Officers in Hawthorne End Protest
Hawthorne police officers who called in sick with headaches in a labor protest returned to their jobs Wednesday, city officials said.
After Tuesday’s protest, members of the Hawthorne Police Officers Assn. and city officials met twice to discuss the officers’ contract proposal and have scheduled additional meetings for next week.
The officers, whose last contract expired nearly a year ago, had asked for a 4% raise. The city, however, had made no counteroffer, saying that there is no money in the budget for raises.
As a result of their talks this week, however, officials on both sides are optimistic that a settlement will soon be reached.
Police managers, supervisors and civilian officers filled in for a total of 33 officers who called in sick, said Capt. Richard Prentice. Despite the unusually high number of absences, police commanders continue to deny that the men had staged a sickout, noting that police are prohibited from striking by state law.
“It’s kind of an unfortunate event,” Prentice said Thursday. “It happened and now it’s finished and we hope it doesn’t happen again.”
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