Pittsburgh police commanders to unionize with Gainey's blessing

A dozen Pittsburgh police commanders are unionizing, city officials announced Tuesday.

Commanders are among the police bureau’s most powerful supervisors, just under the rank of assistant chief.

The commanders unanimously voted to form a union with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, separate from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 bargaining unit that represents rank-and-file officers.

Commander Shawn Malloy, who runs the city’s Zone 1 station on the North Side, said commanders’ contracts now do not include guaranteed benefits like paid time off and health insurance.

Unionizing, Malloy said, could create clearer benefit agreements.

“Traditionally, they more or less would give us what the FOP has but there’s nothing solidified in writing,” Malloy said Tuesday.

He added that he hoped unionizing would make commander-level job posts more attractive to lieutenants, who are one step below in the pecking order and may want to seek a promotion.

Malloy said commanders had been part of a union previously, but he could not immediately say when that changed.

A formal notice of the commanders’ intent to unionize will be posted at all six of the city’s police zones, officials said.

The mayor’s office and the commanders will submit a joint petition to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board for approval.

After that, the city and the newly formed union will begin negotiating a contract.

“I have always maintained that workers should decide for themselves whether or not to form a union, without interference from their employer,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement.

“Our police commanders have presented us with authorization cards indicating their wish to organize and I’m happy to support them.”