The local Fraternal Order of Police union has declared impasse after months of bargaining with the city of Gainesville.
A June 18 memo from the city’s human resources director, Cheryl McBride, says the union declared impasse at the end of that morning’s bargaining session, although city staff will continue meeting with union representatives in the hope of coming to an agreement. In the meantime, the city has scheduled a closed executive session for July 6 during which city commissioners can provide further direction to staff.
The current agreement between the city and the local FOP already has expired but bargaining eventually resumed on a successor agreement after a delay due to a change in union leadership, according to the memo. For the last seven months, the city staff has tried to resolve some outstanding contract issues with the FOP.
“As is typically the case, economic provisions emerged as the biggest challenge to agreeable resolution,” the memo said.
City staff and union representatives discussed different options that were aimed at meeting the union’s interests regarding employee wages. Some alternatives involved identifying some possible savings in one part of the contract so as to pay for a bigger base-pay increase that might not be affordable otherwise.
“Though staff was optimistic that we would come to an agreeable solution, that has not happened. The union is seeking automatic, annual wage increases — a “step” progression plan,” the memo read. “In addition to a first-year cost that far exceeds what has been budgeted, such a plan would contractually obligate the City to grant pre-determined pay increases without regard to its ability to pay in any given year.”