Police Officers Get 10% Raise in Pasadena : Labor: The new contract boosts the compensation from 13th to fifth among 14 comparable cities.

Police officers are working under a new contract with pay and benefit increases that boost their compensation to fifth-highest among 14 comparable cities.

Previously, the city ranked 13th among cities surveyed by the Pasadena Police Officers Assn. and the city, association President Dennis Diaz said.

Diaz said the Board of Directors, which on Tuesday unanimously approved the new contract, played a crucial role in breaking a three-month impasse in negotiations.

The contract provides a 10% pay increase and 4.7% increase in health benefits.

The 16-month agreement runs retroactively from July 2 through October, 1991. Police officers had overwhelmingly approved the labor agreement last week.

“It’s a big improvement, a generous pay and benefit package,” Diaz said. “I think the board had looked at it, saw that we were low and decided to get us back up to being competitive, and that’s what they did.”

The 170 police officers were not the only city employees to benefit Tuesday. About 255 non-union employees in clerical, technical and administrative posts received a 5% pay increase under a salary resolution amendment also unanimously approved Tuesday by the board.

For non-union employees, a provision was added for the continuation of health and dental coverage during unpaid maternity leave. Clerical employees who have worked for the city five years or less also will receive two additional days of sick time each year.

Meanwhile, the board also approved a new labor contract with the city’s 300 clerical workers, represented by the Pasadena Assn. of Clerical and Technical Employees union.

The 30-month contract for the city’s unionized clerical workers contains wage increases ranging from 5% to 15.7% depending on job classification, plus additional health insurance benefits, said PACTE President Linda Cox.

The contract expired July 1, and a settlement was reached the next day. Cox attributed the speedy resolution to the impasse with the police union and a desire by city negotiators to avoid creating the impression that under newly hired City Manager Philip Hawkey the city would have a fractious relationship with its labor unions.

“This is the first time in the history of our union that we’ve settled on time,” Cox said.

The new benefits awarded to police will cost the city almost $1.3 million annually, while benefits given to the non-unionized employees will come to $1.2 million annually.

The negotiations over the police labor contract had been the rockiest in recent years, Diaz said. Negotiations began in January but reached an impasse in April, when the contract expired. A state negotiator was called in but was unable to make progress.

Finally, the officers picketed outside City Hall for more than four hours during a June 14 board meeting and sent letters pleading their cause to more than 125 neighborhood groups.

The action prompted the City Directors to provide new directions to the city’s negotiators during a closed session that day. Improvements in the city’s offer were made shortly thereafter, Diaz said.

City Director Rick Cole agreed that the board played a role in moving city negotiators forward. He added, “We were never very far apart, yet it took a long time to get a contract.”

The board has always been committed to keeping its police officers at the top of the pay scale for law enforcement agencies and was willing to approve substantial increases, Cole said. It was negotiations over more than 40 other issues that took time, he said.

Officers at the top of Pasadena’s pay scale will now receive $4,054 monthly in pay and health benefits, Diaz said. A $75-a-month bonus for bilingual officers was also approved.

The age of eligibility for retirement was lowered from 55 to 50, and, as received by the non-union clerical employees, police officers who have been with the city for five years or less received two extra sick days, Diaz said.

Changes were also made in the city’s anti-drug and alcohol abuse policy. The police association succeeded in adding criteria to determine when an employee should be tested for drug abuse and in prohibiting supervisors from arbitrarily searching desks and lockers for drugs. Under the new language, supervisors can conduct the searches only when they suspect employee drug use, Diaz said.