Police union talks new contract with de Blasio
By Gloria Pazmino and Sally Goldenberg
The city’s rank-and-file police union is back at the bargaining table with labor negotiators, hoping the de Blasio administration will be more receptive than former mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association met with City Hall’s labor team at least once in recent weeks, following orders from state mediators who are overseeing the negotiations, a source close to the talks confirmed to Capital.
One of the most daunting challenges facing the new mayor is the expired contracts of the nearly 300,000-person city workforce. He has 152 bargaining units with which to settle, and municipal unions are collectively demanding more than $7 billion in retroactive wages.
According to a Jan. 22 letter from P.B.A. president Pat Lynch to union members, posted on the P.B.A's website, the state Public Employment Relations Board ordered the union and city to negotiate directly. Similar talks stalled under Bloomberg. Lynch said PERB found “both optimistic expression and repeated requests made by the city to be reasonable.”
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/02/8539985/police-union-talks-new-contract-de-blasio