Police Contract Offer Appears Headed for Approval

A $50-million police contract offer appears to have enough support among the Police Protective League and the City Council to end the divisive labor dispute next week, union leaders and council members said Friday.

“Everyone wants to move on and get on with business,” union President Danny Staggs said. “This will be a start for the healing process in the department.”

The proposal would give police officers a 7% pay increase over the next 18 months, along with a 2% patrol bonus over the same period and a $1,500 cash payment. That is considerably more than the 6% pay raise over two years, with no bonuses, that officers overwhelmingly rejected last month.

The union’s 115 delegates unanimously approved the deal Thursday night, meaning it will be presented to the 7,000 rank-and-file officers at a series of ratification sessions next week. From there, it will be sent to the council.

Although not all council members had taken a position on the deal Friday, interviews suggested that there was solid support on the 15-member panel and even critics said they expect it to be approved next week.

“I have no doubt that the contract will be approved by the council,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, the chief critic of the plan. “The PPL is a very powerful and intimidating political force. Nothing we can do can torpedo the plan. All we can do is educate ourselves and members of the public.”

“If it’s not put to bed, it’s pretty close,” said Tom Kruesopon, spokesman for Councilman Rudy Svorinich, who supports the deal.

Most council members said they were extremely eager to put the divisive contract dispute behind them. Still, with all the twists and turns that the standoff has taken to date, some officials warned that it was too early to close the book on the contract dispute.

“With all the questions raised about how we’re going to pay for this, I would not quite say this is over yet,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who opposes the deal.

The proposal was presented to union leaders by Mayor Richard Riordan and other city leaders at a secret meeting Wednesday night at the Biltmore Hotel. The fact that the deal did not emerge from the city’s negotiating team angered some council members.

Critics of the deal held a special committee session Friday morning in an effort to show that the offer is too costly, will spur similar demands from other labor unions and will result in a reduction of Riordan’s police buildup plan.

Yaroslavsky, the council’s budget expert, called the deal too expensive and said it represented a significant surrender by the city. The deal will cost an extra $15 million that the city did not budget for this year and will force a cutback in the expansion of police patrols, he said.

Making the situation worse, state officials announced this week that they will withhold $25 million of the city’s share of vehicle license fees, officials said. Some critics raised the specter of tax increases to close the budget gap that would be created by the proposed deal and the anticipated state cuts.

To show how excessive the plan was, officials revealed that one of Riordan’s deputy mayors, Michael Keeley, contacted the Department of Water and Power this week to see if the utility could transfer an additional $40 million to city coffers.

Riordan Chief of Staff Bill McCarley said that discussion was tied to the reductions in state aid, not the contract proposal.

The plan’s supporters, led by Councilman Richard Alatorre, argued that the city can afford the plan. They said the important point is that the deal will end a lengthy and divisive dispute that was dividing the city.

“The goal is to keep our eye on the prize and to remain flexible,” said Riordan spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez. “This is good for the city of Los Angeles.”

The union will hold a series of ratification sessions at police stations next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Staggs said officers will approve it.

“I believe that the officers will ratify it,” he said. “They deserve more but we’re not going to get more.”