PBA Wage Contract Ballots Due Back by Sept. 25; Four 4% Raises, Longevity Gain

Ballots for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's tentative contract are due back to the union by Sept. 25.

PATRICK J. LYNCH: Touts gains to members.

The Aug. 21 accord, which if ratified by members would provide 4-percent raises for each of the four years of the contract, broke a string of three consecutive contracts decided in arbitration. The settlement, which would run from Aug. 1, 2006 to July 30, 2010, would raise starting Police Officer salary from $35,881 to $41,975 by next Aug. 1, when the last of four 4-percent raises would take effect. It would also boost maximum pay to $76,488 on that date.

Recouped Some Past Givebacks

Notably absent from the contract were givebacks to the city, as PBA President Patrick J. Lynch instead sought to restore benefits that were lost as part of two previous arbitrations. Three vacation days were restored for new hires by their third year on the job. An arbitration decision to force all cops to use a vacation day to re-qualify at the gun range would be nullified under the deal, with cops again performing that task during a regular workday.

Mr. Lynch said that if the deal is approved, Police Officers' basic maximum salary would by next year have increased by more than 55 percent on a compounded basis since the start of the Bloomberg Administration. With longevity, holiday pay, night-shift differential and uniform allowance, total average compensation for cops at top pay would reach approximately $94,000.

For the first time longevity differentials, which now amount to between 5 and 10 percent of base salary, would automatically increase in tandem with wage raises. No other city uniformed union currently has this longevity escalator, Mr. Lynch said.

The contract also calls for $1,543 longevity hikes. In 2010, Police Officers with 20 years on the job would receive a total longevity differential of $8,891 if the pact was approved.

Welfare Fund Gains

The PBA said another aspect of this contract that set it apart from other uniformed unions is that health and welfare funding would rise based on future general wage increases.

This benefit corresponds with a fresh cash flow into the PBA health and welfare fund. For the first time since 2000, PBA members would receive a $500 per-head boost in city contributions to the fund. Increases to the Retiree Health and Welfare Fund will top $15 million.

Police Officers stand to cash sizable retroactive checks as well, because the first 4-percent raise would be retroactive to Aug. 1, 2006, with the second effective the following August. A cop at maximum salary would be entitled to nearly $9,000 in back pay by the end of this month.

If the contract were ratified, a pilot program would be started to eliminate home confinement regulations while a Police Officer is out sick, except for the hours of his or her regularly scheduled tour. This program would be open to all union members who are out sick, except those who are chronic absentees, on suspension, on modified assignment or on dismissal probation. This measure would allow officers to leave their residence at will for any purpose outside of their regularly scheduled tours.

Could Become Permanent

The program would be assessed monthly and after 15 months. If average sick leave had not increased by more than 10 percent, the program would continue until the end of the contract in 2010. It would need to be renegotiated for the next contract.

Police Officers would also be allowed to exchange tours with other officers, as is already permitted in the Fire Department. Starting Feb. 22, 2010, all Police Officers on the Detective track would work the schedule and chart of regular Detectives. "The PBA sought this change and took advantage of the opportunity to realize extra monies that can be used for the Police Officers who stay in our unit by agreeing that Police Officers who voluntarily choose to leave our unit will be treated as Detectives on day one, for better or for worse," Mr. Lynch wrote in the PBA newsletter.

The PBA as part of the deal agreed to settle six lawsuits with the city for more than $4.8 million, but did not settle the Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit.

"It is my belief that your solidarity and steadfast support for this union put us in this place," the PBA leader said in his message to the rank and file. "You withstood being without contracts for years, you fended off a barrage of city delay tactics to test your resolve, you rejected a truly unprecedented media onslaught to discredit this union and its membership, and you stood tall in demanding all that is rightfully yours. There is no precedent in the history of the city labor movement for this type of resolve."