help of its many friends. The current POA President, John Ellins, who picked up the torch from the prior POA leadership to continue this fight, was very active in the local PORAC chapter. Without hesitation, other local POAs as well as PORAC, itself, stepped to the plate to help Sierra Madre in its time of need both with moral support such as showing up at city council meetings as well as providing financial assistance to help in the costly litigation and ballot initiative process. This victory truly is an example of PORAC and fellow POA's sticking together to help the little guy in their time of need.
Fontana POA came into this year's negotiations with one critical benefit that needed correcting: retiree medical. In 1990 the POA, during hard economic times for the City, agreed to eliminate full retiree medical coverage for officers hired after 1990. Now, in 2008, all but 8 members of the POA were post 1990 and did not have any retiree medical coverage in place. POA president Kurt Shclotterbeck's directive from the membership was clear to resolve this issue. He did that and then some.
As in the past, negotiations in Fontana did get a little heated. But, as in the past, the parties were able to reach a fair deal that demonstrated the City's desire to prioritize public safety. The City agreed to provide salary increases every 6 months of the contract and maintain salaries 2% above the average of their survey cities. It is estimated that this will result in at least 18% over the three years of the contract. On retiree medical, Fontana like most cities had been tainted on defined benefit plans and wished to provide a fixed dollar amount to the POA to provide retiree medical benefits. It was agreed that the City shall provide $250 per member, per month into a Health Savings Plan or Retiree Medical Trust, as determined by the POA to cover retiree medical costs. Pre-1990 officers already have full coverage and no post 1990 officers are ready to retire and start pulling benefits from this new fund for approximately four to five years. As such, the fund will have in excess of two million dollars before benefits will start being paid out.
In addition, longevity was increased by $500 at each level, starting at $2,000 per year at 10 years and topping out at $3,500 per year at 25 years. The City agreed to absorb all increases to medical insurance premiums for full family coverage during the life of the agreement. Minimum court pay was increased from 3 to 5 hours for officers who work graveyard and have to appear in court the same morning. On call pay was increased from 8 to 10 hours per week of on call for detectives. Finally, leave accrual was increased for those with over 20 years of service to 312 hours per year.
The La Palma POA, led by its president, Les Parsons, pushed the City from a 1% salary offer to a 16.4% salary increase over three years plus other benefit enhancements. La Palma POA went into negotiations this year gearing up for an expected battle, given the City's recent posturing on its economics and the fact that La Palma had fallen to the bottom of their traditionally used survey. Each time, when negotiations seemed stalled, the POA would gear up to take its message to the public and the City would show more movement until finally a deal was reached both sides could live with.
The deal calls for a 7.4% raise in year one, a 4% raise in year two and a 5% raise in the third and final year of the contract. The City also agreed to continue to absorb the cost of the increases in health insurance. Sick leave sell back was increased from 20 to 50 hours per year. Holiday hours were increased to cover the full day (10 or 12 hours, depending on assignment). Finally, it was agreed to provide 15 minutes per shift of overtime for briefing and preparation.
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