With the beginning of the year, a number of police associations are enjoying brighter futures with new contracts being put in place. Below are 3 negotiations I have recently concluded. As you will see, in these 3 cities, we used vastly different approaches at coming to a beneficial resolution.

Sierra Madre POA 3 year MOU - 32% Salary Increase

Of the 3 negotiations mentioned in this article, Sierra Madre was by far the most contentious. 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.

Santa Maria POA 1 year MOU – 5.75% Salary Increase

In contrast to Sierra Madre’s struggle described above, Santa Maria POA was able to broker a deal in 2 negotiation meetings within 2 weeks. This was a sharp contrast to the prior year’s MOU that took several months to negotiate and led to only a 3% salary increase. The POA led by its President, Rob Morris, when bringing me in for this year’s negotiations wanted to take a different tact with the City. Accordingly, we took a stern but more cordial approach at the negotiations table. The negotiating team did well in providing supporting data to justify the salary increase compared to other agencies in the area. Although the POA initially wanted to have a longer term agreement, it ultimately agreed to a one year deal, given it meant that we would be back at the negotiating table in 9 months negotiating for the next contract.

La Verne POA 3 year MOU – 15% Salary Increase Plus Specialty Pay

LaVerne POA, led by its President, Justin Newman, was able to secure a 3 year contract for its members, keeping them competitive in the law enforcement market going into the next decade. Here too, research and data was essential to obtaining a successful resolution to negotiations. The strong argument continues to prevail that in order to remain competitive, cities must provide competitive pay and benefits to its police officers. This message started with past POA President, Cory Leeper, who also assisted the negotiating team in reaching an agreement.

The end result reached at the bargaining table resulted in a 3 year agreement that calls for the City to do a salary survey each January and provide the median pay as determined by the survey. This calls for a 6% increase effective January of 2008 and approximately 4.5% each year thereafter. Additionally, the contract calls for the City to maintain and pay for the full medical premium for family coverage under the Blue Cross HMO plan. Accordingly, the health insurance coverage will increase annually to insure the officer is not paying out of pocket for medical expenses. The POA had been pushing for quite some time to implement Special Assignment Pay which was one benefit that it did not enjoy as most of its counterparts in the local area had. The City finally agreed to provide a flat amount of $175.00 for personnel assigned to the Detective Bureau and Traffic. Of course, the POA was pushing for a percentage amount, however, the flat amount did equate to a 3% increase for the affected personnel.

While the State’s economy is taking a downturn, which is being mentioned at almost every negotiation’s table I am at, cities are still faced with the reality of having to be competitive in the law enforcement market to retain and attract quality officers for their community. This driving force will likely continue to move the market upwards despite any downturns in the economy. I look forward to reporting on further contracts I am currently negotiating.

About the author: Dieter C. Dammeier is a partner at Lackie & Dammeier and the firm’s chief contract negotiator representing police associations throughout California.