Won't Cut Starting Pay
NYPD Captains Like Lieut. Pact Terms

By REUVEN BLAU

Contract talks have begun to progress between the Bloomberg Administration and the Captains' Endowment Association, the last NYPD supervisory union to negotiate a new deal this round of bargaining.

JOHN F. DRISCOLL: Extend shifts, cut days.

CEA President John F. Driscoll said that he is seeking an agreement whose terms are similar to those the Lieutenants' Benevolent Association accepted July 6. That proposed contract, in contrast to three other police union pacts this round, did not reduce the starting salary for new members.

'Won't Stretch the Unborn'

The tentative LBA agreement, which still must be ratified, provides 17 percent in raises over 50 months and 16 days, part of which will be financed by requiring newly promoted Lieutenants to work 13 additional tours and extending shifts for incumbent supervisors.

Mr. Driscoll said that he will also try to protect the salary structure for newly promoted Captains. "I'm opposed to stretching out the unborn," he remarked.

The CEA and city negotiators are currently haggling over the values of various concessions the union has offered in order to match the 4.24 percent in savings the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association generated under the attrition-based award issued by an arbitration panel last summer.

RAYMOND W. KELLY: In comp time dispute.

In an attempt to generate some of those savings, Mr. Driscoll has already said that he plans to use a recently filed grievance against the NYPD concerning overtime compensation as leverage in his negotiation. "It just gives you another way of creating value inside a contract which is not as onerous on the unborn," he said.

Attrition Disadvantage

A significant portion of the 10.25 percent in wage hikes over two years under the PBA award was offset by the reduction in the pay scale for future hires.

But the pay scale for Captains has suffered since a prior CEA leader, Bill Kelly, was forced to make similar concessions beyond those accepted by the PBA to match that union's wage gains under a 1988 contract. After the contract problem contributed heavily to Mr. Kelly's defeat at Mr. Driscoll's hands, the union's focus had been on upgrading the pay scale for new Captains - the group that bore the brunt of the concessions more than 15 years ago.

The CEA represents 750 Captains; its contract expired Oct. 31, 2003.

Mr. Driscoll is also seeking to create a pilot voluntary 12-hour tour for Captains, a unique feature that was included in the LBA's contract. "That would really be a decision made by the Police Commissioner," Mr. Driscoll said, noting that he had yet to broach the idea with Raymond W. Kelly. Extending tours would enable Captains to make fewer appearances each year.

Fewer Seek Captaincy

Other factors may also play a role in the ongoing contract talks. The NYPD has recently been struggling to attract Lieutenants to take the Captain promotion test. According to Mr. Driscoll, when he was promoted in 1992, 98 percent of the eligible Lieutenants applied for the promotion test. But less than 50 percent of the Lieutenants with enough service time to be eligible took the most recent exam for Captain, he said.

The drop-off has coincided with a series of police union contracts that have struggled to keep pace with inflation and left officers falling further behind what their counterparts in suburban police departments are paid. The added pressure placed on Captains over the past decade by the NYPD's COMPSTAT system, which judges Captains' performance based on computerized statistical models, has also made some Lieutenants reluctant to move up, Mr. Driscoll said.

In May 2005, the Board of Collective Bargaining ruled that the city violated the CEA's collective-bargaining agreement by failing to negotiate with the union before placing a 1,556-hour cap on the amount of compensatory time Captains can accumulate. The issue, the BCB concluded, is a mandatory subject of collective bargaining.

Since that ruling, Mr. Driscoll charged, the NYPD has begun auditing and subtracting comp time from his members that the department had previously signed off on as a means of retaliation. In response, the CEA brought another unfair labor practice charge against the NYPD.

The NYPD has contended that it removed the cap on comp time in December 2001 as part of the aftermath of the exhaustive Sept. 11, 2001 search and rescue efforts. As a result of that activity, many officers in ranks from Captain to Deputy Chief accrued more than a year of comp time.

Creates Roadblocks

That situation has resulted in some individuals leaving the department and spending over a year on payroll as they exhaust their comp time, while continuing to hold civil service positions that cannot be filled, according to the NYPD. It also reduces the number of experienced supervisors and impinges on the department's ability to determine its staffing and scheduling needs, the department argued. To solve that problem, in April 2004 the NYPD moved to reinstate the cap. In addition, the city attempted to force Captains and other supervisors to use their comp time within 30 days.

The BCB ruled, however, that the department must negotiate with the union before implementing such a modification. "We find that the department must bargain with the CEA over any imposition of or changes in the limitation on the accrual and use of compensatory time and related procedures," the 4-2 decision stated.

The BCB ruling suggested that the city address the matter during the contract talks with the union. "To the extent the city alleges that the use of compensatory time earned for performing overtime work impinges on its staffing decisions, it may seek to address these concerns through negotiations," the panel majority stated.