Boston Police get 14% hike in pay in contract

The Boston Globe reports:

A new four-year contract would give Boston police officers a 14 percent pay hike but require them to pay more for health care, city officials said yesterday.


Mayor Thomas M. Menino called the contract, which will be retroactive to July , "a win for both sides."

The contract, which the city and union negotiators agreed on Thursday, would also allow officers to live outside the city after a decade of service , shift about two dozen officers from behind their desks to the streets , and toughen drug testing rules.

Menino said that while the city had sought a lower pay hike, it had settled for 14 percent because the union's 1,400 officers would shoulder an increase in their contribution for health insurance costs, from 10 to 15 percent.

State troopers also pay 15 percent , which is less than the 20 percent most city employees pay, said John Dunlap , the city's director of labor relations .

"That was a big part of what we were seeking," Dunlap said. "Ten to 15 years ago, healthcare was the backwater of labor negotiations, but today, it is at the top of the list of issues."

Yesterday, the terms of the contract were presented to the board of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, which represents all officers in the city, and it unanimously voted to present the contract to the union at large June 18 for ratification, according to association president Thomas Nee.

Menino "had issues he valued, and we had issues we valued, and there are always consequences in that give and take," Nee said. "But we're pleased with what we came away with."

Police were among the highest-paid city employees last year, according to city figures released to the Globe earlier this year. Of the 125 highest-paid employees, all but one were police officers. In 2006, the average uniformed police officer made $113,617 , including $35,600 in detail and overtime.

You can guess why unions get involved in politics can't you? No word yet from "liberals" who say government workers are underpaid.