Police unions negotiate amid backlash
Cities aiming to dial back officer protections in wake of social unrest
Ron DeLord, a fiery former Texas cop turned labor organizer, has long taught union leaders how to gain power and not let go. He has likened a police union going after an elected official to a cheetah devouring a wildebeest, and suggested that taking down just one would make others fall in line.
He helped write the playbook that police unions nationwide — seeking better pay, perks and protections from discipline — have followed for decades. Build a war chest. Support your friends. Smear your enemies. Even scare citizens with the threat of crime. One radio spot in El Paso warned residents to support their local police or face “the alternative,” as the sound of gunshots rang out.
“We took weak, underpaid organizations and built them into what everyone today says are powerful police unions,” DeLord said in a recent interview. “You may say we went too far. I say you don’t know how far you’ve gone until you’re at the edge of the envelope.”
That moment may be now.
Since the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in May set off protests nationwide, 27 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted new police oversight and reform laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Officials in Boston, Los Angeles and other cities agreed to limit police spending. In November, voters overwhelmingly approved 17 ballot measures in six states to rein in police officers.
Unions — many of which have dug in despite the protests and challenged officers’ firings in high-profile incidents — are also increasingly seen as out of step with the public. Officers in big cities can earn more than $100,000 a year, far more than citizens they are assigned to protect. That success has stoked a backlash.
As cities from Portland, Ore., to Chicago negotiate new police contracts, local officials are seeking to gain back concessions made decades ago.
Union and city leaders are especially watching negotiations in San Antonio, Texas. Years ago, officers there locked in some of the most highly coveted perks and protections of any department in the country: rules that helped shield officers from discipline, fat pensions, Cadillac health insurance plans, even taxpayer-funded payments for divorce lawyers. During the last negotiations, city officials claimed the contract would bankrupt San Antonio. Now, city officials are focused on undoing some disciplinary protections.
An unexpected voice urging police unions nationwide to compromise is that of DeLord, 73, who is the chief negotiator for the San Antonio union. “The unions need to bend,” he said. “They need to be prepared to bargain over things that their community thinks are fair.” Unions that don’t understand are “tone deaf,” he added.
The 1997 book DeLord wrote with a fellow organizer, John Burpo, and a political consultant, Michael Shannon, Police Association Power, Politics, and Confrontation: A Guide for the Successful Police Labor Leader ,is pugnacious. The book repeatedly urges union leaders to ignore the “losers,” “whiners” and “naysayers” in their way.
In San Antonio, where DeLord’s approach is now being tested, the union president says he wants to build a better relationship with the city. “Reform is here,” said the president, Danny Diaz. “We’re willing to work with everyone.”
In the 1970s, many Texas police departments were considered backwaters. Some required officers to pay for their handcuffs, bulletproof vests, even insurance for patrol cars. Departments tracked overtime unevenly.
DeLord, a police union member in Mesquite, Texas, wanted to change that. He quit being a patrolman and soon became a full-time police labor organizer. In 1976, he helped create a statewide group for police unions — a bold move in a state historically hostile toward organized labor.
But police rallied to the cause. By joining DeLord’s organization, they got help from experienced negotiators to win better deals. In its first five years, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas signed up groups representing about 5,000 officers in 66 Texas communities.