Warren officers OK 4-year wage freeze

By Ed Runyan

WARREN — Patrol officers with the city police department have approved a four-year wage freeze as part of an effort to bring back 15 of the city’s 20 laid-off police officers and save the jobs of 20 others with federal stimulus money.

The agreement says any of the laid-off officers brought back to work with federal stimulus money would be paid $7.19 less than most of them made when they were laid off.

The agreement covers 38 officers in the blue unit, meaning officers who have not attained a rank such as sergeant, lieutenant or captain.

The agreement, which is an addendum to the bargaining unit’s current contract, allows a way, contractually, for the city to use federal stimulus money under the Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Recovery Program to employ police officers.

The freeze and lower wage will go into effect on the effective date of the federal grant, said Gary Cicero, human relations director. It is expected to be effective this summer. The city is hopeful it will get the grant, but if it doesn’t, the wage freeze and lower wage will be “moot,” Cicero said.

The stimulus money can be used only to pay entry-level wages to police officers, and the language contained in the agreement allows for that, he said.

The agreement says the officers who would be returned to work would come back at a wage of $16.78 per hour — a patrolman’s starting salary.

Most of the 20 officers laid off Jan. 1 had at least three years of experience, so they made $23.97 per hour, the top of the wage scale, Cicero said.

Patrolman Frank Dascoulias, one of the members of the negotiating team, said Friday the lower wage is the reason he opposed the agreement. Without the agreement, laid-off officers could get hired back at their old wage for up to five years, he said.

“I know jobs are hard to come by, but I feel they should come back at their regular wage,” Dascoulias added.

Detective Wayne Mackey, another member of the negotiating team, said most of the laid-off officers agreed with the proposal, as well as the officers still on the job, who approved it 24 to 8. Not everyone voted on the new pact, he said.

The bargaining unit consists of 38 officers. It had 58 before the layoff of 20 officers Jan. 1. The number of patrolmen would drop to 19 if 19 more officers are laid off this summer, as the city has proposed, Dascoulias said.

“I’m not happy about it,” Mackey said of the agreement. “I’ve got to take a four-year wage freeze, but I’m obligated to do what the majority wanted.”

Dascoulias said city officials warned officers that the city would not apply for the stimulus money if officers didn’t approve the agreement.

The bargaining unit’s regular contract expires at the end of this year, but the contract that replaces it will not involve pay increases, Cicero said.

Acting Chief Tim Bowers recently said the application for the stimulus money was going to be sent to Washington later this month.

The agreement says the officers would be eligible to reopen the agreement if any other group of city workers — union or nonunion — is granted a pay increase.

runyan@vindy.com