TUSTIN : Tustin Police Declare Negotiation Impasse

The Tustin Police Officers Assn. and city officials have scheduled a meeting with a state mediator for today to try to reach a contract agreement.

The association has declared an impasse in contract negotiations with the city.

The Police Department, which has 47 officers, has been working without a contract since Dec. 31, when the last agreement expired.

Although both sides have agreed to an 8.2% salary increase for the first year of a three-year contract, there is disagreement about a police request for a modified work plan that would allow officers to work four 10-hour days instead of five eight-hour days.

The modified work plan would provide “more time with your family, more time away from the stress of your job,” said Officer Pat Welch, chairman of the police negotiating team.

City Manager William A. Huston said that the city is willing to have an outside consultant study the cost of the new plan but that there is no guarantee the plan will be approved.

“It just wouldn’t be responsible for the city to go into this blindly,” Huston said.

The Tustin Municipal Employees Assn. also proposed alternative work schedules in its contract negotiations, and the city will study the idea, Huston said.

Welch said the officers want a guarantee that the city will either do a six-month test program or reopen the contract to negotiate additional compensation if there is no test program.

Last year, the two sides were unable to agree on a contract even after a state mediator was called in and the City Council implemented a 3.5% increase unilaterally.