Board denies effort to speed reforms in police contract

An arbitration board ruled on terms of the new three-year San Francisco police contract on Friday, denying attempts by the city to speed up police reforms while giving the rank-and-file 3 percent yearly wage increases.

The San Francisco Police Officers Association and the city’s Department of Human Resources have been negotiating the new contract since October, and after the sides failed to reach an agreement, the talks went to an arbitration board in April.

Friday’s award — which addressed seven issues, including wage increases, officer retention, salary steps and negotiations over police reform implementations — is a binding deal.

The new police contract is required to go to the Board of Supervisors before being signed July 1. The deal will be the first full contract between the city of San Francisco and the police union since 2007.

Mayor Mark Farrell, whose office oversaw the union talks, called the award’s pay increases “fair and equitable.”

“Our police officers have a difficult job and they deserve our respect and support,” he said in a statement. “I am grateful for the men and women of the police department who work every day to ensure the public safety of our city.”

The arbitration board, though, ruled 2-to-1 in favor of the police union on one of the most contentious issues: future negotiations over the implementation of city police reforms.

In 2016, the Justice Department issued 272 recommendations to the San Francisco Police Department after a topto-bottom review after several controversial police shootings.

The police union has said many of the reforms affect working conditions, and therefore must be negotiated and then sent to arbitration if no agreement is reached.

In the contract proposal, the city included a section that sought to limit the union’s right to draw out the implementation of reforms through such proceedings.

The offer came as part of a broad effort by city leaders and community groups that have long fought for police reform.

“Ultimately this was a disappointment,” said Anand Subramanian, senior director at PolicyLink and member of the No Justice, No Deal coalition, which fought to have police reforms included in the new contract. “We did the best we could under these situations.”

Gary Delagnes, a consultant for the police union, said the reform proposal would have violated the collective bargaining rights “of the many fine men and women who spend their careers keeping San Franciscans safe.”

Arbitration board member David Weinberg, who ruled in favor of the police union on the reform proposal, still praised the city’s effort, saying it “represents a very well-meaning attempt by the city to help promote the implementation of the DOJ report.”