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Chandler Police–Union Pacts OK'd Minus Merit Pay
| 06/20/2012 |
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CHANDLER, AZ –– Both Chandler police unions withdrew their declarations of impasse this week, essentially acquiescing to a suspension in merit pay as they head into the final year of their agreements with the city.
The Chandler City Council voted unanimously Thursday to move forward with a recommendation from city staff to approve police contracts without merit pay for fiscal 2012–13.
The Chandler Lieutenant and Sergeant Association and the Chandler Law Enforcement Association had been unable to reach agreement with the city over ongoing merit raises through fiscal 2012–13. The unions asked for a 5 percent increase. The city recommended merit raises be suspended in a tight budget.
Also Thursday, the council approved a two–year labor agreement with the International Association of Firefighters for a 2.7 percent across–the–board wage and salary range adjustment in 2012–13 for Chandler firefighters, fire engineers and fire captains.
Both police unions had declared that negotiations were at an impasse in early May. However, CLASA sent a letter to the city Wednesday to withdraw its decision, and CLEA did the same late Thursday afternoon, a few hours before the council's 7 p.m. meeting.
"We still feel that our officers do deserve a merit raise, because we do have hard working and dedicated officers," CLEA President Robert Dykstra said. "But at this point in time, our association felt it would be better if we showed a good–faith effort with the city and the citizens by declining to pursue the issue and removing the impasse."
Keith Benjamin, a spokesman for CLASA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A strike would have been prohibited under the unions' agreements with the city. However, Dykstra had said he feared that some Chandler officers would leave.
Both groups are entering the final year of their two–year contracts, which expire June 30, 2013. Last year, the city built "fiscal–crisis language" into the contracts, because Chandler at the time was negotiating with the unions while anticipating about $2 million in budget cuts from the state. CLASA and CLEA agreed to the language only if they could revisit merit a year later.
This spring, both groups resumed negotiations with Chandler, which offered to accept one–time funds that the unions had received from the city in fiscal 2011–12 to pay for 2.5 percent merit raises in fiscal 2012–13, rather than a 5 percent increase. Officers also would have had to buy back their merit pay in a 3–1 ratio. Both unions declined, and negotiations had been at an impasse. Both will resume negotiations with Chandler next spring.
Under a voter–approved 2004 "meet and confer" charter amendment, Chandler labor unions may go directly to the City Council with demands if they can't agree with negotiators. Strikes are prohibited, and the council has final say.
Wang, Amy. "Chandler Police–Union Pacts OK'd Minus Merit Pay". The Tucson Citizen. June 18, 2012. http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona–news/2012/06/18/chandler–police–union–pacts–okd–minus–merit–pay/ |
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