A state arbitrator late Friday settled a long undecided contract between the city of Vancouver and its Police Command union, City Manager Eric Holmes said Monday.
The decision provides a three-year binding contract between the city and the union, which represents the Vancouver Police Department’s eight commanders.
The three-year contract, which covers 2009 through 2011, included some concessions to both sides.
The commanders’ wages remain frozen from 2009 to July 2011, when members will get a 5.1 percent wage increase. In 2009, the average member of the Police Command union made $108,984, including overtime, sick, vacation and shift differential pay. The increase will cost the city $26,233 in 2011 and $52,465 in 2012, not including overtime.
The city had asked that wages be frozen entirely, but the arbitrator’s decision was based on “anti-compression language,” which dictates how much more each rank automatically receives above the rank below, Holmes wrote in a memo to the mayor and city council.
Still, “the decision recognizes the aggressive cuts and careful management stance the city has taken to balance its budget during difficult financial times,” Holmes wrote.
The city and the Police Command union have been unable to agree on a contract since 2009. Under state law, public safety employees are not allowed to strike, meaning contract disputes that can’t be solved through negotiations can ultimately wind up before an independent arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision is binding for both sides.
The decision may be a window into the much higher-stakes arbitration between the city and the 179-member Fire Suppression union, set for June 1 through 3.
State arbitrators are limited in what they can consider in making a final decision. In this case, the two sides agreed upon Lake Oswego, Ore.-based attorney Jane R. Wilkinson. Among the things Wilkinson could look at included the cost of living and a comparison of wages, hours and working conditions of similar-sized departments on the West Coast. The arbitrator cannot consider a public entity’s ability to pay as part of the arbitration process.
Under the new contract, members of the Police Command Unit will contribute 10 percent toward their dependents’ health care premiums (or about $92 a month), as of July 1. The city has been paying the full employee health insurance premium and all but $61 a month of a dependent’s premium.
During arbitration hearings, the city had proposed increasing the dependent premium to 10 percent of cost for 2010 and 15 percent for dependent coverage starting in 2011, Holmes said.
The arbitrator sided with the city on two points: That the contract go for three calendar years, from 2009 to 2011. The union had proposed a one-year contract for 2009, with the possibility to extend it to 2010, Holmes wrote.
The current contract expires Dec. 31, 2011. The start date for the next contract’s negotiations will begin June 1, as the city had asked, instead of July 1, as the union had sought, he said.
The Police Command Shop Steward, Cmdr. Scott Bieber, could not be reached immediately for comment Monday.
Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.
