LAPD Official Calls Sickout Ploy Illegal : Labor: Commander says officers who participate in ‘blue flu’ will be disciplined. Union calls for the job action on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A concerted police sickout is illegal, a Los Angeles Police Department official said Sunday, and the LAPD will discipline any officer who calls in sick this week as part of an anticipated “blue flu” union action.

“It is important to recognize that the suggested ‘blue flu’ is illegal” under LAPD regulations, Cmdr. David Gascon said at a news conference about the expected job action Tuesday and Wednesday. “It is the policy of the department to discipline any employee who engages in any such job action.”

Gascon declined to specify what type of punishment an officer would face for participating in the sickout, except to say that the department’s disciplinary penalties include being fired.

Gascon’s announcement raises the ante in the battle of wills between the department’s 7,500 rank-and-file officers, who are trying to pressure city officials to meet their demand for a raise, and department commanders who must operate a department wracked by morale problems.

If the “blue flu” action is as extensive as Police Protective League officials anticipate, it would be the first time in decades that Los Angeles police officers have failed to report to work as a contract negotiating tactic.

Police union members have been working without a contract since June, 1992, and without a cost-of-living increase since July, 1991.

The job action was called Thursday night at an emergency meeting of delegates of the officers union. It represents the most aggressive stance that the league has taken in its efforts to win a raise.

A recorded message on a league telephone machine instructs officers not to report to work Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on each officer’s work shift. Under the union’s strategy, officers will call in sick on alternating shifts so that the department will be forced to hold over one shift to cover absences on the succeeding shift.

The recording advises officers who are truly ill to get a note from a doctor.

The Police Department has drafted “an extensive single purpose plan” to deal with the anticipated job action, but Gascon said he would not elaborate on it.

Sgt. Dennis Zine, who joins the league’s board of directors in January, said he is not worried about the department’s threatened disciplinary actions because officers are allowed under union contracts to take sick days whenever needed.

“A job action is considered illegal,” he said. “But when you call in sick, that is different.” He added that he hopes problems can be avoided by reaching some agreement with city officials to offer officers a raise.

The league has been asking city officials for the same 9% raise over three years that the city gave to Department of Water and Power employees. But city officials say the city is so short of funds that it cannot afford to give officers a pay increase. The money for the DWP raise came from utility fees, not from the city’s general fund, as any raise for the LAPD would have to.

In an attempt to put pressure on city officials, unionleaders last month asked officers to carry out their duties with meticulous attention to detail, a job action that they say slowed some police operations. But that action drew little attention from city officials, and has prompted union leaders to adopt more visible and confrontational tactics.

Gascon said Police Chief Willie L. Williams sympathizes with his officers but opposes any concerted job action.

“It is important that everyone clearly understand the position of Police Chief Willie Williams,” Gascon said. “Public safety is paramount and cannot be compromised in any way.”