LA City Council to consider 3-year contract with police union Friday

LOS ANGELES - The City Council on Friday will consider a proposed three-year labor contract with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents the police department's rank-and-file officers.

The union's existing contract expires today.

The new pact includes no salary increases for the next year, but calls for a 1 percent bump on July 1, 2012, a 2 percent jump on Jan. 1, 2013, followed by 1 percent increases on July 1 and Nov. 1, 2013, and a 2 percent increase on March 1, 2014.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said earlier this week that concessions by police officers under the contract would fully pay for the cost of living salary increases. He noted that the city stands to save millions of dollars, primarily through reductions in pension and post-retirement benefit costs.

In his report to the council, Santana said the agreement will save the city $116 million in the 2011-12 fiscal year, $102 million in 2012-13 and $98 million in 2013-14.

"As in any contract negotiation, neither side got everything that it wanted," said Paul Weber, president of the LAPPL, which represents more than 9,900 officers. "However, we believe this contract is fair, but it reflects the current budget issues faced by the city."

The city had been seeking at least $41 million in concessions from the union, including requiring police officers to contribute part of their salaries toward their retirement health care. According to Santana, the agreement gives

officers a choice of whether to contribute 2 percent of their salaries toward retiree health.

Union members who agree to the contribution will be vested in the existing benefits, along with any future increases in benefits. Members who decline will have their retirement healthcare subsidy frozen at the current level, according to Santana's report to the council.

The contract also includes new higher limits on the number of overtime hours officers can accrue before they are forced to take time off.

Under existing rules, the department has been instituting a 250-hour maximum. That would technically rise to 800 hours under the new contract, but management retains the right to mandate time off after 600 hours.

If officers had rejected the contract, the maximum was set to drop to 96 hours. Chief Charlie Beck had said that would require substantial deployment changes that could include moving officers from specialized units -- like gang and narcotics, vice, and SWAT -- and reassigning them to patrol assignments starting in mid-July.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18384548?source=rss

Amanda Detmer Elena Lyons Melissa Rycroft Jennifer Morrison