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Interest Arbitration Determination

Interest Arbitration Determination
In the matter of the arbitration between the City of New York and the Patrolmen?s Benevolent Association of the City of New York, Inc., PERB Case No. IA 2006-24; M 2006-093

The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (?PERB?) designated a Public Arbitration Panel to consider the dispute between the City of New York (?City?) and the Patrolmen?s Benevolent Association of the City of New York, Inc. (?PBA?) pursuant to Civil Service Law Section 209.4.

Essentially the City and the PBA disagreed on what terms and conditions of employment set out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the period August 2004-July 2006 are necessary to preserve that status and whether New York City police officers should receive, as the PBA urges, an increase in compensation that far exceeds a pattern of increases reached through negotiations between the City and other uniformed bargaining units, or, as the City urges, a pattern-conforming increase.

The panel decided that wage or compensation comparisons between New York City and other jurisdictions must take into account the fact that no other jurisdiction, nationally or locally, is a ?perfect twin? or comes close to New York City in the size of its police officer workforce and concluded that ?wage increases, at a minimum, do not further disadvantage New York City police officers as against police officers in comparable national and local jurisdictions, and that wage increases continue the appropriately incremental process of returning the salary levels of New York City police officers to a position commensurate with the status of the NYPD as the premier police force in the nation. Strict adherence to the pattern urged by the City would not meet these objectives and would not result in a just and reasonable determination.

The panel also considered other issues, including PBA proposals regarding terrorism workload and safety risk premium, defibrillator pay, longevity, annuity and uniform allowance and new bullet-resistant vest to every police officer.

PERB has posted the full text of the decision on the Internet at:

http://www.perb.state.ny.us/pdf/NYCPBA5-%2022-08.pdf

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on September 17, 2008 (boomark / email).