Does Boise police union have new deal with city? Depends which side you ask
When the Boise City Council approved a final labor contract for the police department, one council member spoke of it as an “olive branch” to the union.
The city’s police union doesn’t agree.
Boise-based attorney Chad Johnson, who represents the union, told the Idaho Statesman in a phone call Thursday that union members “explicitly” opposed the contract council members approved Tuesday.
“It seems the city wants to try to end the 51-year relationship between the police union and the city,” the union said in a news release. “It is disappointing that while the city talks about prioritizing public safety, it is actively trying to silence the police union.”
Maria Weeg, a spokesperson for the city of Boise, did not return a call seeking comment.
The City Council presented the new labor agreement Tuesday as the final offer, which also added back pay for officers.
Council President Colin Nash said he didn’t think more bargaining would be productive.
“I would be surprised if the agreement did not get ratified,” Nash told the Idaho Statesman. “The council was giving its best effort to resolve the contract dispute that had gone on for over a year.”
Council members and union representatives both acknowledged that negotiations were a difficult process and were exacerbated by a lack of mediation help from the federal government. But the police union still wanted to continue negotiations and hoped to bring in a private mediation specialist, Johnson said.
“There’s just no contract,” Johnson said. “Until the two sides reach an agreement, there is no agreement.”
The city’s relationship with police officers has sometimes been a struggle for Mayor Lauren McLean.
During the 2023 election, Boise’s police union endorsed her opponent, Mike Masterson, who attacked McLean’s record with the Police Department. Masterson is a former Boise police chief.
Some officers have criticized McLean for selecting former Police Chief Ryan Lee, who later resigned at her request after she said he’d lost the trust of officers. Police have also complained about comments McLean made after incidents, including protests, that officers said show a lack of support.
McLean said during Tuesday’s meeting that she appreciated the police’s service and that the raises in the contract were “much-deserved.”
Why Boise City Council voted yes
During Tuesday’s meeting, Council Member Luci Willits touched on the union’s discontent. Willits said she was uneasy voting on the contract when the union had an offer on the table and was awaiting a response to that.
But she ultimately felt police deserved more money.
“I’m uncomfortable that this has the potential to undermine trust,” Willits said Tuesday. “I think this has hurt the relationship of trust and I hope that that can be rectified.”
Two other council members said they couldn’t comment on the union’s possible issues with the deal because they hadn’t heard them yet.
The city was pushing to finish the negotiations because police make up a large part of the budget, Willits and Council Member Kathy Corless said. In hindsight, Corless said, the city could have taken more time in going over proposals with the union.
“When I voted for that (contract), I thought this would have been an acceptable offer for the police union,” Corless said by phone Thursday.
Council Member Jordan Morales, however, said he came into the meeting thinking union leadership wasn’t likely to approve the proposal as it was.
“It felt heavy to have union leadership not appreciating the contract as presented,” he said, though he liked that council offered back pay, which would be contingent on police ratifying the contract.
What the police union wants
Police said their concerns aren’t just about salaries.
While the union acknowledged that pay is important, “no officer” expected to receive a 9% raise on an annual basis, the union’s release said, and officers were surprised that the city agreed to authorize a 3% bonus to compensate officers for back pay.
Instead, Johnson said their concerns are over other contract provisions the city “snuck in” at the end of negotiations. He said the city removed the agreement’s evergreen clause, which would “gut union protections” for officers, according to the release. The clause allows an expired contract to stay in place if the parties can’t agree on a new contract.
On Tuesday, the council actually approved adding the evergreen clause back.
The union’s news release did not specify what other provisions it was unhappy with.
“It’s unfortunate the city’s negotiation team never brought this additional ‘olive branch’ to the negotiation table,” the release said.
Boise could create a new offense for speeding on the Greenbelt. Will it help?
Nampa police just made arrest in 2015 killing. He was interviewed a decade ago