‘Blue Flu’ Hits Dozens of Huntington Officers : Police: Following the city’s denial of a pay raise, nearly 50 call in sick for weekend shifts. Talks are set to resume Thursday.

Contract negotiations affecting about 250 police union members are set to resume Thursday, following a weekend in which nearly 50 officers called in sick, authorities said.

The “blue flu” hit Friday--the same day city officials turned down a request for a 10.75% pay raise, which would have been the department’s first salary increase since 1992.

Richard Wright, president of the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn., said Monday the union was not behind the high number of officers calling in sick.

“It’s not unusual,” he said. “People do get sick.”

Wright said he went home sick Friday but worked overtime Saturday to help cover for the 30 officers who stayed home.

City officials say there is no money in Huntington Beach’s budget for police pay raises and that it would be unfair to increase department salaries without also boosting pay for other city employees.

“We just can’t do what the police officers want us to do,” council member Tom Harman said Monday. “I wish we could, but we just can’t.”

The influx of calls began Friday, when seven police officers called in sick after city administrators submitted a counterproposal to union representatives that denied any pay raises this year, Wright said.

A dozen officers from the Sunday morning shift called in sick but everyone who was scheduled for the night shift showed up for work, Police Lt. Jim Cutshaw said. No problems were reported Monday.

City officials declined to speculate whether the flood of sick calls was related to contract negotiations, but noted that the timing coincided with rough waters in negotiation.

“You look at it and you draw your own conclusions,” Deputy City Administrator Richard Barnard said.

The pay for a Huntington Beach officer is about $40,000 to $50,000. Including benefits such as health care, the city’s cost increases to about $74,000 a year for each officer, Barnard said.

Leaders of the association, which represents 85% of the department, contend that officers deserve more money.

“The city has insulted every police officer . . . by putting forth such a ridiculous proposal,” Wright said. “I’ve been involved in many contract negotiations over the years, and this is the first time ever I’ve been stonewalled like this in my life.”

Earlier this month, union authorities proposed a 10.75% raise to compensate for the lack of cost-of-living increases since 1992, when officers received 3% raises, Wright said.

A negotiation meeting scheduled for today has been canceled, but both sides are set to return to the bargaining table Thursday.

Representatives from both sides said the negotiation process couldn’t have gone sour at a worse time--less than a month before the Fourth of July weekend, which in the past has been marked by outbursts of unrest in the city.

“I want to make it clear that we want to negotiate a contract,” Wright said, “but we intend to do it without jeopardizing the safety of citizens or other police officers.”

Council members said they have the same goal.

“I’m a big supporter of the police and the rest of the council is too,” Harman said. “It’s a matter of not having the funds to pay the officers what they want.”

Unlike the 1970s and 1980s, Harman said, “it’s the ‘90s, and we’re getting our money taken away by Sacramento, we have flat sales taxes and property taxes are down.”

If the city gave police raises, Harman believes the city would be obligated to give raises to all city employees, which could cost $600,000 for a 1% hike.