Manhattan Beach and Police Settle Contract Dispute

A 2-month standoff between the Manhattan Beach police union and city officials ended this week when both sides announced agreement on a new contract.

Sgt. Jack Zea, president of the Manhattan Beach Police Officers Assn., said Wednesday that the group agreed to a number of compromises to avoid having the city impose a contract that union members said was unfair. The City Council, exercising its right under state law, voted last month to impose a contract.

However, council members unanimously agreed on Oct. 6 to resume negotiations with the association, and a tentative agreement was reached late last Friday.

“We don’t feel it (is) a good contract overall,” Zea said. “We consider it a damage-control contract.

‘Wait Until Next Year’

“Our basic philosophy was that we would just wait until next year and try to gain in some of the areas we tried to this year,” he said.

In August, the union, which represents 49 of the department’s 58 officers, declared an impasse in negotiations with city officials after talks stalled over wage and benefit issues. The union’s previous contract expired in July.

Last month, the association said its members would stop issuing traffic tickets after the City Council voted 3 to 2 to impose a 1-year contract on the group. Officers resumed writing tickets when the tentative agreement was reached last week.

“Each side gave a little bit and we have an agreement,” said Councilman Bob Holmes, who had voted to impose a contract.

Holmes and other city officials said the association’s decision not to issue traffic tickets for four weeks would have little impact on the city’s treasury. The city earns about $200,000 annually in traffic-ticket fines, Holmes said.

Under the new contract, the association’s members will receive a 5.5% pay increase. But a larger issue in the dispute was whether new union members would be eligible for longevity pay--extra money officers receive based on how long they have been with the department.

The contract proposed by the city would have eliminated longevity pay for those not already receiving it, but would have given those officers a slightly bigger pay raise. The new agreement keeps longevity pay for all officers, but unlike past practice, the 5.5% raise will apply only to base pay.

In addition, the contract calls for officers to maintain what city officials term a specific “productivity” level by issuing a total of 1,369 traffic citations a month. In exchange, patrol officers keep the right to work a 4-day, 10-hour-per-day week, which the city had sought to eliminate.

Unlike the contract that council members had voted to impose, the new agreement does not require officers to make sure that 576 of the 1,369 citations issued are for “hazardous violations,” such as running stop signs or reckless driving. The association had protested, saying the provision was tantamount to forcing officers to meet a quota system that is illegal under state law.

Eliminates 4-Day Workweek

The new contract also calls for the city to increase from $250 a month to $300 the amount it pays for an officer’s health insurance policy, and eliminates the 4-day workweek for detectives, according to Ralph Luciani, the city’s chief contract negotiator.

The agreement is retroactive to Oct. 8, and expires next July.