Police Taking Pay, Benefits Disputes from Bargaining Table to Front Line

A growing number of police officers in Orange County are angry, and they are going public with their disputes over money and benefits.

In the City of Orange last week, off-duty officers began picketing City Hall after contract talks stalled over a retirement plan. Read one picket sign: “Orange Police. It’s our turn to ask for help.”

In Stanton, where the city’s 26 sworn officers are among the lowest paid in the county, police and their sympathizers marched on the mayor’s house. They are now going door-to-door to drum up residents’ support for their salary demands.

In Santa Ana, Fullerton, Westminster and Laguna Niguel, courtrooms were clogged by an eight-day work slowdown by Orange County sheriff’s deputies. By doing no more than was required in their job descriptions, disgruntled deputies caused major delays in hearings and trials by taking their time transporting inmates from jail.

Departing from past practice, police in fiscally strapped cities have become more aggressive in their quest for higher salaries and better working conditions, pressuring their employers by airing their complaints in public in a series of highly visible job actions.

‘Will Push Back’

“By nature, peace officers don’t like being involved in a job action,” said Robert J. MacLeod, general manager of the 1,100-member Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs. “But they don’t like getting pushed around either, and these days when they get pushed too far, they’re going to push back.”

Tough-talking cops at the bargaining table always have been a part of the municipal labor scene.

But city and county officials say the threats this contract season carry new weight because police are better organized and educated than ever about the tricky issues of employee compensation.

With the help of veteran union organizers, police associations representing many of the county’s two dozen departments have evolved into well-run political units, more adept than before at articulating demands and holding their own in negotiations with city officials who traditionally were more skilled at hammering out labor pacts.

Police say their inexperience prompted officers “to wake up and fight back,” as one Orange patrolman put it.

The overriding issues remain pay and benefits. But restoring some self-respect and playing a bigger role in who gets elected--and ultimately decides their contract--are other key factors in police becoming more politically active across Orange County.

This comes at a time when some cities and the county, in particular, contend that the revenue well is nearly dry and there’s little in reserve for raises. Municipal officials complain that the end of federal revenue sharing this year has limited their budget options. And they say that pursuing new revenue sources, like commercial development or the adoption of user-taxes, can be costly and politically unpopular.

Against this backdrop, more than half of Orange County’s 26 cities and the county of Board of Supervisors are--or will be--involved in bargaining sessions with police as the officers’ contracts expire in 1987.

Five other cities--Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach and San Clemente--have settled this year without much difficulty. A tentative agreement in La Palma is expected to be approved by that City Council on Tuesday.

Talks Break Down

But talks involving officers in Santa Ana, the City of Orange and Stanton, as well as sheriff’s deputies and investigators in the Orange County district attorney’s office, have broken down.

The work slowdown by sheriff’s deputies marks the third time the group has staged a job action since breaking away from other county employees in 1979 to negotiate their own wage package. Deputies want a 16% raise over three years. But so far county officials have refused to budge from their offer of a 12.5% raise over three years, with just 2% coming in the first year.

Among law enforcement agencies countywide, deputies are in the bottom third when it comes to pay. Top-paid deputies make about $3,180 a month, including benefits, according to a salary survey by the Sacramento-based California League of Cities. That’s $526 a month less than Irvine officers make. At $3,706 a month, Irvine police are the county’s top breadwinners in law enforcement, the League of Cities survey showed. Stanton officers are the lowest paid at $2,943.

For years, the league’s survey was generally recognized as the benchmark for police salaries.

Critics Dispute Survey

But some critics, including MacLeod, say the agency’s method wrongly emphasizes government’s costs for providing wages and benefits. They say it does not take into account that some departments have various grades of patrolmen, each compensated differently, making comparisons between agencies difficult. The source of the survey also troubles MacLeod and other county police negotiators, who point out that the league is the statewide lobbying arm for local cities.

As a result, police union leaders formed the Orange County Alliance of Police and Sheriffs several years ago. Members of this coalition of county police associations swap bargaining strategies and share negotiating tips. The group also has developed its own set of comparative salary schedules for all Orange County departments. While differing somewhat in precise dollar amounts, on the whole, it appears to coincide generally with the League’s quarterly survey.

