Pittsburgh police officers reject Peduto's pay hike offer; another contract vote to happen Monday

Pittsburgh’s police union is throwing out a revised contract pitch by Mayor Bill Peduto’s office because it failed to generate enough votes, union officials said Thursday night.

Just 32 police officers, or less than 5% of voters, supported the Peduto administration’s latest proposal — which offered a slightly higher pay bump of 2.75% but was tied to a litany of unpopular contingencies, said Robert Swartzwelder, union president of the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge 1.

The bulk of the 678 unionized officers who voted Thursday were split among the ballot’s two other choices: accepting the 2.5% pay increase initially offered by Peduto; or rejecting all offers on the table.

None of the three options mustered a “clear majority,” which the union defines as surpassing all other options on a ballot by at least a 10% margin, Swartzwelder said.

New vote scheduled Monday

The undecided outcome means another vote will take place on Monday.

Next week’s ballot will be limited to two options, either settling for the 2.5% pay hike or rejecting it, Swartzwelder said.

It will not include the revised offer Peduto’s office submitted Wednesday. That offer would have come with a 2.75% pay increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 2019 and an additional 0.75% on July 1, 2022 — so long as the city could generate $3 million in savings on police overtime by the end of next year .

The rejected offer also would have required officers to work shifts of 10 hours per day, four days per week.

“We believe they (Peduto’s office) made it too contingent,” Swartzwelder said by phone Thursday night. “You had an undefined 4-10 schedule that no one understands and was not clear; you also require proof of savings that the city completely controls.”

Swartzwelder said the city rejected the union’s proposal of 3.5% raises.

“If the mayor would have went to 3.5%, as we originally proposed, the vote would have been overwhelmingly in favor, and those officers probably would have even voted for the (proposed) schedule,” Swartzelder said.

More than 300 officers didn’t vote

Of the union’s nearly 1,000 members, ranging from first-year police officers to detectives and lieutenants, 318 officers did not show up to vote during Thursday’s 12-hour window.

They will have another chance to have their choice count alongside fellow officers during the next vote, scheduled for 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday.

“They could end up swaying it,” Swartzwelder said.

On Thursday, the 2.5% pay raise option — which would apply retroactively to Jan. 1, 2019 — received about 50% of the vote, or 341 votes, according to elections officials who counted the votes and submitted the totals to union leaders.

Nearly 45%, or 305 officers, voted to reject the first two offers and instead leave the decision to an arbitration panel.

A third voting day could be scheduled if neither option wins Monday by at least 10%, Swartzwelder said.

Peduto spokesman Tim McNulty declined comment.

The union had been working without a contract since the old one expired in December 2018. An arbitration panel last month awarded a new contract for 2019 through 2022.

The former contract stipulated that the union could renegotiate officer pay scales should Pittsburgh leave state fiscal oversight known as Act 47 during the contract term. Pittsburgh exited Act 47 in February 2018.

Swartzwelder said he could not speculate on whether they would approve either offer.

“As the union president, I have to reject it because I represent officers who retired or resigned in 2018, and I can’t reject their back pay,” he said before the votes were tallied.

Officers would not be eligible for retroactive pay in the old contract years before January 2019 under either option.

Pittsburgh police officers have complained bitterly for years about wage scales they said were far below those of suburban officers.

“The surrounding communities are paid substantially better than us and (3.5%) would put us in the lower end of that bracket,” Swartzwelder said.

Any new contract enhancements follow pay hikes officers received through an arbitration award released last month. Officers will receive raises totaling 4% annually, but the raises were split each year.

Officers will receive retroactive raises for 2019 starting with 1% from January to April. They receive an additional 1% in April and 2% in July.

Raises this year were 2% starting in January with another 2% coming in July. Next year, and in 2022, officers will receive 3% in January and 1% in July.

The Peduto administration could not immediately provide a budget impact for its offers. The city budgeted for 900 police officers with salaries totaling $64.5 million this year.

The total police budget is $114.8 million, including salaries and benefits for officers and other employees.