In Salem, police union approves contract

SALEM -- The union representing city police officers approved a three-year contract, which is awaiting approval by city council.
Quaker Lodge 88 of the Fraternal Order of Police agreed to the contract Thursday.
The pact calls for wage increases of 3 percent in the first year and 3.5-percent boosts in each of the contract's remaining two years, safety Director Scott Cranmer said this morning. The wages will be applied to a salary scale in which a beginning patrolman now earns $11.01 an hour and a lieutenant at the highest position on the scale makes $18.52 an hour.
The contract, if approved, will cost the city about $75,000, Cranmer said.
He declined to discuss other provisions of the agreement until council has had a chance to vote. The contract affects 22 police officers.
Police have been working under the terms of their previous contract since it expired June 30.
The city and its firefighters, whose three-year contract also expired June 30, have still yet to reach an agreement. Firefighters in August rejected a fact-finder's report that stemmed from negotiations. The matter is in binding arbitration, Cranmer said.