“We were forced into this situation because cities and counties already had umbrella organizations supplying all kinds of nuts-and-bolts support,” said Jerry Pierson, chairman of the county police alliance and head of the Orange County Deputy Sheriffs Assn. “We had little choice but to learn the labor game. . . . We either had to get more sophisticated or we were going to be left out in the cold.”

Dissatisfied officers have been turning up the heat with sickouts, picketing, letter-writing campaigns and work slowdowns, but they say it is too early to assess the impact of their labor tactics. This season of contract negotiations, however, is being viewed as a test of their more militant approach.

Santa Ana Sickout

In Santa Ana, officers who staged a two-day “rolling sickout” in July are in a holding pattern awaiting the outcome of further bargaining. Dozens of officers called in sick on several shifts during the so-called “blue flu,” but a full complement of officers was in the field, largely because on-duty officers had to work overtime.

The police union has proposed a one-year contract with an 11.9% salary increase for officers, along with a 24.9% raise for sergeants. The city has countered with a two-year contract proposal that would provide raises of about 8.5% overall.

“We met last week with the city’s negotiating team,” said Sgt. Don Blankenship, director of the Santa Ana Police Benevolent Assn. “We will now wait to see what the city council decides at their Sept. 8 meeting. The next move is up to the city.”

Not all cities have experienced bumpy negotiations, however.

In San Clemente, a new pact was approved by the City Council earlier this month. Under terms of the agreement, the city’s 33 officers will receive a 12% pay raise over the next 2 1/2 years.

Talks Not Bitter

Greg Hulsizer, assistant city manager and the city’s chief negotiator, characterized the talks between the two sides as “tough” but “never bitter,” despite officer dissatisfaction in recent months with a new police chief, who has since been dismissed.

Hulsizer said the police association was better prepared than in the past, a change, he said, that improved the negotiating process. And, for the first time, police were assisted by an outside union negotiator.

“It helped smooth the rough edges over, having a professional in the trenches with the police,” Hulsizer said. “Negotiating contracts is a tricky business . . . and if both sides are well prepared, it enhances the odds that a settlement can be reached.”

While not completely satisfied with the contract, Russ Moore, president of the San Clemente Peace Officers Assn., said the group “took what we could get.” Sensing that the public was not on their side, Moore said, the officers decided not to hold out for more money.

Recent letters to a San Clemente newspaper attacked the officers as “crybabies” after they publicly criticized the management style of former Police Chief Kelson McDaniel. Following a vote of no confidence by the officers, McDaniel was dismissed by the council.

Publicity Avoided

The officers’ role in McDaniel’s ouster, Moore said, was a key factor in the association’s decision not to make their contract complaints public. “The sympathy for our position might not have been there,” he said. “It was a very conscious decision to reach a contract rather than have our name in the paper.”

Citizen support is vital, police say.

“They are the folks who can put the pressure on elected officials to open their pocketbooks,” said Wendell Phillips, director of the California Council of Police and Sheriffs, a Sacramento-based political action group.

In Stanton, officers are gearing up to go door-to-door to pitch their side of what has become a bitter fight.

Stanton officers wanted a 10% pay raise when their contract expired July 1. The city countered with a wage and benefit package amounting to a 7% increase. The officers rejected it, but the council went ahead and voted earlier this month to implement its offer, a move that is legal according to attorneys representing Stanton police.

Mayor Sal Sapien, who was elected to the council in 1984 on a pro-police platform but is now a target of dissatisfied officers, who picketed his home recently, said the loss of federal revenue-sharing money and last year’s drop in sales-tax revenue has left the city in a fiscal pinch. Blaming a group of “police hotheads” for the city’s labor woes, Sapien said he was “baffled and hurt” by the demonstration outside his home.

