BREAKING NEWS: City Council Approves Mayor Faulconer’s Proposal For Immediate Pay Increases For MEA-Represented Employees in PD Communications
MEA is pleased to announce that the City Council voted yesterday to approve Mayor Faulconer’s proposal for additional pay increases for MEA-represented employees in the Police Communications Division to begin next month. These pay increases total 15% over the coming fiscal year and will be implemented in three steps as follows:
- A 5% pay increase in July 2016
- An additional 5% pay increase in January 2017
- An additional 5% pay increase in July 2017
These increases will be in the form of additional “certification pay” related to your POST Basic Dispatcher Course Certificate. Currently, all MEA-represented classifications in PD Communications (Dispatcher 1 & 2, Police Dispatcher, Police Lead Dispatcher, Police Dispatch Supervisor and Police Dispatch Administrator) receive 5% POST certification pay add-on. This existing 5% will increases to 20% for each of those classifications in the three increments as described above.
POST certification pay is “pensionable,” meaning these increases will not only increase your take home pay but they will also increase the value of your pension or 401k.
These increases in POST certification pay are in addition to the compensation increases that were already negotiated and previously announced for MEA’s four year labor contract as follows:
- A $1,500 Flex allotment increase in July 2016
- An additional $1,650 Flex allotment increase in July 2017
- An additional 8.3% salary increase in July 2018
- An additional 3.3% salary increase in July 2019
All of that adds up to $3,150 in Flex increases and 26.6% in pay increases over the next three fiscal years, with the Flex increases and 15% in pay increases taking effect in the fiscal year that begins on July 1.
Clearly, the goal is to improve dispatcher recruitment and retention by making the compensation for each of the classifications of Police Communications more competitive. The magnitude of these increases certainly supports that goal. It also sends a strong message that – along with all of the other management and operational changes in the Division – PD management, City Hall and in particular Mayor Faulconer is completely focused on restoring SDPD Communications to the best it can be.
We are extremely grateful for the Mayor’s commitment and more importantly for his actions that have already resulted in substantial forward progress for the Division. Your voice has been heard loud and clear by Mayor Faulconer, and he has and will continue to respond with any and all appropriate action to move this Division forward.
More details on this agreement will likely be coming from the Department. In the meantime, if you have any questions or need more information, as always please don’t hesitate to contact Mike Zucchet at MEA at mzucchet@sdmea.org or 619-264-6632.