The Morning Report
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The San Diego police officers have accepted a new labor contract that gives them a 6 percent pay increase over the next 12 months and secures the controversial DROP program for at least another year.
The final vote count was 554 votes in favor and 63 no votes. That’s a 90 percent approval of the new deal.
Jeff Jordon, a director of the POA, said the union is pleased with the vote result, but said he knows he will have to keep on fighting to bring the Police Department’s pay up to par with other local law enforcement agencies and to save DROP, which allows employees to accrue their retirement pay in an interest-earning account five years before retirement in exchange for freezing the salary rate their pension checks will be calculated with.
“My pleasure is tempered by the fact that I know these negotiations are going to start again in eight months,” Jordon said.
Mayor Sanders is holding a press conference to announce the new deal at the Tierrasanta Community Park at 11:30 a.m. It is subject to the City Council’s approval.
The pay increase comes as officials are battling a recruitment and retention problem at the department. Last year, the mayor and the union agreed on pay increases of between 8 percent and 9 percent for officers.