We're excited to announce the new pension agreement we have come to with the Town that has been approved by Town Council and will go into effect January 1st 2020 and is valid until December 31st 2029. Shortly after the current Executive Board took office this past April the Administration approached us about two policies that they needed to enact to complete their CALEA Accreditation process. These policies constituted a significant change in working conditions are were therefore subject to collective bargaining.
We met with the Chiefs and discussed their draft policies, they were very open to the suggestions we had to modify the policies to make them work better and reduce their negative impact on our membership. In exchange for not contesting the implementation of the new policies, we asked for an extension to our pension contract which was due to expire on December 31st 2021. Chief Sansom relayed our request to then Finance Director Mike Walsh who responded that the Town did not want to extend our contract because they were looking to reduce benefits and costs in upcoming negotiations. He did however offer to enter off the record negotiations on a new contract that would offer reduced benefits for new hires while locking in benefits for current employees. We took this offer and began working out the details off the record.
These are the details of the final agreement we came to after negotiations:
All current employee's pension benefits shall remain unchanged and not be opened to renegotiation for the duration of their employment. Neither the Town nor the Union can request to re-open the terms for that group of employees.
The following changes will apply to new hires starting after Jan 1st, 2020. The annual multiplier will be reduced from the current 2.5% per year to 2.33% resulting in a 58.25% payout after 25 years as opposed to the current 62.5%. Additionally lump sum payments for comp time, and sick leave will no longer be calculated into final average salary.
Cost of living adjustment will also be reduced from 2% per year starting 4 years after retirement for current employees, to 1% per year starting 6 years after retirement. Finally, new employees will contribute 9% of their salary annually instead of the 8% current employees will continue to pay.
Other than those four changes everything else will stay the same for the new employees, the term will remain 25 years maxing out at 30 years, vesting is still at 15 years, the DROP plan remains, and overtime except PJs will still be included in final average salary.
All in all, this plan is a win for everyone involved, current employees will still be able to collect the benefits we were promised when we were hired. Our new hires will still have a great pension plan available to them that's better than what many competing Departments are currently offering. Additionally our pension plan should become more sustainable over the long term which is a huge win for all our members past, present and future, and for the Town which should experience significant savings.
We also negotiated some small changes to our time off policies that should make it easier for our employees on minimum staffing to use their time off without causing any extra overtime so there's no penalty to the Town. The MOU for that has been signed and is in effect, we'll incorporate the new language into our next labor contract.
All current employee's pension benefits shall remain unchanged and not be opened to renegotiation for the duration of their employment. Neither the Town nor the Union can request to re-open the terms for that group of employees.
The following changes will apply to new hires starting after Jan 1st, 2020. The annual multiplier will be reduced from the current 2.5% per year to 2.33% resulting in a 58.25% payout after 25 years as opposed to the current 62.5%. Additionally lump sum payments for comp time, and sick leave will no longer be calculated into final average salary.
Cost of living adjustment will also be reduced from 2% per year starting 4 years after retirement for current employees, to 1% per year starting 6 years after retirement. Finally, new employees will contribute 9% of their salary annually instead of the 8% current employees will continue to pay.
Other than those four changes everything else will stay the same for the new employees, the term will remain 25 years maxing out at 30 years, vesting is still at 15 years, the DROP plan remains, and overtime except PJs will still be included in final average salary.
All in all, this plan is a win for everyone involved, current employees will still be able to collect the benefits we were promised when we were hired. Our new hires will still have a great pension plan available to them that's better than what many competing Departments are currently offering. Additionally our pension plan should become more sustainable over the long term which is a huge win for all our members past, present and future, and for the Town which should experience significant savings.
We also negotiated some small changes to our time off policies that should make it easier for our employees on minimum staffing to use their time off without causing any extra overtime so there's no penalty to the Town. The MOU for that has been signed and is in effect, we'll incorporate the new language into our next labor contract.
Thanks to everyone who helped to make this deal a reality including Chief Sansom and his Administrative team, Mayor Leclerc, and Former Finance Director Mike Walsh. I especially want to thank all of the members of our Executive Board. This really was a team effort and the deal we have was shaped by everyone's input and I'm really proud of this board and the contract we put together. Thank you all.
9 comments:
This is fantastic! Thank you to our Union leaders!
You guys really hit this one out of the park. Way to come through for us Eboard members. You guys are showing great leadership. This solves something ive been worried about for ten years.
Terrible deal for new hires and this will not help get us the best officers to fill the void. Selfish deal and the town took us to the cleaners, great job guys you should be happy you sold out new hires!
You must be 1 of the 21 that voted for the other guy. I’m sure he would of dedicated the time and effort to get this done like the executive board did. It took a lot of work to get this deal done to protect everyone here and I don’t think a guy that gets 2 pensions and still works triples would have even cared since he wouldn’t benefit from it. I’m sure you will nominate him again or have your girlfriend do it for you.
It’s a terrible deal for new hires huh? Kind of like when the old guard sold out our heart and hypertension? Or gave up sick days for the buy back? This deal is great. The new guys are still coming in on a pension with healthcare etc.
Vote for the guy with a racist confederate flag tattoo on his arm? A police officer should NOT have that on their body in today’s social environment and should be thrown out of the profession on his ass immediately! The Hartford chapter of the NAACP was notified and the cellphone picture of him working a construction duty job this summer with that disgusting and racially divisive tattoo on his right forearm for the citizens to see will be addressed publicly. The confederate flag is a symbol of hatred towards African Americans and many were abused and much worse by those proudly displaying that flag. I am a minority officer from a department across the border that has been forwarded this blog from that social media website about dysfunctional police departments and am appalled that the East Hartford Police Department would not only hire BUT continue to allow this officer to display that tattoo anywhere within the city limits. What the hell is going on with your department and why hasn’t other officers, including those of color, demand the chief of police do something? I understand there are freedom of speech issues however this boggles the mind why this officer would keep this symbol of hatred on his body while taking an oath to treat all as equals. It just doesn’t look good one damn bit!!
Whoa there's a website of fucked up Police Departments? How do I find it and what's our ranking?
I am a veteran officer in Springfield and was turned onto this by a media member who follows this and other similar blogs. The things listed are indeed very troubling especially for a city that has a large demographic of minority citizens. Behind the blue wall has a huge following and there are watch dog groups that search the internet for things like this and constantly forward them to civil rights attorneys, politicians and media outlets to expose the dysfunction and unfair practices in law enforcement. I have talked to several of your officers “off record” at functions and am surprised more is not posted as there seems to be a lot of things going on in this department. To all the officers there that are doing their jobs on a daily basis and feel like things are hopeless, be patient. Your voices ARE being heard and they are not going unnoticed!
I think I met you at this years Remember 208 Run......you have the glasses and drive the Infinity. Very professional and well spoken and you seem to really care about the issues that plague law enforcement.
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