Officers Union Members to Share $630,000 in Retroactive Raises

Haverhill police officers will get less than half of a three-year 12 percent raise they sought in arbitration with the city.

A three-member joint labor-management committee ruled members of the police officers union should receive retroactive salary increases of 1.5 percent for 2015 and 2016, and a 2.5 percent raise for fiscal year 2017, which just ended on June 30.

Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.

City Council will be asked to approve the arbitration agreement and transfer more than $630,000 from salary reserves to pay the officers. Mayor James J. Fiorentini, in a letter to the council, recommended approval.

The council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. City Council Chambers on the second floor of Haverhill City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.

The police union had sought increases of 4, 5, and 3 percent, respectively, for fiscal years 2015 through 2017. The city had offered 1.5 percent raises for the first two years and 1.75 for the final year.

The arbitrators mostly sided with the city, bumping the final year’s salary increase 2.5 percent with a .75 percent adjustment to bring Haverhill’s police salaries closer to comparable cities.

The arbitration agreement is also notable for the panel’s decision to make Haverhill one of the few communities in the Commonwealth to allow civilians to perform traffic details when there are no uniformed officers available, Fiorentini said.

The agreement also:

• Increases the private detail rate to $46 from $44
• Institutes drug and alcohol testing for officers, consistent with the policy followed by the Superior Officers Bargaining Unit
• Rejects a police union request for a 5 percent “weekend differential”

Members of the panel were Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella, representing management; Alan Andrews, representing labor; and neutral chairman Bruce Fraser.