NYC cops win 11.5 percent raise over two years

[TRUEBLUE]

NYC cops win 11.5 percent raise over two years



THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A long-awaited ruling from a state arbitration panel has given police officers raises of 11.5 percent over two years, a decision celebrated by the police union but derided by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as

[klar]

wow teachers get a 22% raise and the police only 11.5%. I am glad to see them get a raise but I think it should have been a lot more. I am happy for what they got though. It is better than nothing.

Klar

[ateamer]

The mayor wants increased productivity from the police? Sounds suspiciously like quotas.

[The Blue Line]

Gotta love the politics. Here is another view from PolicePay.net that provides a different perspective on the Mayor's "missed opportunity":

Reactions to New York Arbitration Award

As you probably know by now, the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association received its arbitration award on Wednesday evening. The award granted a 5% pay raise for the year 2000 and another 5% for 2001. An additional 1.5% will be added to direct compensation in the form of longevity or holiday pay effective the last day of the contract. This extends their current contract to July 31, 2002; therefore, they will have to start negotiations again very soon. The PBA’s attorney has yet to receive a copy of the award, but he verified that it has been signed. As soon as we receive it, we will post it to our site.

What is even more interesting than the award is the response from both the PBA and Mayor Bloomberg. An article in the New York Times quotes the Mayor as saying that he was disappointed with the award because it granted the officers less than what the city favored and that it did not require more productivity from the police department. The department lost 28 of their members on September 11th. They have worked hard and long hours to bring the crime rate to a historic low. Our question to the Mayor is “How much more productivity do you want?” New York City has one of the most overworked and underpaid departments in the US, even with the new pay raise. He also makes an attempt to show sympathy for the PBA by stating his disappointment that they were awarded less than what the city had offered. According to Patrick Lynch, president of the PBA, Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg refused to negotiate and the cities last offer was a 5% increase over a two year period.

A draft decision, that was eventually rewritten after a great deal of criticism from the PBA, would have given the officers a 14% increase over 2 years, but required them to work 10 extra shift per year. Many officers currently have a second job in order to make ends meet. Although the agreement would have allowed 20 minutes off each shift, the 10 extra shifts would have taken time away from their families and 10 days a year from their second jobs. This can hardly be seen as a reasonable offer. Due to the large number of employees who have retired or left the department to go to higher paying departments in the surrounding area, most officers are also working overtime to make up for the lack of personnel.

Patrick Lynch states that he felt this was a definite victory for the officers. Historically in New York’s pattern bargaining, raises are granted with the counter effect of more productivity. The PBA was granted an award that broke from this pattern. We can only hope that they will be as successful in their new negotiations. They certainly have our support!

http://www.policepayjournal.net/

[Sparky]

Good for NYPD! It's about d*mn time!

Those guys have deserved a serious raise for a very long time!