Sheriff’s Deputies OK 3-Year Contract, 9% Raise

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have voted overwhelmingly to accept a three-year contract that, if adopted, will give them a 9% raise and a bonus for those who agree to keep patrolling county streets--a move intended to retain more deputies in those jobs.

The contract is strikingly similar to the one rejected just four months ago by the deputies. Officials with the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs had no comment Thursday on the package.

But some deputies say their union wanted to avoid drawn-out, acrimonious negotiations. In addition, county leaders have remained steadfast in their proposal, saying in February that they would not offer any more financial incentives to the contract package.

Union members, who number about 7,000, voted to reject the contract in February, 57.5% to 42.5%. Earlier this week, members voted to accept virtually the same offer, this time approving it 90% to 10%.

Although county officials said several other unions have completed contract negotiations with similar raises, they were unsure how the deputies’ union swayed its members this time around.

“I haven’t a clue,” said David Janssen, the county’s chief administrative officer, who oversees all labor negotiations. “It is pretty remarkable. I knew they were going to give it another shot, but I don’t know how they explained it.”

But, he added, “Obviously, I’m delighted by the outcome.”

By settling the officers’ contract, the county is sending a strong signal to the Service Employees International Union Local 660, which represents 45,000 county workers, including clerks and health care workers. Local 660 members have rejected a 9% raise and county officials believe the deputies’ approval may signal that no more financial offers will be made.

The deputies’ contract, which still needs the approval of the Board of Supervisors, calls for a 2% raise retroactive to Feb. 1 and another 2% raise in July, followed by a 3% raise next year and 2% the final year. The contract covers the department’s 8,165 deputies.

Additionally, it includes a 2% incentive bonus for deputies with three or more years in patrol jobs, aimed at keeping deputies on the streets. Too often, department officials say, deputies work patrol for a few years and then seek transfers or promotions.

Maintaining officers on the streets is important to Sheriff Lee Baca, whose department has lucrative contracts with 41 cities to provide law enforcement services. Leaders of those cities, as well as residents, typically want more--rather than fewer--deputies patrolling their streets. They also want the continuity of having the same officers in their communities.

Both county and union members say this year’s negotiations were far less problematic than those of three years ago, when deputies staged massive sickouts, and allegedly made harassing telephone calls to elected officials. That round of bargaining followed three years without raises for deputies.