Catherwood LibraryILR School

The state arbitration panel which last week reached a binding decision on a new contract for New York City?s police men and women (see WIT for Sept. 5, 2002), yesterday released its official written decision explaining the reasoning behind the terms of the contract. The decision reveals that Mayor Bloomberg?s defeat on extracting extra working time, and the Patrolmen?s Benevolent Association?s (PBA) minor victory in achieving the same raise as other uniformed city unions over a shorter time, were the result of the panel?s recognition of the major pay gap between the NYPD and surrounding forces. The pay disparity argument made by the PBA was unsuccessful, however, in convincing the panel to break the pattern set by contracts negotiated between the city and other uniformed unions, and it seems that it was largely the unwillingness of the panel to break this pattern that prevented the PBA from winning the higher raises it sought.