‘Police Tax’ Proposed

Stanton police are pinning their hopes on a November ballot measure, Proposition G, to upgrade salaries and working conditions. Proponents of the measure--endorsed and placed on the ballot by council members including Sapien--said it would generate about $353,000 for police services. Should two-thirds of the city’s voters approve the measure, an annual “police tax” would be assessed as follows: $18 for mobile homes; $24 for single-family residences; $75 for vacant lots and $300 for business property owners.

In 1982, Stanton voters approved new taxes to maintain their own fire and paramedic services rather than contracting for those services with the county. At the time, the successful ballot measure made Stanton one of the few cities in the state to authorize a tax override in the wake of Proposition 13, the property tax limitation measure of 1978.

Among the departments with the lowest paid officers, turnover is a constant problem and one of the justifications offered by police negotiators for higher wages. Most senior police managers agree it can take up to two years for a rookie officer to become an effective street cop. Yet, by then, many have transferred to higher-paying departments.

“It’s a vicious cycle, one that leaves departments like ours short-staffed when it comes to experience,” said Stan Gable, a City of Orange traffic investigator and vice president of the department’s police association. “In a tight, critical situation, you need people with some seasoning. . . . Look around this place and there are a lot of young faces.”

Police in Orange are in the bottom third when it comes to salaries countywide. Gable said that in the last five years, 64 officers with a total of 536 years’ experience have left the department, while 61 officers with 106 years have been hired. Of the new hires, 29 were rookies.

Retirement Negotiations

Talks in Orange have stalled over a proposed retirement package. The police want the option to retire at age 50 and collect 75% of their pay, while the city says they should work until at least 55.

City negotiators say it would cost an extra $706,253 a year to implement the officers’ plan. They also argue that a growing number of people work well into their 60s before retiring.

“Is it so unreasonable to ask an officer to work until 55? We don’t think so,” remarked Orv Placial, the city’s personnel director.

But Gable said he believes having a 55- or 60-year-old officer patroling the streets is not sound police practice.

“A 60-year-old cop is a liability on the street,” said Gable, a 19-year veteran of the Orange Police Department. “What happens when he confronts a brawny 20-year-old out of control on PCP? It’s a high-risk situation.”

Stability in Irvine

To prevent labor troubles and minimize turnover, Irvine officials decided years ago to pay their officers top dollar. In the mid-1970s, turnover in the department was running about 30% a year. Today it is less than 8%, a turnover rate among the lowest in the county, according to Irvine Police Chief Leo Peart.

“We made a policy decision to build a department with long-term employees,” said Paul Brady, the city’s assistant city manager. “If it took a few more dollars, so be it. Stability and high morale was the goal.”

Times staff writer Lanie Jones contributed to this article.

POLICE SALARIES BY DEPARTMENT A survey released this month by the California League of Cities shows that Irvine police are the county’s highest paid officers. The following is a breadkown of monthly salary ranges for police officers in the county’s 24 departments. Also shown is the maximum amount, including the cost of benefits, that an officer in each agency can earn.

MAXIMUM MONTHLY COMPENSATION AGENCY SALARY RANGE (INCLUDING BENEFITS) Irvine $2,483-3,352 $3,706 Newport Beach 2,499-3.037 3,667 Cypress 2,427-2,950 3,631 Huntington Beach 2,483-3,352 3,586 Brea 2,313-2,968 3,537 Tustin 2,543-3,091 3,527 Costa Mesa 2,445-2,972 3,487 Anaheim 2,220-2,974 3,445 Santa Ana 2,463-2,995 3,443 Garden Grove 2,382-2,894 3,422 Seal Beach 2,242-2,727 3,331 Laguna Beach 2,265-2,894 3,330 La Palma 2,081-2,788 3,312 Fullerton 2,278-3,907 3,297 Orange 2,268-2,757 3,290 La Habra 2,285-2,778 3,242 Fountain Valley 2,301-2,797 3,236 Buena Park 2,288-2,919 3,220 Placentia 2,244-2,770 3,207 Los Alamitos 2,158-2,750 3,207 County of Orange 2,220-2,983 3,180 Westminster 2,638-3,151 3,097 San Clemente 2,333-2,837 3,086 Stanton 2,264-2,752 2,943

Source: California League of Cities