27 Riverside Officers Call In Sick as Contract Negotiations Stall
About a third of the city’s usual contingent of patrol officers called in sick Friday in what Police Chief Ken Fortier characterized as an apparent “blue flu” job action that may result in discipline.
He said 27 patrol officers--among 80 who normally would have worked Friday--called in sick. The department employs 348 sworn police officers, including 228 assigned to patrol.
The job action involved officers on the afternoon and evening shifts. Early morning and graveyard-shift officers worked overtime to cover the other shifts, Fortier said.
Representatives of the Riverside Police Officers Assn. could not be reached for comment.
A three-year labor contract between the department and its rank-and-file officers expired last June, and an extended contract is due to expire this June.
Contract negotiations are stalled, primarily over pay issues, Fortier said.
If the officers who called in sick cannot provide proof of illness, they “could very well face discipline,” Fortier said.
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