175 Anaheim Police Will Stage 1-Day ‘Blue Flu’ Sickout Tuesday : Labor: Officers want raises and have been 18 months without a contract. Public will be protected by substitutes, police chief says.

About 175 police officers will stage a one-day “blue flu” sickout Tuesday to protest their contract situation, forcing the city to patrol its streets with department brass and officers from neighboring cities.

“Our goal is to disrupt the day-to-day operation of the department,” Bruce Bottolfson, president of the Anaheim Police Assn., said Friday. The job action, the first in department history, will commence at 6 a.m. Tuesday and end at 6 a.m. Wednesday.

About 175 officers are scheduled to work Tuesday and will call in sick, Bottolfson said. About 150 officers have the day off--Anaheim patrol officers work three 12-hour shifts weekly--and they have agreed not to come to work if called. The union contract expired 18 months ago.

The salary range for Anaheim police officers is $2,804 to $4,040 a month. That ranks 18th among the 20 city police departments in the county, according to Bottolfson.

“We had a membership meeting that 200 people were at, and no more than five people were opposed to the blue flu,” Bottolfson said.

Police Chief Randall Gaston said residents will see no difference in police protection should the sickout occur. Gaston said other cities have agreed to lend Anaheim officers; Anaheim’s 14 lieutenants will do patrols, and its four captains will work as watch commanders or shift supervisors.

“We will continue to provide emergency services,” Gaston said.

Courts say that blue flu sickouts are illegal, ruling that they violate the state civil code prohibition on police strikes.

In other places where there have been blue flu sickouts, courts have been quick to grant the cities injunctions forcing the officers back to work within the day.

Anaheim officials say they do not know whether they will seek an injunction. The city will not pay the officers for a sick day, however.

“We will do whatever it takes to protect the public safety,” City Atty. Jack L. White said. “We will adopt a wait-and-see posture. If the police chief feels we need an injunction, we will get one. . . . Anyone who thinks we won’t get one is betting on the come line.”

The officers have been working without a contract since July, 1992, and have not had a raise since 1991. They are now demanding an immediate 4% pay increase, a 2% raise in July and a 4% raise next January. Previously, they had been asking for a 10% raise in a contract that would have lasted until 1996.

The city is continuing to offer an immediate 3.25% raise, a 3.25% raise next year and has added a raise of 3.5% to 5% in 1996, depending on economic factors. In addition, the officers would receive a one-time $750 bonus if the offer is accepted. A city official said it is a $2.3-million package and that the city cannot afford more.

“We’ve really tried to put a fair offer on the table,” City Manager James D. Ruth said earlier this week when he learned of the impending action. “We’re disappointed they would do this.”

Ruth was not available for comment Friday.

Bottolfson said officers would only come to work Tuesday if something drastic, such as a hostage situation, should occur.

Community leaders said they are disappointed a sickout has been called, but some said they understand the officers’ anger.

Keith Olesen, a downtown community activist, said: “I feel badly that (the officers) feel they have to do this. My opinion is that they should be the best-paid department and have the best ratio of cops per 1,000 residents in the county. But I don’t think this (sickout) is the way to get that.”

Mike Salgado, a leader of Parents Against Gang Environments, criticized the union for threatening the work stoppage and city officials for apparently doing nothing to block it.

“The union is threatening to hold the city hostage,” Salgado said. He said that no matter who takes the officers’ places, those people will not be able to do a good job patrolling the city. “They don’t know the city, so it will take longer for them to respond. (The threatened stoppage) gives the impression that the officers don’t care about anything except money. . . . They are endangering the city.”

Bottolfson said the officers are being forced to take the action because the city refuses to budge in contract negotiations. Residents will not be endangered by the work stoppage, he said.

“We would only be holding the city hostage if the work stoppage was longer than a day,” he said. “Using officers from other cities and the lieutenants for one day will not endanger anyone. We would not do anything that would endanger the residents.”